As per Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong, the nation is set to trim the duration that foreign visitors can remain in the country without a visa to 30 days from the previous 60 days.
This decision, which has garnered consensus among various governmental departments, seeks to mitigate the misuse of visa waivers by foreigners engaging in unlawful business operations.
Since mid-2024, Thailand has permitted travelers from 93 nations to enter freely for stretches of up to two months. However, growing fears around tourists illegally joining the local workforce or initiating unauthorized enterprises have prompted a reevaluation of such leniency.
According to Bloomberg citing a report by Bangkok Post, concerns raised by the Association of Thai Travel Agents and the Thai Hotels Association underscore a rise in non-compliant activities, such as the unregulated leasing of condominium units to foreigners, contributing to the policy revision.
Despite these regulatory adjustments, Thailand is keen to maintain its robust tourism sector, critical to bolstering its underperforming economy. Authorities are ambitiously targeting a surge in overseas tourists, aiming to surpass 40 million annual arrivals by 2025, outpacing the pre-pandemic peak of 2019.
The country has already greeted 7.66 million international travelers from the start of the year to early March, reflecting a 4.4% uptick from the previous year.
