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Reuters

Thailand and China will permanently waive visa requirements for each other’s citizens from March, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which relies heavily on tourism, in September waived entry requirements for Chinese tourists until February this year.
“This will upgrade the relationship between the two countries,” Srettha told reporters.
In 2023, Thailand welcomed 28 million foreign tourists, slightly above its target, generating 1.2 trillion baht (US$34.93 billion) of revenue, government data showed.

Of that, the top source market was neighbouring Malaysia with 4.5 million visitors, followed by 3.5 million arrivals from China.
That compared with a pre-Covid record of 39 million arrivals, who spent 1.91 trillion baht, with 11 million of those originating in China.
Thailand’s government had initially aimed to attract 5 million Chinese tourists in 2023.
“China’s slowing economy makes people worry about spending on tourism,” Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s deputy governor for international marketing in Asia and South Pacific, told a briefing in September.
Thai police threaten to deport and ban Chinese influencer for offensive remarks
When asked at a regular news conference on Thailand’s tourist estimate that same month, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said: “We, like Thailand, look forward to more mutual visits of tourists to each other’s countries.”
“The Chinese side has always encouraged China and Thailand to strengthen tourism cooperation,” she said.
Meanwhile, eight new Thai airlines are set to start operations as the country expects a sustained recovery in leisure travel to draw about 35 million foreign visitors this year.
Really Cool Airlines, which plans to offer scheduled services on medium-to-long haul international routes, is among the companies which have won Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit’s approval for operator licences, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. The carriers have also been permitted to import a total of 60 aircraft, it said in a statement.


The new operators will compete with carriers including Thai Airways International PCL, which is firming up an order for as many as 80 jets from Boeing Co., and Asia Aviation PCL, for a share of the more than 130 million passengers expected to travel through the nation’s main six airports this year.
Really Cool Airlines, founded by Patee Sarasin, a former chief executive of budget carrier Nok Airlines PCL, will commence chartered flight services in March. It plans to initially operate flights to Japan and aims to serve additional Asian destinations, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, during the first two years, Patee said in November.
Other airlines planning to begin operations this year include Pattaya Airways, Asian Aerospace Service, Avanti Air Sarter, Siam Seaplane and Asia Atlantic Airlines, The Nation newspaper reported.
China’s LGBTQ tourists flock to Thailand to ‘forget all upsetting things’
Thailand’s cabinet on Tuesday also approved a tax cut on alcoholic beverages and entertainment venues to boost tourism, a government spokesperson said.
Taxes on wine will be reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent and on spirits from 10 per cent to zero, Chai Wacharonke told reporters, adding that excise tax on entertainment venues will be halved from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.
The tax measures will expire at the end of this year, he said.
Thailand in November extended opening hours for entertainment venues by two hours to 4am for nighttime revellers and tourists.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


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Thailand

Thailand to permanently waive visa requirements for Chinese tourists

A Chinese tourist takes a selfie with Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during a welcome ceremony in September last year for the first batch of Chinese tourists who arrived at Bangkok’s International Airport under a five-month visa-free entry scheme. Photo: Reuters

 Chinese tourists dressed in rented Thai costumes pose for photographs at the Temple of Dawn in Bangkok last month. Photo: EPA-EFE

Southeast Asia eyes ‘double benefit’ of tapping China, India tourists post-Covid

Tourists at the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province. Photo: AFP

Indian tourists arrive at Bangkok airport. Southeast Asian nations are opening their doors wider to Indian travellers, with Thailand and Malaysia leading the way with visa-free travel. Photo: EPA-EFE

Tourists visit Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple. Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam and Cambodia, unlike the US and Europe, have relatively easy visa access for Indian nationals, helping to usher in a tourism rebound this year across the region. Photo: AFP

Indian tourists from New Delhi arrive at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. India’s outbound travel has the potential to grow from 13 million trips in 2022 to over 80 million by 2040, said a November McKinsey report. Photo: EPA-EFE

Tourists pose for photos in front of Singapore’s iconic Merlion. Changi Airport saw 48 million arrivals for the first 10 months of this year, compared to 56.2 million for the same period in 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE

Tourists visit India’s Taj Mahal in Agra. Proximity is a key factor in the choice of destinations for 70 per cent of Indian travellers, who prefer places that take less than four hours to get to. Photo: AFP

Absent Chinese tourists weigh on Asia-Pacific airlines’ recovery as regional travel rebound stumbles

Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping complex in China’s tropical island province of Hainan this summer. International travel demand to and from mainland China is still 40 per cent below 2019 levels. Photo: Xinhua

International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh has struck a hopeful tone for a global aviation recovery in 2024, but the Asia-Pacific is poised to mostly miss out. Photo: Reuters

A Scoot Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner pictured midflight. Singapore Airlines Group has recovered the fastest among Asian carriers. Photo: Shutterstock 

Tourists from China and elsewhere visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok earlier this year. Industry insiders say Chinese tourists have moved more towards solo travel since the pandemic. Photo: EPA-EFE

A Thai Airways plane. The CEO of Thai Airways told This Week in Asia that his priority for next year was cost control. Photo: Shutterstock

Indian tourists arrive at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in November. Some Asian airlines have been looking to India’s vast outbound travel market to fill the void left by China. Photo: EPA-EFE

A Cathay Pacific plane takes off from an airport in Frankfurt, Germany as a Turkish Airlines aircraft taxis along a runway. Photo: dpa

Is Malaysia’s visa-free entry enough to entice ‘picky’ Chinese tourists as TikTok changes travel habits?

Tourists walk past a mural featuring the Malaysian flag in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: EPA-EFE

A street in George Town. Penang state is known as Malaysia’s food haven. Photo: Shutterstock

A food street in Kuala Lumpur popular with tourists. Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese tourists at a clothing store in Seoul. Analysts expect the volume of Chinese tourists may not rebound as much as hoped, with their spending power likely diminished due to China’s slow economic recovery from the pandemic. Photo: Bloomberg

Thailand soothes fears over visa scheme for Chinese visitors amid recent abductions

Chinese tourists at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Photo: AFP

Chinese tourists at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Chinese visitors accounted for nearly a third of Thailand’s almost 40 million tourist arrivals in 2019 before the pandemic. Photo: AFP

Tourists on Phuket’s Mai Khao beach as a plane lands at the airport. The tourism-dependent country’s sandy beaches have drawn 18.5 million foreign visitors, including more than 2 million Chinese, so far this year. Photo: AFP

Chinese tourists in Thailand face jail, fines for touching ‘cute’ starfish, stepping on coral reefs

Chinese tourists touch a starfish under the sea in Phuket. Photo: Facebook/Monsoon Garbage Thailand

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

China will also permanently waive visa requirements for Thais in an ‘upgrade’ of the countries’ relations, PM Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday
Last year, Thailand welcomed 28 million foreign tourists, 3.5 million of whom were from China. Those numbers were 39 million and 11 million pre-Covid


China will also permanently waive visa requirements for Thai nationals in an ‘upgrade’ of the two countries’ relations, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday.


Chinese tourists

Tourism

Asia travel

Srettha Thavisin

Thailand to permanently waive visa requirements for Chinese tourists

China will also permanently waive visa requirements for Thais in an ‘upgrade’ of the countries’ relations, PM Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday Last year, Thailand welcomed 28 million foreign tourists, 3.5 million of whom were from China. Those numbers were 39 million and 11 million pre-Covid

China will also permanently waive visa requirements for Thais in an ‘upgrade’ of the countries’ relations, PM Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday

Last year, Thailand welcomed 28 million foreign tourists, 3.5 million of whom were from China. Those numbers were 39 million and 11 million pre-Covid