Visa exempt for Chinese and Indian tourists proposed to boost tourism in Thailand

[Traubert]

59 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

If someone's really considering travelling thousands of miles and spending serious money on a holiday, do they really think that a few baht for a visa will make a difference to their decision?

China and India aren't thousands of miles away. It takes me a two hour flight to get here from China.

[spidermike007]

Pipat has shown who he is and his lack of competence. He needs to be replaced with someone who has experience. 

[Stocky]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The proposal to extend Songkran will benefit the tourism sector and economy, officials said.

How so? During a pandemic the idea is to stay away from large groups and certainly not to exchange fluids! If people aren't coming, then extending it to more days of mayhem isn't going to be any more attractive to anyone with a modicum of common sense.

[Caldera]

How many times do those muppets want to "propose" this? Desperation.

[michaellee]

Never heard or seen a country that are so obsessed with the tourism Sector. Why dont they create jobs and improve infrastructure. Get a life!!! 

[lovethai123]

7 minutes ago, Caldera said:

How many times do those muppets want to "propose" this? Desperation.

Something like this was proposed before but rejected.

 

https://www.thai.lt/blog/945-thailand-visa-on-arrival-for-free-until-april-2020

 

[Pancho]

This is glorious, spectacular, sadly predictable.

 Let’s start making odds on the coming low season exodus.

 

 

[Pedrogaz]

Anyone looking for a prime example of stupidity in our leadership? Well this is it.

[raccos21]

Wondering how this guy can come up with ‘super-duper ideas’ and proposed, but at end of the day nothing happened at all.

[plahgat]

Forget about the Chinese they won´t be back för a long time,

instead work on getting the Europeans and other westerners back to Thailand!

Shorten Songkran to 1 day and give visa-free entrance for a stay up to 3 months,

like it used to be 30+ years ago!????

[Peterbilt]

36 minutes ago, Traubert said:

China and India aren't thousands of miles away. It takes me a two hour flight to get here from China.

Correct. And at least China (don't know about India) puts pretty high import duties on imported goods, making the same products in Thailand a bit cheaper.
It also seems to be cheaper for Chinese vacationers to fly a in few hours to Thailand than to spend a vacation in China. When I had a relationship with a Chinese woman (from Wuhan BTW...) we both had a look at Hainan, but already the hotel prices were enormous. My brother, who worked in Shanghai for almost a decade, also told me that his Chinese collegues prefer Thailand over Hainan (or China in general) because of the costs.....
So Thailand can be 100% sure that the Chinese tourists will come again after the virus has gone and its aftermath has been cleaned out.

[Thian]

42 minutes ago, lovethai123 said:

Pardon me for my ignorance. So you mean they buy expensive watches or not? Kindly enlighten. 

Yes of course, and not the cheap ones.

[Thian]

32 minutes ago, michaellee said:

Never heard or seen a country that are so obsessed with the tourism Sector. Why dont they create jobs and improve infrastructure. Get a life!!! 

And get rid of the soidogs and dirty air, crappy sidewalks, ugly moulded buildings, annoying jet-ski's, taxi's without meter, and so on....then really go for the tourists...

[Traubert]

42 minutes ago, michaellee said:

Never heard or seen a country that are so obsessed with the tourism Sector. Why dont they create jobs and improve infrastructure. Get a life!!! 

I think it's fairly nailed on that if you listen to the Minister for Tourism the subject is going to be Tourism. Try listening to the Finance Minister. He talks about money.

 

Oddly enough.

[yimlitnoy]

How a proposal to extend Songkran can benefit the tourism sector and the economy?  By prolonging the holiday Thailand simply reduce the GNP of the country by stalling production.  How stopping production can be good for the country?  This will simply cause more deadly accidents on the road like the 7 days Christmas Holiday,

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai government is considering adding China and India to the list of countries eligible for visa exempt entry to Thailand.

Thailand is showing the world just how out of touch with the modern tourism it is... thinking we'll just waver the "you must pay on entry" is going to be enough to get the hoards coming back?

