Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 Next » Please log in to reply 110 replies to this topic

[dom samui]

Free visas for 2010; Domestic tourism expected to grow up in 2010

BANGKOK, 15 January 2010 (NNT) – Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa has expressed his confidence in a 10% growth of Thailand's domestic tourism in 2010. The ministry has set a goal to attract tourists from the East Asia.

Mr Chumpol on Thursday reported that the number of tourists last year exceeded the target of 14 million people, thanks to good cooperation from the private sector. The minister added that the government's measures to assist tourism entrepreneurs affected by political turmoil would be continued this year, including admission fee reduction, free landing and parking fees, and free visas.

Mr Chumpol continued to say that the public sector would also implement measures more proactively with emphasis on tourists from countries like China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

The minister also expressed his belief that the number of Thai and foreign tourists traveling to the Kingdom throughout 2010 would likely increase by 7-10% year-on-year or about 15.5 million people.



-- NNT 2010-01-15

[kevc]

I'm sorry but a free 1,900 baht tourist visa wouldn't sway me to spend my 100,000 baht holiday money in Thailand, I would also think the big spenders are the people on the two week holidays (lot of money to spend in a short time) and they get a visa on arrival.

Whats stopping people coming is the uncertainty as to whether it will still be safe to come three months after they've booked their flight and hotel.

[george]

We have today got confirmation and verified that the free tourist visas will continue in 2010.
/George

[londonthai]

kevc, on 2010-01-15 13:36:07, said:

the big spenders are the people on the two week holidays (lot of money to spend in a short time) and they get a visa on arrival.

there are some 20 countries which have to pay for a visa on arrival (1k baht), so for them it's an advantage.

but even in the consulate in London there are quite long ques for tourist visas, so certainly those tourists do benefit from the freebe.

the political situation is worrying for many new travellers, but for the most of the returners to thailand, it's not much an issue. I do travel to thailand xmass and summer time, no matter what's the weather or political climate - with the exeption of the last years airport closures, political turmoil hasn't directly affected tourism that much

[londonthai]

george, on 2010-01-15 13:48:10, said:

We have today got confirmation and verified that the free tourist visas will continue in 2010.
/George

yuhoo

[Thailand]

"Mr Chumpol on Thursday reported that the number of tourists last year exceeded the target of 14 million people"

Where were they?

Can anybody confirm these figures?

Continuation of "free" visa, can't see that would make much of a difference.

[Maejo Man]

Thailand, on 2010-01-15 13:52:34, said:

"Mr Chumpol on Thursday reported that the number of tourists last year exceeded the target of 14 million people"

Where were they?

Can anybody confirm these figures?

Someone has a short memory, or is telling porkies. It was only in December he sadly announced a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of tourists. If the elusive 14 million plus actually did grace these shores.........I wonder where they went

[Matan]

Thailand, on 2010-01-15 07:52:34, said:

"Mr Chumpol on Thursday reported that the number of tourists last year exceeded the target of 14 million people"
yWhere were they?

Can anybody confirm these figures?

Continuation of "free" visa, can't see that would make much of a difference.

Well, about 1.5 million of them were Malaysian so you might not have been able to tell that they weren't Thai. Then there were about another 2 million from singapore, cambodia, laos, burma and the philippines, so you might not have been able to spot the difference there either. Then you've got about 4 million plus from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong kong, and though you might be able to tell them apart from Thais a bit more, they do tend to stick to very organised tours and don't go hanging in out in the typical farang ghettoes so much.

So that's half of the 14 million accounted for. I'm not saying Mr Chumpol is necessarily telling the truth, but he probably isn't far off.

[inquisitive]

And having all these tourists and much of the economy directly linked to pleasing outsiders is a good thing, right?

[mobiryder]

i'm going to have to agree that i can't imagine the small tourist visa fees changing anyone's plans..

[Jirapa]

Matan, on 2010-01-15 15:45:07, said:

Thailand, on 2010-01-15 07:52:34, said:

"Mr Chumpol on Thursday reported that the number of tourists last year exceeded the target of 14 million people"
yWhere were they?

Can anybody confirm these figures?

Continuation of "free" visa, can't see that would make much of a difference.

Well, about 1.5 million of them were Malaysian so you might not have been able to tell that they weren't Thai. Then there were about another 2 million from singapore, cambodia, laos, burma and the philippines, so you might not have been able to spot the difference there either. Then you've got about 4 million plus from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong kong, and though you might be able to tell them apart from Thais a bit more, they do tend to stick to very organised tours and don't go hanging in out in the typical farang ghettoes so much.

So that's half of the 14 million accounted for. I'm not saying Mr Chumpol is necessarily telling the truth, but he probably isn't far off.

Plus he did include Thai tourists within that figure who are Thais so you can't tell them apart. Must be a couple of million Thais living abroad who come back to visit family once or twice a year. Also Domestic Tourism must account for a fair part of the figure.

[Lite Beer]

kevc, on 2010-01-15 13:36:07, said:

I'm sorry but a free 1,900 baht tourist visa wouldn't sway me to spend my 100,000 baht holiday money in Thailand,.

