Skip to main content

Thailand cuts visa-free stays, citing crime by foreigners

Thailand is drastically cutting the length of visa-free stays for tourists from more than 90 countries in an effort to curb crime involving foreign nationals, officials said on Tuesday.

Tourism is vital to the Southeast Asian nation’s economy, but foreign arrivals are yet to return to their pre-Covid highs.

A recent series of high-profile arrests of foreigners has included cases linked to drug offences, sex trafficking and foreigners operating businesses such as hotels and schools without proper permits.

Under Thailand’s current tourism scheme, travellers from more than 90 countries — including Europe’s 29-nation Schengen area, the United States, Israel and several South American countries — are eligible to visit for up to 60 days without a visa.

Thailand’s cabinet approved reducing visa-free stays for travellers from those countries on Tuesday, Tourism Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul told reporters in Bangkok.

The new visa-free duration would be decided on a country-by-country basis, with most foreign nationals granted stays of up to 30 days, while some could receive only 15 days, Surasak said.

Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said last week that the plan to reduce visa-free stays was part of a crackdown on transnational crime.

Thailand was not targeting any specific country, he said, but rather individuals abusing the visa system by committing crimes in the country.

Tourists provided “benefits, such as boosting the economy, but the current scheme has allowed some people to exploit it,” government spokesperson Rachada Dhanadirek told reporters on Tuesday.

The visa-free period was previously capped at 30 days but was extended to 60 days in July 2024 as part of government efforts to boost tourism and the economy.

Tourism accounts for more than 10 per cent of Thailand’s GDP, although visitor numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Foreign arrivals dropped by about 3.4pc in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2025, with visitors from the Middle East down by nearly a third, according to tourism ministry data.

Thailand expects about 33.5 million foreign tourists this year, up from nearly 33m visitors last year, the government has said.



from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/UbhmQOp
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ministers rubbish notion that proposed retirement age extension to favour ‘one particular institution’

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday rubbished the notion that a proposed extension in the retirement age was to favour “one particular institution”, adding that the move would be implemented across the board if approved. The rebuttal comes in the wake of media reports claiming that the government was mulling changes to the Constitution to fix the tenure of the chief justice . Currently, judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, retire after attaining the age of superannuation, i.e. 65 years, as stipulated in Article 179 of the Constitution. While giving his opinion recently on the reports of the constitutional amendment, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had said he “will not vehemently turn down the proposals related to the tenure of the chief justice”. Addressing the issue during a press conference in Islamabad today along since Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and the law minister, Attaullah said the extension in the retirement age was “a proposal to a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Explainer: Iran’s economy faces rocky road amid rising prices, falling currency

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitchell Starc surpasses Wasim Akram as most prolific left-arm pacer in Test history

Australian veteran Mitchell Starc became the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history on Thursday, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram. The 35-year-old bagged England’s Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago. It moved him past Wasim, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen. Wasim played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth. Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India’s Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test. After that he will have New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/xclHiX2
Post a Comment
Read more