The problem is the hoards came... they saw, they got ripped off, and they went home to tell others "don't bother" it used to be word of mouth which slowly got around, now the social networks are global in seconds, all your failures are out in the open!

2nd rate hotels, 3rd rate attractions, high prices, zero safety, taxi wars, pollution etc etc etc the list is endless, it's all out there for everyone to see.

Thailand has not evolved over the last 50 years, it's like turning on the TV to see an old movie, furniture, decorations, everything is old & stale.. Thailand you're screwed!

[simtemple]

Meanwhile Chinese coronavirus deaths are rising rapidly by the day and Bill Gates warns deaths in South East Asia and Sub Sahara Africa could reach 10 Million. Being as greedy and stupid as they are, Thailand is likely to set another record. 

[flyingsaucersarereal]

YO the Chinese have the Coronavirus why would you want them coming in on visa exempt entry????? Come on!!!

[DJ54]

They say the third times a charm.... just keep asking.

[HaleySabai]

'Visa Exempt'...do they mean the 1-month (transit) visa on entry that has been "free" forever?....I assure you that no Canadian is getting a "free-visa",in fact the prices for a tourist or non-O is ridiculous high,not to mention the hoops they make you jump through to get it.

These people are nuts!

[RyanWalker]

8 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

Maybe you could also provide visa exempts for North-Korea?

If they can get away from the labor camps they might come?

Lol.. Typical of someone with no idea what he talks about. Educate yoursepf mate 

[RyanWalker]

13 minutes ago, flyingsaucersarereal said:

YO the Chinese have the Coronavirus why would you want them coming in on visa exempt entry????? Come on!!!

lol.. You think all Chinese have it? Your mom is surely very proud to have you as a son. You not the brightest out there now are you?

[Parsve]

WHO works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.

The goal is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and well-being”.

 

Thailand have been a member of WHO since 1947 but that, according to the provincial health mininster in Chiang Mai, and the provincial health minister in Phuket do not stop the current junta, regim, from to lie about the trouth abot the corona virus in the country. Thailand should be suspended as a member of WHO immediately as they not cooperate to fight for health.

[Torrens54]

In all fairness, there are already Sixty Countries which are 

“Visa Exempt” and if the arrangement is reciprocal, why not?

[Liss Camber]

Excellent idea...in our big resort most Europeans cancelled their bookings for March and April due to coronavirus fear. These had spend money as they have some. Thailand makes itself a great favor offering visa exempt so more Europeans will cancel their bookings. When will they ever learn?!

[Traubert]

2 hours ago, flyingsaucersarereal said:

YO the Chinese have the Coronavirus why would you want them coming in on visa exempt entry????? Come on!!!

Well, one in twenty thousand do, that would be five in a sold out Wembley Stadium.

 

In the real world thats called proportion. They say that one in ten males is gay too.

 

 

That means that currently there are 3500 gay males suffering from Corona Virus.

 

That should keep you busy for a while.

[Iron Tongue]

The reason why TAT is valuing Chinese tourism is because of sheer numbers.  China already has more "middle class" than any country in the world.  By 2022, there will be over 550 million Chinese considered "middle class" by income.  These are the people Thailand is counting on to visit in en-masse into the future, not individual farang retirees, sexpats or grundgy backpackers.  They want people to visit, take pictures, buy some trinkets and then F-off back home.

 

I don't have to like this, but I understand their reasoning.

[448glb]

11 hours ago, crabbie2020 said:

I am leaving LOS soon. I knew this day would come when this beautiful country would be flooded by the worst and second worst tourists in the world.

 

RIP Thailand. I loved you but I now hate you.

Good bye and good riddance. More for me ????

[kiwikeith]

15 hours ago, Mavideol said:

then..... I would like to know how

Easy, sick people will come , the corona virus will have Thailand as its incubation hub.

Indians can then take it back to India.

The boost is actually reported wrong, it should say the tourists not coming to Thailand will boost in numbers, 

It's a very smart plan to wreck Thailand altogether.

[Gandtee]

15 hours ago, Mavideol said:

then..... I would like to know how

More opportunity to waste water?