Thailand Extends Visa-Free Entry for Indian Tourists Indefinitely

[snoop1130]

 

In a groundbreaking move likely to thrill Indian travellers, Thailand has indefinitely extended its visa-free entry policy for Indian tourists. This decision allows visitors to enjoy up to 60 days in the country without the need for a visa. Initially slated to end on 11 November, this policy will now be a permanent fixture, making Thailand's attractive beaches, bustling cities, and rich cultural sites more accessible.

 

Implemented last year, the visa-free entry for Indians led to a surge in tourism, with a remarkable increase in Indian visitors to 16.17 million from January to mid-October. This extension eliminates the hassles of visa applications, encouraging spontaneous travel plans like weekend getaways.

 

The ripple effects of this visa policy extend beyond Thailand, influencing regional tourism. Southeast Asia has become a hot spot for tourists, with neighbouring countries like Malaysia also welcoming Indian travellers visa-free. The region has noted over 70 million tourist arrivals, enhancing its status as a prime destination.

 

Thailand is now exploring the idea of a Schengen-style visa, which could offer seamless travel across Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. This could further boost the tourism economy, creating a unified tourist experience in Southeast Asia.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-11-05

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

Beyond stupidity. 

 

The mantra of quality tourism has now been thrown out the window in favour of complete mass tourism - and the enviromental impact that creates, as well turning away quality high spending tourists. 

 

Indian tourists spend very little per person, compared to other nations. 

 

They will come in mass, creating more pressure on local infrustructure, which is already crumbling.

 

India offers no free visa for Thai citizens. 

 

Indians behaviours, especially their addiction in red light areas is alarming. 

Edited November 5 by DonniePeverley

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In a groundbreaking move likely to thrill Indian travellers, Thailand has indefinitely extended its visa-free entry policy for Indian tourists. This decision allows visitors to enjoy up to 60 days in the country without the need for a visa. Initially slated to end on 11 November, this policy will now be a permanent fixture, making Thailand's attractive beaches, bustling cities, and rich cultural sites more accessible.

[Tarteso]

IDEAL VS  REAL

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

The men view every single lady as a prostitute. 

 

They are literally addicted to red light zones. Pattaya is now 75% Indians. Walking Street is full on Indian. 

 

You never see them in malls though spending. 

[mokwit]

Expect to be accosted and told how lucky you are with greater frequency.

[sammieuk1]

Ladies of Pattaya prepare your orifices for buy one get two free curry nights 🤔

[jcmj]

Not welcome news for many. 

[IC2000]

So, the flood of annoying af watch sellers on lower Sukhumvit begins

[black tabby12345]

Half flag for Thailand...

[black tabby12345]

More of the case like this?

 

Intoxicated Indian Tourist Knocked Unconscious on Pattaya Beach After Allegedly Harassing Thai Woman - The Pattaya News

Edited November 6 by black tabby12345

[DonniePeverley]

https://thepattayanews.com/2024/10/18/indian-tourists-spark-outrage-for-littering-into-sea-at-north-pattaya-beach-ignoring-warning/

 

 

[JoeyMac]

Think i won't be going back to Pattaya anytime soon then. 

[Patong2021]

16 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

The men view every single lady as a prostitute. 

They are literally addicted to red light zones. Pattaya is now 75% Indians. Walking Street is full on Indian. 

You never see them in malls though spending. 

 

However, according to you they are spending in red light zones. Someone is making money from them. 

[Patong2021]

32 minutes ago, JoeyMac said:

Think i won't be going back to Pattaya anytime soon then. 

 

If you are replaced by Indians, does it matter?

[WHansen]

Thailand has always been a lawless hole of a country, with lots of benifits admittedly. Seems like the benifits are becoming less and less every day lately.

[captpkapoor]

On 11/6/2024 at 2:59 AM, DonniePeverley said:

Beyond stupidity. 

 

The mantra of quality tourism has now been thrown out the window in favour of complete mass tourism - and the enviromental impact that creates, as well turning away quality high spending tourists. 

 

Indian tourists spend very little per person, compared to other nations. 

 

They will come in mass, creating more pressure on local infrustructure, which is already crumbling.

 

India offers no free visa for Thai citizens. 

 

Indians behaviours, especially their addiction in red light areas is alarming. 

Typical nonsensical India bashing or in fact bashing of all non-white tourists. The statistics show Indians as third highest spenders, not just in Thailand but also in Europe. The Thai and other governments who are relaxing their visa policies have obviously done their homework. 

There is no such thing as the typical Indian, because the country is so vast and diverse, so there are all levels of Indians who come here. Can't lump them all together as one type. 

