Singapore accepts joint visa deal

Bid to lure more tourists to the two nations

(AFP) Thailand and Singapore agreed to enhance tourism cooperation by offering joint visas and tour packages to attract more tourists to the two countries.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong met yesterday at the third Thai-Singapore prime ministerial retreat in Chiang Mai.

Mr Thaksin said the two countries would work on a system to issue a single visa which tourists from other countries could use to gain entry into both countries.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand and its Singapore counterpart would soon draw up plans to offer joint package tours to the two countries.

The two countries would set the scheme in motion by first issuing joint visas.

Other countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would be invited to join the initiative later.

This is not a new visa deal but only a proposal and just muddies the water here IMHO.

When such a visa is available would be the time to post it here - until then it is just a news item for what may, maybe, sometime, happen.

(AFP) Thailand and Singapore agreed to enhance tourism cooperation by offering joint visas and tour packages to attract more tourists to the two countries.

I'd be curious to know what visitors they are targeting with this joint visa proposal (seeing as how many foreign nationals can visit both countries without a visa in advance). That said, this sounds like yet another scheme that we'll never hear about again beyond the initial press release.

(Edit - George started a thread about this story in the News forum.)

(AFP) Thailand and Singapore agreed to enhance tourism cooperation by offering joint visas and tour packages to attract more tourists to the two countries.

I'd be curious to know what visitors they are targeting with this joint visa proposal (seeing as how many foreign nationals can visit both countries without a visa in advance). That said, this sounds like yet another scheme that we'll never hear about again beyond the initial press release.

(Edit - George started a thread about this story in the News forum.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like you I suspect the numbers will be very small,

BUT IT DOES SOUND GOOD!!

Like you I suspect the numbers will be very small,

BUT IT DOES SOUND GOOD!!

Sure, they way this story is spun it appears that some big deal came out of this meeting. When examined closely however, even if this new visa program is ever implemented (which I doubt), I can't imagine that it would have much impact on tourist arrivals for either country.