The average tourist wants to stay in Thailand for a month or even more, bringing about 4-5 thousand baht to the economy of the kingdom per day of stay in the country. This is how Thai tourism officials unequivocally justified the proposal to change visa rules and give tourists the right to receive a visa on arrival, which would allow them to stay in Thailand for up to 45 days. Currently, tourists from some countries are granted 30-day visa concessions upon arrival, while others are issued visas with a maximum stay of 15 days.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will propose the idea to the Center for Covid-19 Situation Management (CCSA) at the next meeting, which is scheduled to be held on August 19. If everything is successfully agreed upon, the new visa policy will be effective from the date of approval until December 31, 2022, according to the TAT message. That is, while it will still be an experiment.
According to the estimates of the tourism administration, the measure is expected to be profitable. If the average tourist stays for an additional five days, the 4,000-5,000 baht that the tourist spends each day will bring at least an additional 20,000 baht to the Thai economy. Experts also assure that they studied the data of visa applicants in Thai embassies around the world and found out that most tourists would like to stay in Thailand for longer than one month. The data could help convince the CCSA to change visa rules, tourism officials said.