The government will extend the waiving of the Visa on Arrival fee by another six months (untill April 2020) to increase the number of foreign tourists in the kingdom.
The exemption from the visa fee was introduced in November last year and will expire at the end of this month.
Visa on Arrival
A Visa on Arrival is only issued to people from these 20 countries: Andorra, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Estonia, India, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Cyprus.
It usually costs 2000 Baht and allows to stay 14 days in Thailand.
Visitors from most western countries can enter Thailand for up to 30 days without a visa and free of charge.
A Tourist Visa with 1 Entry, good for 60 days in Thailand costs 35 Euro or 175 Euro with multiple entry. [more about visa fees]
Waiving of the Baht 2,000 fee has since led to a 120 per cent increase in tourist arrivals, mostly from China I guess.
The government also agreed to increase the quota for Australians entering Thailand on Work and Holiday Visas (WHV) from 500 to 2,000 per year.
The Cabinet also allocated 19 Billion Baht to spur local tourism, of which 10 Billion is a contingency spending for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
(Source: The Nation)
