The respective proposal of the the Immigration Bureau to the cabinet is expected during the meeting on April 9. The VOA fee waiver allows citizens of 21 countries to enter the Kingdom without paying THB2,000 visa fee. The current fee waiver expires on April, 30.
As the tourism industry will most probably play a significant role in contributing to economic growth during the period of formation of the new government, the extention of VOA fee waiver comes handy and can attract more foreign visitors to travel to Thailand during less busy months.
Also, the e-visa on arrival service introduced recently, has facilitated the immigration process significantly, cutting processing time for visas to a minute.
Besides loosening VOA formalities, other larger-scale project aimed at development of transport and tourist infrastructure will continue during the period of formation of the new government, too. These include the high-speed rail to link Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and U-Tapao airports; the port expansion of Laem Chabang and Map Ta Phut; U-tapao aviation city; a maintenance, repair and overhaul centre; and Bangkok mass transit projects.
In 2019, Thailand expects that the number of tourist arrivals will increase 7.5% and reach 41 million travellers. Tourism revenue is likely to grow even more – by 10% what corresponds to 2.21 trillion baht. Chinese tourists are expected to lead the list of the nationalities visiting Thailand accounting to over 11% of all foreign visitors. Travellers from other Asian countries are estimated as 10%.
VOA Fee Waiver May Be Extended in Thailand
News in Asia
The waiver of the visa-on-arrival fee for visitors to Thailand may be extended for another three months until July, 31 in order to ward off an economic slump during the transition to a new government and to boost tourism during low season months.