[DonniePeverley]

1 hour ago, captpkapoor said:

Typical nonsensical India bashing or in fact bashing of all non-white tourists. The statistics show Indians as third highest spenders, not just in Thailand but also in Europe. The Thai and other governments who are relaxing their visa policies have obviously done their homework. 

There is no such thing as the typical Indian, because the country is so vast and diverse, so there are all levels of Indians who come here. Can't lump them all together as one type. 

 

 

This is a flat out lie. 

 

Indians are not even in the top ten spenders per person in India. They are infact one of the lowest, per person.

 

The GDP per person in India, is 3 times lower than Thailands. No other country has offered a comprehensive visa free arrival for indian citizens. For the main reason ... poor behaviour, low spenders, and third the perpetuance to start living and working illegally in that country. 

 

Thailand are unfortunately looking at the final total number. The way they are fixated on total number of visitors, they are seeing income from Indian tourists, without realising the pressure they are putting on public resources (transport, roads, etc). 

Edited November 7 by DonniePeverley

[Bobthegimp]

Derp

[JoeyMac]

16 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

If you are replaced by Indians, does it matter?

 

You would need 10 indians to replace a decent spending foreign tourist. No wonder the roads are blocked in parts of Pattaya with heavy traffic. 

 

You then turn away the high spending foreign tourist. No one is going to holiday in a region that is spiked full of low spending Indians on their first holiday. There was simply no need to stop the restrictions on visas. 

 

You go into Terminal 21 or Central there and there are no Indians in there. They are notorious low spenders, especially the ones heading to Thailand. 

 

The galling issue is India have offered Thai citizens no free visa, so i am curious as to what bilateral relationship they are talking about ?

 

Thai logic is to look at the numbers of arrivals, and TOTAL spend - as opposed to spend per visitor. 

[Patong2021]

3 hours ago, JoeyMac said:

 

You would need 10 indians to replace a decent spending foreign tourist. No wonder the roads are blocked in parts of Pattaya with heavy traffic. 

 

You then turn away the high spending foreign tourist. No one is going to holiday in a region that is spiked full of low spending Indians on their first holiday. There was simply no need to stop the restrictions on visas. 

 

You go into Terminal 21 or Central there and there are no Indians in there. They are notorious low spenders, especially the ones heading to Thailand. 

 

The galling issue is India have offered Thai citizens no free visa, so i am curious as to what bilateral relationship they are talking about ?

 

Thai logic is to look at the numbers of arrivals, and TOTAL spend - as opposed to spend per visitor. 

 

The myth of the  low spending Indian has been deconstructed several times. You are using the Pattaya experience to represent the impact of Indian visitors. It is no more accurate than using the stereotypical elderly pensioner living in a cheap room hunting for cheap meals to portray the visitors from the UK.

 

In July, the Nation  had an interesting article;

Thailand can expect up to 2 million Indian tourists, exceeding the initial target of 1.7 million. During the first six months of this year (January to June), the Kingdom welcomed 1.04 million Indian tourists.

This reflects continuous growth from 2023, when 1.62 million Indian tourists visited Thailand, up to 14% more than the initial target of 1.42 million. The tourists spent 38,052 baht per person on average, generating some 61.97 billion baht for the economy.

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/tourism/40039419

 

The  total number of Indian tourists is relatively small. Indians are not considered to be long haul tourists, but short term visitors, staying for less than 2 weeks. This year, Thailand expects to welcome 9.6 million long-haul tourists, including 7.3 million from Europe, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2897733/thailand-targets-8-million-european-tourists-in-2025.

 

 

 

 

 

[Patong2021]

14 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

 

This is a flat out lie. 

 

Indians are not even in the top ten spenders per person in India. They are infact one of the lowest, per person.

 

The GDP per person in India, is 3 times lower than Thailands. No other country has offered a comprehensive visa free arrival for indian citizens. For the main reason ... poor behaviour, low spenders, and third the perpetuance to start living and working illegally in that country. 

 

Thailand are unfortunately looking at the final total number. The way they are fixated on total number of visitors, they are seeing income from Indian tourists, without realising the pressure they are putting on public resources (transport, roads, etc). 

 

 I cannot find data for 22019, but I did find 2019. It goes against long held stereotypes, but does show that spending is consistent for some regions. Indians are not the sheap charlies they are assumed to be, but some Europeans certainly are.

 

Which foreign tourists spend the least per capita in Thailand?

In 2019, visitors from France spent the least per capita amount of $112.02 USD per day.

