Take a look at this new move: Indians can now visit Thailand without a visa

Thailand has announced that, as the peak travel season draws near, visitors from Taiwan and India will not need a visa to enter the country as of next month, and this exemption will last until May 2024.

Read more: Sri Lanka to provide free visas to Indians, Chinese and 4 other nationals

This decision follows another one made in September to do away with the need for a visa for Chinese visitors, who were a major source of visitors prior to the pandemic and accounted for 11 million of the record 39 million arrivals in 2019. This information was reported by Reuters.

Taiwanese and Indian travelers are allowed 30 days of entry into Thailand, according to spokesman Chai Wacharonke.

The latest official data indicates that Thailand received 22 million tourists between January and October 29, bringing in 927.5 billion baht, or $25.67 billion.

Goal of increasing national tourism

According to Bloomberg, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told reporters that visitors from Taiwan and India would be able to enter Thailand without a visa between November 10 and March 2024. The purpose of this decision, which was made after a cabinet meeting, is to increase national tourism.

With over 3 million arrivals, Malaysian tourists have been the largest group of visitors this year, based on the latest recent data from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

They are followed by Chinese travelers, who, as of October 15, accounted for 2.65 million of all arrivals to Thailand prior to the pandemic.

4 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand

The Thai tourism organization predicted earlier this month that 4–4.4 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand by 2023.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Ali Sabry, tweeted earlier on October 24 that the Cabinet of Sri Lanka had approved the immediate issuance of free visas as a pilot project, valid through March 31st, to Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, China, India, and Thailand.

Pilot project will be held until March 2024

According to the minister, the pilot project will run until March 31, 2024, having started immediately.

An important development is that visitors from these countries can now get free visas to Sri Lanka. Historically, Sri Lanka's main source of foreign visitors has been India.

Though it accounts for nearly 20% of Thailand's GDP overall, the country's tourism industry has had difficulty recovering since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data from the tourism ministry, from January to September 2023, over 1.2 million Indians traveled to Thailand, ranking it fourth in popularity after Malaysia, China, and South Korea.

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