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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BANGKOK — Thailand’s cabinet has approved a plan to reduce the length of visa-free stays for tourists from more than 90 countries in an effort to curb crime involving foreign nationals, officials said on Tuesday..
The decision, issued on Tuesday, shifts the country away from a sweeping 60-day visa exemption introduced in July 2024 to stimulate its post-pandemic recovery. The exemption applied to tourists from 93 countries including the United States, Israel, some South American states and Europe’s 29-nation Schengen zone.
Under the new framework, the government will revert to a tiered system, capping visa-free stays at 30 days while shortening permission for citizens of some countries to just 15 days.
“The current scheme has allowed some people to exploit it,” government spokesperson Rachada Dhanadirek told reporters in Bangkok, noting that while tourism remains an indispensable pillar of the Thai economy, security concerns have taken priority.
There have been a series of high-profile arrests of foreigners in the south-east Asian nation, including cases linked to drugs and sex trafficking.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government found the policy needed revising "to be more suitable for the current situation, both in terms of the economy and national security".
Nationals who have enjoyed the 60-day exemption include those from Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain and the US.
Many of those countries' citizens will now have to apply for a visa for stays longer than 30 days, the Thai foreign ministry said, though some will have exemption periods shorter or longer than this based on reciprocal agreements with individual countries.
The new visa system will come into effect 15 days after it appears in the Royal Gazette, where legal and regulatory notifications are published.
Thailand is one of Asia's top holiday destinations, with tourism a key component of the nation's economy.
It had nearly 40 million visitors in 2019, but this number fell dramatically during the pandemic and has only recovered in the past two years. Nearly 12 million people have already visited so far this year, official figures show.
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