The Tourism and Sports Ministry is eyeing to revert its visa policy back to 30 days visa on arrival, as illegal business exploitation using the visa scheme is on the rise.
In a Bangkok Post report, Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said that the Foreign Ministry acknowledged the issue “has been widely discussed among all related stakeholders in the past few weeks.”
During their discussions, the reduction from 60 to 30 days for “citizens from countries granted a visa exemption under the programme”, however, additional details are still being ironed out before the new implementation.
Since then, 93 countries have been allowed by the government to enter Thailand for tourism purposes within 60 days since they started in July 2024, from the original 57 countries.
The Association of Thai Travel Agents also raised concerns on the growing number of foreigners illegally working in the country, while the Thai Hotels Association believes this has partly caused the increase in the number of condos being illegally rented out.