Thailand and China Scrap Visa Rules to Unleash Tourism Starting March 2024
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced this week that visa requirements will be indefinitely waived for Chinese citizens starting next March. The new open-border pact aims to unleash travel demand stifled by red tape.
Thailand initially waived visas for Chinese tourists for a limited period last September to inject new life into arrivals, which had cooled partly due to Thailand’s dropping appeal amid strict COVID policies. The pilot program saw an immediate impact, with over 22,000 Chinese flocking to Thailand within the first two days visa-free. Building on this success, both governments moved to permanently scrap visas starting March 2024.
For China’s outbound travelers, Thailand offers tantalizing tropical landscapes, bustling modern cities and renowned historical sites without the need to sweat visa logistics anymore.
Srettha said the reciprocal visa-free policy will “help promote economic growth for both countries…and strengthen the strategic partnership.” Thailand relies heavily on Chinese visitors, who contributed 11 million arrivals in 2019.
While tourism plunged across Asia during the pandemic, analysts say Thailand lost market share to locations like Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines aggressively easing restrictions earlier.
The permanent joint visa waiver signals eagerness to recapture Chinese hearts, and wallets, with doors flung open next March. From street food crawls to scuba diving, Thailand’s accessibility from China just leveled up long-term.