Here’s the complete breakdown of per capita spends by tourists visiting Thailand:

Per Capita Spend/Day in Thailand by Country of Residence (2019)
Country of Residence	$US/Day
Kuwait	$224
Egypt	$222
U.A.E.	$220
Saudi Arabia	$220
Brunei	$217
Hong Kong	$208
Singapore	$199
China	$197
Bangladesh	$187
Myanmar	$186
Cambodia	$185
Pakistan	$185
Sri Lanka	$180
Korea	$179
Africa	$178
Laos	$177
India	$177
Australia	$174
Japan	$173
Norway	$170
Malaysia	$168
Taiwan	$168
Israel	$167
Nepal	$166
Denmark	$163
New Zealand	$163
Brazil	$161
South Africa	$158
Vietnam	$156
Philippines	$154
USA	$153
Finland	$149
Indonesia	$147
Argentina	$146
Switzerland	$144
Sweden	$143
Austria	$138
United Kingdom	$138
East Europe	$137
Canada	$132
Russia	$132
Netherlands	$131
Spain	$129
Italy	$126
Belgium	$123
Germany	$116
France	$112

 

 

 

Edited November 7 by Patong2021
https://Data Source: trail.bananabackpacks.com/thailand-tourism-stats/

[BrandonJT]

17 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

 

This is a flat out lie. 

 

Indians are not even in the top ten spenders per person in India. They are infact one of the lowest, per person.

 

The GDP per person in India, is 3 times lower than Thailands. No other country has offered a comprehensive visa free arrival for indian citizens. For the main reason ... poor behaviour, low spenders, and third the perpetuance to start living and working illegally in that country. 

 

Thailand are unfortunately looking at the final total number. The way they are fixated on total number of visitors, they are seeing income from Indian tourists, without realising the pressure they are putting on public resources (transport, roads, etc). 

Did you really just try to compare per-person average in a country of 1.4 billion people to the per-person average of Indians in Thailand? How is that relevant AT ALL? Of course when you average it across that size of a generally poor country, you are going to get a low number.  You are simply massaging the statistics to prove your false narrative.  The upper echelons of a country are the ones that can afford to travel, not the lower 80%

 

The GDP per person in India is 3 times lower than Thailand? They have 20 times the population of Thailand! There is a hell of a lot more wealth there than there is in Thailand and in most countries. Who cares what the GDP per person is? The country's wealth isn't distributed across the entire population.

India has 167 billionaires, which puts it 3rd in the world for number of billionaires. Even an average distribution of wealth means that India has way more wealthy citizens than almost any country in the world.

Edited November 7 by BrandonJT

[richard_smith237]

6 hours ago, JoeyMac said:

 

You would need 10 indians to replace a decent spending foreign tourist. No wonder the roads are blocked in parts of Pattaya with heavy traffic. 

 

You then turn away the high spending foreign tourist. No one is going to holiday in a region that is spiked full of low spending Indians on their first holiday. There was simply no need to stop the restrictions on visas. 

 

You go into Terminal 21 or Central there and there are no Indians in there. They are notorious low spenders, especially the ones heading to Thailand. 

 

The galling issue is India have offered Thai citizens no free visa, so i am curious as to what bilateral relationship they are talking about ?

 

Thai logic is to look at the numbers of arrivals, and TOTAL spend - as opposed to spend per visitor. 

 

Lots of responses here... 

 

1) [Response to: '10 Indians' comment] You would need 10 Westerners (or more) to replace a decent spending Indian tourist - see what I did there ?  - wealthy tourists of every nationality also visit Thailand... (not sure what the traffic argument, was, are you suggesting all Indians are hiring cars and blocking the traffic ?)

 

2) [Response to: 'turning away high spending tourists' comment] Where are 'high spending foreign tourists turned away' ??...  If you mean 'Western Tourists' who now get a 60 day visa on arrival... then its never been easier !!....   no 'genuine tourists' are turned away (or, do you mean 'longer termers' ? which is different).

 

3) [Response to: 'low spending Indians' comment] 'High spending' tourist of any Nationality do not go to the same areas that 'low spending tourists' of any nationality go to.

 

4) [Response to: 'There was simply no need to stop the restrictions on visas' comment] - what visa restrictions ? in June 2024 the Visa Exempt arrival was extented to 60 days for toursts from many Western Countries ? - where is the restriction on 'tourists' ???

 

5) [Response to: 'Terminal-21' comment] - You are using T-21 and Central in Pattaya as your metric to evaluate the social-cultural-economics of the toursim market ? hmmm..   measuring sex pests against sex pests ? 

 

6) [Response to: 'Bilateral agreements' comment] - I Agree, they exist...   But your response is fundamentally flawed...  British Tourist require an e-Visa to enter India (and get 90 days)...  Thai tourist also require an e-Visa to enter India (and get 30 days).

- Indians to Thailand - Visa Exemtion Entry: 30 days

- Brits to Thailand - Visa Exemtion Entry: 60 days

.....  these bilateral agreements you mentioned ??...    It all seems fairly equal, What was the Gaulling issue again ? 

