The kingdom hopes to attract more paying tourists
A visa-free regime for Russian citizens lasting 90 days has entered into force in Thailand. The rule unilaterally adopted by the Thai government on October 16 will be valid until April 30, 2024 inclusive.
Thai Prime Minister Settha Thawisin has agreed on a decree of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to increase the visa-free regime for Russian citizens to 90 days. This is reported by the telegram channel of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Phuket.
Russians arriving in the kingdom without entry permits will be given special 90-day stamps in their passports. At the same time, citizens of our country will not be able to extend their stay in the kingdom. They will also not have the opportunity to obtain an additional work or study visa during these three months. This procedure will be in effect from November 1 to April 30, 2024.
At the same time, the regulations for processing other types of visas in Thai consulates will generally remain the same for our compatriots.
The decision to extend the visa-free regime for Russians from 30 to 90 days was made by the Cabinet of Ministers of Thailand on October 16. The Prime Minister of the kingdom explained that the temporary measure would help strengthen economic and political relations with the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the government expects that the project will help stimulate the flow of tourists to the kingdom. “The Cabinet expects that the arrival of foreign guests will accelerate economic growth. Although the recent shooting incident at a Bangkok mall may have reduced the attractiveness of the country for Chinese tourists,” the Bangkok Post newspaper writes.
According to statistics, from January to August, Russians ranked fifth in the number of visits to Thailand by foreigners. During this period, 923 thousand of our compatriots arrived in the country. And in terms of expenses at Thai resorts, Russia is probably even higher, judging by the figures of the 2019 pre-pandemic year. Then the Russians left more than $ 3.3 billion in the kingdom and took the third position according to this criterion, according to official data.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 22 million foreigners have visited Thailand. Most of the guests came from neighboring Malaysia – 3.6 million. China came in second place (2.8 million), South Korea (1.3 million) in third, India (1.29 million) in fourth, and Russia (1.089 million) in fifth. In 2019, Russia was Thailand’s seventh largest tourism partner (1.5 million). In the same year, a record 40 million foreign tourists visited the kingdom, and the tourism industry accounted for 12% of GDP.
