Thailand plans visa overhaul to boost tourism, lure Chinese and Indians

The move comes after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin met with the airports authority and airlines on Monday for talks on how to attract more foreign visitors. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is targeting revenue of 3 trillion baht from foreign visitors next year. However, Thai tourism operators have complained that lengthy and sometimes costly visa application processes are deterring travellers from Thailand’s top two overseas markets – China and India.

Although the e-visa online application process is now available in nine countries – China, the UK, France, the United States, South Korea, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark – Thai operators say it needs to be streamlined as it is putting off Chinese tourists from visiting Thailand. Visitors from China accounted for about 28% of the 40 million pre-pandemic arrivals in 2019.

Meanwhile Indian tourists still have to…