 

 

7) [Response to: 'Thai logic - spend' comment] I often find myself agreeing with 'Thai Logic' arguments / comments...  as the 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' quote of Chuchill seems to ring true across many cultural devides and we can shoe horn whatever we want into our opinion when selecting a few experiences....    

 

....   but really - do you find Indians that objectionable ????... really ???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kinyara]

Outright rascism tends to get in the way of logical, intelligent thought and factual evidence on here when it comes to Indian tourism to Thailand. Exact same as the notion that China zero baht tourism is the norm for Chinese visitors to Thailand.

[kimamey]

On 11/6/2024 at 7:56 AM, Tarteso said:

IDEAL VS  REAL

 

 

 

Ok I'll go for it. 

 

Which one is which?

[DonniePeverley]

9 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

 I cannot find data for 22019, but I did find 2019. It goes against long held stereotypes, but does show that spending is consistent for some regions. Indians are not the sheap charlies they are assumed to be, but some Europeans certainly are.

 

Which foreign tourists spend the least per capita in Thailand?

In 2019, visitors from France spent the least per capita amount of $112.02 USD per day.

Here’s the complete breakdown of per capita spends by tourists visiting Thailand:

Per Capita Spend/Day in Thailand by Country of Residence (2019)
Country of Residence	$US/Day
Kuwait	$224
Egypt	$222
U.A.E.	$220
Saudi Arabia	$220
Brunei	$217
Hong Kong	$208
Singapore	$199
China	$197
Bangladesh	$187
Myanmar	$186
Cambodia	$185
Pakistan	$185
Sri Lanka	$180
Korea	$179
Africa	$178
Laos	$177
India	$177
Australia	$174
Japan	$173
Norway	$170
Malaysia	$168
Taiwan	$168
Israel	$167
Nepal	$166
Denmark	$163
New Zealand	$163
Brazil	$161
South Africa	$158
Vietnam	$156
Philippines	$154
USA	$153
Finland	$149
Indonesia	$147
Argentina	$146
Switzerland	$144
Sweden	$143
Austria	$138
United Kingdom	$138
East Europe	$137
Canada	$132
Russia	$132
Netherlands	$131
Spain	$129
Italy	$126
Belgium	$123
Germany	$116
France	$112

 

 

 

 

 

I'd question that stat with pinch of salt. 

 

If you look at what Thailand projects income from indian tourists (which is a big estimate), then compare it with visitor numbers it would be one of the lowest per person spend. 

 

[JoeyMac]

The Rich in

7 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

India has 167 billionaires, which puts it 3rd in the world for number of billionaires. Even an average distribution of wealth means that India has way more wealthy citizens than almost any country in the world.

 

 

I have news for you ... the billionaire or rich Indians aren't coming to Thailand. Like the Chinese, the well off citizens there dream of heading to Europe or western countries. 

 

The type of visitor attracted to Thailand are low rent. They are there on a budget. And now arriving in huge numbers because they are perhaps one of the only countries that are allowing them in.

 

There is no country even in Africa that let Indians in visa free. 

 

Mark my words in a few years they will out number Chinese for visitor numbers. 

[Bday Prang]

10 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

 

I'd question that stat with pinch of salt. 

 

If you look at what Thailand projects income from indian tourists (which is a big estimate), then compare it with visitor numbers it would be one of the lowest per person spend. 

 

You appear obsessed about how much Indians spend here whilst on holiday     What concern is it of yours ?   They are generally well behaved and the few that are not are no worse than any other bad boys.  You should learn to live and let live

[realfunster]

On 11/6/2024 at 1:59 AM, DonniePeverley said:

The mantra of quality tourism has now been thrown out the window in favour of complete mass tourism - and the enviromental impact that creates, as well turning away quality high spending tourists. 

 

I think "Quality Tourism" has only ever been a soundbite and an attempt to pretend to nod towards Western driven concepts around sustainability etc. Like many developing countries, Thailand finds itself with an ambition to grow its economy, raise quality of life and needs to balance that with a developed world order focusing on sustainability and the environment.

 

The reality, Thailand grew tourism from around 10m (2000) -- 16m (2010) -- 40m (2019). 

 

With > 1.5bn people within 3-4 hours, it makes sense to target Indians and broaden Thailand's market appeal. It's also an indication that the previously relied upon Chinese tourist market has slumped. Would be interesting to assess whether that is due to internal Chinese issues around their economy or boredom with Thailand.

 

Anyway, with the Indian population still growing, they are likely to become the dominant tourist market in Thailand for the next 50 years...that means more Indian restaurants will surely be popping up - result !