Final Up to date: January 28, 2024, 11:59 IST
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin walks via the arrivals gate after greeting Chinese language vacationers at Suvarnabhumi Worldwide Airport in Bangkok on September 25, 2023. (AFP)
Thailand and China announce visa waiver, boosting tourism after COVID-19 impression. Discover the impression on Southeast Asia’s financial system and Chinese language journey to Thailand
Thailand and China agreed on Sunday to waive visa necessities for one another’s nationals to facilitate journey and tourism between the 2 international locations, damage by Covid-19.
Thai Overseas Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara and his Chinese language counterpart Wang Yi signed the mutual visa exemption, which takes impact on March 1, at a ceremony after assembly in Bangkok.
“This visa-free period will deliver people-to-people exchanges to a brand new peak,” Wang instructed a joint press convention. China was a prime supply for Thailand’s tourism trade, a significant driver of Southeast Asia’s second-largest financial system earlier than covid, however the return of Chinese language vacationers to Thailand has been sluggish.
“There might be an enormous enhance within the variety of Chinese language vacationers visiting Thailand,” Wang stated. The variety of Chinese language vacationers to Thailand plunged to three.5 million final 12 months from 11 million in 2019 earlier than the pandemic.
Beijing and Bangkok additionally pledged to speed-up the development of the China-Thailand railway and work collectively in combating transnational crimes, Wang stated. He and U.S. Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan held talks in Bangkok on Friday and Saturday about points together with bilateral relations, Taiwan and Iran.
