Cabinet waives visa-on-arrival fee for 21 countries

[buksida]

The cabinet on Tuesday gave the green light to waive the visa-on arrival fee for visitors from 21 countries for two months to give the tourism industry a much-needed boost.

Government spokesman Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the cabinet agreed with a draft ministerial regulation to waive the 2,000-baht fee from Dec 1 to Jan 31 for visitors staying in the country for no more than 15 days.

The 21 countries are Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, said the government spokesman.

According to the Immigration Bureau, the number of tourists seeking visas on arrival from January 2016 to the present has kept falling, prompting the government to come up with the measure, said Mr Buddhipongse.

The waiver of the visa-on-arrival fees will stimulate the tourism sector, drawing more foreign visitors to the country and generating more income. The number of tourists will be increased by at least 30%.

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... -countries

Where do they get these stupid numbers from? A 30% increase, really? TAT is claiming 35 million now so an extra ten million are going to pour in from Bhutan and PNG? The Chinese and Indians are already here, the latter are working, they're not tourists.

[Dannie Boy]

I suspect that they were referring to a 30% increase on the tourists from the 21 countries eligible for a visa on arrival - no idea what numbers they would be but probably no more than hundreds of thousands

[caller]

Considering the cost of flights and accommodation, the visa cost is minimal to say the least. I can't really see what difference it will make?