PM welcomes first group of Chinese tourists arriving under visa free program

[snoop1130]

 

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and representatives of the Thai tourism sector and Ministry of Tourism and Sports went to Suvarnabhumi airport this morning (Monday) to welcome the first group of 341 Chinese tourists arriving in Thailand without a visa, under the Visa Exemption program which came into effect today and will last until February 29.

 

Similar welcoming ceremonies for tourists from China and Kazakhstan were held at Don Mueang, Phuket and Chiang Mai airports.

 

Besides the direct flight by Thai AirAsia X from Shanghai, which landed at Suvarnabhumi airport this morning, there are three flights scheduled to arrive today at Don Mueang airport from Kunming, Changsha and Nanning, two flights at Chiang Mai airport from Shanghai and Kunming, one flight at Phuket airport from Kazakhstan and three flights from Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2023-09-25

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and representatives of the Thai tourism sector and Ministry of Tourism and Sports went to Suvarnabhumi airport this morning (Monday) to welcome the first group of 341 Chinese tourists arriving in Thailand without a visa

You can see the depth of desperation when a countries PM goes to welcome tourists arriving at the airport.

New tax law to hit may foreigners to help pay for the digital wallet promise, begging any foreign companies to come invest or set-up shop in LOS

The pot must be really dry after Prayut & Co left office.

[RichardColeman]

Can you honestly see your own home PM or president or government sinking to these low depths to go to an airport to congratulate a plane of chinese tourists ? Absolutely pathetic bowing to chinese tourism

[sammieuk1]

Welcome a police escort has been arranged to take you directly to your gambling den and call Centre don't forget your cut to the police or army enjoy ????  

[Caldera]

The Thai PM looks more Chinese than some of these Chinese tourists. If I hadn't known him already, I would have had trouble to figure out which one he is on these pictures. ????

 

On a more serious note, I'm surprised that he didn't kneel down before them.

[Cake Monster]

Pathetic

[DonniePeverley]

Very dangerous slippery sloap. 

 

When Chinese numbers return to pre pandemic levels, and keep going up - at what point do you then say 'enough is enough' - because you certainly won't be able to reinstate visas and the fees again (due to the relationship with China and how things work here). 

 

Imagine how much money they've invested in losing the visa fees they were making from the Chinese tourists ?!

 

Basically you've just opened your border to a billion people to come and go freely.

 

 

Had they waited and things eased in Chinese, things would have naturally gone back to normal. Imagine the cost of getting rid of visas fees they have cost themselves too. 

 

Very short sighted decision with huge ramifications, that i am not sure have been thought through clearly. 

[crazykopite]

One day China will claim Thailand as part of there country 

[Sydebolle]

Whoa, never heard of a PM to welcome unknown zero-dollar tourists - the Chinese though could not give a toss about it - unless it was a freebie along the lines somewhere ........

They must be more than desperate ..... or just keep a smoke screen up to hide something else ???? 

 

[RafPinto]

And after welcoming the Chinese who entered Thailand without having to pay 2000 Baht, he asked them to please spend this fortune in a Thai owned business.
Straight after this, he went to the bus terminal, welcoming farangs, ready do board the bus in direction of Pattaya.

[DonniePeverley]

5 hours ago, crazykopite said:

One day China will claim Thailand as part of there country 

 

One day ? 

[DonniePeverley]

 

What was the procedure before this for Chinese to enter the country ? 

[transam]

A PM has time to welcome holiday folk..................????

[newnative]

1 hour ago, transam said:

A PM has time to welcome holiday folk..................????

Better he's doing that than coming up with bad taxing schemes . . .

[transam]

8 minutes ago, newnative said:

Better he's doing that than coming up with bad taxing schemes . . .

Weell, it's all bad at the mo.......????

[Dickie Dee]

14 hours ago, crazykopite said:

One day China will claim Thailand as part of there country 

Are they not building Chinese high-speed rail to Vietnam via Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and on to any other countries? 

[redwood1]

Srettha  has set the standard for photo-op <deleted> eating grins...

[cdnvic]

One off topic post removed.

[daveAustin]

He does it because he thinks he’s a people person, everyone loves him, must be seen to be everywhere etc. ‘He can do no wrong’. Let’s see how his levels go over the coming months after he loses face through Ill thought out schemes and plummeting opinion polls. Just another unelected mouthpiece not representative of 99% of people in Thailand.  

[kinyara]

With Chinese arrivals only 30% compared to Aug 2019 YTD interested to see how much of a difference this concession has on the arrival numbers in October, the first full month in operation. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

China’s Global Travelers Pull Back as Economic Uncertainty Grows https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-26/china-s-global-travelers-pull-back-as-economic-uncertainty-grows