The Visa fee is 1,000 Baht.

[Jirapa]

DegenFarang, on 2010-01-15 16:06:09, said:

Quote

I'm sorry but a free 1,900 baht tourist visa wouldn't sway me to spend my 100,000 baht holiday money in Thailand

This is what I thought as well. I don't see the fact that the Visa is free convincing people to come to Thailand who otherwise would have gone somewhere else. It is nice and I'm sure people get a nice surprise from it, but I highly doubt many are making it a significant factor in their decisions.

Maybe this in concert with the reduction to 15 days of the VOA is increasing the average stay in Thailand, which would be a good thing in the end...longer vacation here=more money spent.

Let's face it it's the crappy exchange rate that's putting people off Thailand not 1900B for a visa. People who came here 2 years ago find themselves 20-30% worse off if they come now.

[Koh Chang]

is the free tourist visa restricted to only one entry?
a friend was told at the hamburg consulate that they would give him only one, if he want a double entry he has to pay for the second one.

[flyx]

14 million is unbeleiveable

[mythBuster]

It seems that ignorance is bliss. People might be willing to spend a short holiday when they do not have any visa hassle at all. If I do not need a visa to travel to Singapore or to Indonesia but I do need to spend a day or more to get a visa from a Thai embassy or consulate I will switch from thailand to Indonesia. The few thousand baht that this will save a person who have money to burn is very uninteresting, the trip to the embassy costs significantly more than the visa Fee. But because the Thai government is Xenophobic they still want to see the paperwork.

I do not believe for one moment that it will increase the number of tourists. The number of tourist will probably increase but that is because the financial crisis is coming to an end and people have more discretionary income. It is however to be expected that the Thai tourism minister will claim otherwise as it increases his standing. Be especially aware when statistical figures are used to underscore statements, statistics in Thailand are even more bogus than those of Greece.

[prakhonchai nick]

How many in that number are foreigners who visit 3.4 5 or more times in 1 year?

[h90]

Koh Chang, on 2010-01-15 16:17:15, said:

is the free tourist visa restricted to only one entry?
a friend was told at the hamburg consulate that they would give him only one, if he want a double entry he has to pay for the second one.

I got the same information from a friend (attention it is second hand info)

[Thai at Heart]

prakhonchai nick, on 2010-01-15 10:19:18, said:

How many in that number are foreigners who visit 3.4 5 or more times in 1 year?

Probably in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of.......

[roadking96cube]

Last year when they announced the free visa's they said that they would be free until March. I read that here on visa.com seem's everybody has a short memory.This latest annoucement, does it say dates or will they be still only availible till end of March.

[tpkhk]

The visa waiver fee may not influence the decision of Small group / Big spenders / Experienced travellers - but does make a difference in how hard the travel agents in India/China etc. push the destination.  

The visa waiver results in more margins/better priced packages - esp attractive to the the 1st time overseas traveller.  In addition, in India and increasingly China a package tour / corporate incentive tour / wedding groups to Thailand is often priced much less than a domestic one - if you compare similar quality of hotel etc - with the cachet of it being overseas.  For wedding/corporate groups etc from India - Thailand is on their shortlist since there are relatively few destinations that offer Visa on Arrival anyway - so this waiver seals the deal.

Eg. India/China - a family/group of 4 saves upto 8000THB with the visa on arrival - not trivial.  Whether this is the group Thailand wants to attract is a different matter, since most first timers are looking to re-create a piece of their country on foreign soil.  Nevertheless, they're tourists that spend here.

One downside of visa waiver is that you'll probably see an increase in travel agents that promote the NO COST trips to Thailand....relying on hustling the customers to buying overpriced stuff to offset the expenses.

[oMega69]

roadking96cube, on 2010-01-15 16:30:31, said:

Last year when they announced the free visa's they said that they would be free until March. I read that here on visa.com seem's everybody has a short memory.This latest annoucement, does it say dates or will they be still only availible till end of March.

WE can pray to GOD that it will end in March !!

IF not... all us with red stamps from LAO couldt get any more Tourist Visas from countrys close to Thai . . . . . ,,

When the Free ViSA will end all of us with Red stamps can get new 2x visas again from Vientiane !! . . . ,,

OR we will end up with ED visas insteed.

[LuckyLew]

At least they are trying ............. a little bit anyways

You think tourism is bad now
Just wait until Tekki officially loses his money

Personally, I like the free tourist visas
and I don't mind have a couple meals
on the Laos side of the Mekong to get it

14 mill. tourists ....... not even close

[DickFarang]

Lite Beer, on 2010-01-15 16:12:42, said:

kevc, on 2010-01-15 13:36:07, said:

I'm sorry but a free 1,900 baht tourist visa wouldn't sway me to spend my 100,000 baht holiday money in Thailand,.

The Visa fee is 1,000 Baht.

THB 1,900 was the price for a retirement visa and I guess it still is.

[drunkmonkey]

hang on!! nobody here metioning whats in it for the thais? greedy thais!! etc ad nauseum, wow, thai visa you are slacking in the down with thais game for a change.............