Tourist nationalities to Thailand

[IsaanUSA]

Anybody knows, what is the deal with the 3-months visa agreements between Thailand and these five south american countries?

Off the top of my head, a couple of them have trade agreements. Just search the country names in the search box on ThaiVisa to see the threads.

[minimaxx]

Is it a rule of thumb, that visa agreements are based on trade agreements btw countries, or are there other factors that come into play?

That purple country may have a load of trade agreements with the los - but also too much cheap labor i guess.

Does the Russians heavily pump their gas and oil to Thailand and the gray middle eastern countries doesn't?

[wym]

In most cases - as with the South American countries, it's a relatively minor factor in bilateral diplomatic negotiations, certainly incidental to trade issues.

If country A perceives problems from letting B's citizens in, it will tighten things up. Then B may well reciprocate, unless A is a very important dominant trading partner.

The flow of oil often has more to do with private enterprise factors than government interference.

[minimaxx]

Thanks wym, you sound like a wise man. .. but 1370 Posts in just a little more than a month! What are you pursuing?

[wym]

Good question. . .

[JimHuaHin]

I believe that the Russians have a sort of Most Favored Nation status here that allows them entry with no visa.

Why are the Thais so chummy with the Russians? Who has all the oil and gas reserves?

That same oil and gas has driven the Russian economy over the last 10 years to the point that their tourist numbers

dwarf those of other farang countries. Without the Russians, Pattaya (and probably Phuket) would go broke.

As for Vietnam, don't forget Vietnam used to be a client state of the Soviet Union. There is a history there.

Might have a similar setup to Thailand for the same reasons (oil and gas).

Nha Trang has become the Vietnamese Pattaya (without the girls). All Russians.

The Russians like cheap beaches. Goa, in India, is also one of their hotspots.

For what it is worth.

Actually, during the Second Indochina "Viet Nam" War, the USSR gave "loans" not "gifts" of material aid to North Viet Nam. In the wake of the 30 April, 1975, fall/liberation of Sai Gon, the USSR started asking for repayment of these "loans", with interest. Part of the deal here was that USSR and USSR-backed tourists could essentially travel to Viet Nam without having to take much money to Viet Nam, as all of the costs of hotels, tours, meals, etc. within Viet Nam were paid for prior to departure. These monies went to the appropriate USSR agency, and counted as credit against the Vietnamese debt, and none of the monies went to Viet Nam.

Conversations with numerous Russian tourists in Viet Nam from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, revealed that many came to Viet Nam as it was the cheapest international tourist destination available to them. Of course, things have changed since 1989.

[Tchooptip]

Good question. . .

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