Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is spearheading a proposal to develop a joint visa program with countries that welcomed around 70 million tourists last year. This move is part of a larger attempt to increase Thailand’s appeal to long-haul travelers, who are more likely to spend money during their visits.
In recent months, Srettha, who has pledged to turn Thailand from a tourism hotspot to an aviation and logistics hub, has had talks with officials from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam about implementing a Schengen-style visa system. This project seeks to allow smooth and unrestricted travel between the six surrounding nations, fostering seamless mobility for travelers.
If resorts are to be believed, six Southeast Asian nations will receive 70 million foreign tourists in 2023. Thailand and Malaysia provided more than half of this total, generating almost $48 billion in tourism revenue.
The single-visa idea is one of Srettha’s most ambitious tourism goals, albeit its execution is planned for the future. Tourism has proven to be an important economic pillar, accounting for around 20% of total employment and 12% of the nation’s $500 billion economy. Aside from the pandemic years, tourism has consistently thrived, providing a cushion against downturns in industry and exports, which have traditionally served as the economy’s basis.
Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, former president of the Thai Hotels Association, feels that a shared visa, similar to the Schengen visa, will allow long-haul travelers to make more simplified judgments. She also suggests that, to increase its attractiveness, the visa validity period be extended from the regular 30-day period to 90 days.
Srettha’s administration has set an ambitious objective of luring 80 million tourists by 2027. In the roughly seven months after taking office, his administration has launched a number of initiatives to attain this goal. These include negotiating a reciprocal visa waiver agreement with China and granting temporary visa waivers to visitors from India, Taiwan, and Kazakhstan.
However, establishing a Schengen-style visa system, which allows for unrestricted travel across Europe’s border-free zone, may pose challenges for ASEAN due to its history of slow progress in expediting multilateral policy frameworks and its reputation as primarily a forum for discussion rather than decisive action.