A planned three-month extension of visa-on-arrival fee waivers is expected to raise billions of baht after the incentives drew 122 billion baht worth of tourism income in the past 3½ months.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, the Immigration Bureau commissioner, said the waivers introduced on Nov 15 played a key role in luring foreign visitors.
The bureau's statistics showed that from Nov 15 to March 31 there were 2,346,971 foreign visitors, up 892,376 from 1,454,595 in the year-earlier period.
"Based on an average 52,000 baht spent per person per trip, the country fetched 122.04 billion baht during that effective period," Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.
There were 1,704,539 Chinese visitors, up by 709,434, and 467,435 Indians, up by 139,069. Other foreign visitors totalled 2,346,971, up by 892,376.
The Immigration Bureau said it lost 4.69 billion baht in revenue from the fee waivers during the 3½ months.
The government waived visa-on-arrival fees for visitors from 21 countries to help boost the tourism industry from Nov 15 to Jan 14. The measure was later extended until April 30.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the Immigration Bureau was scheduled to propose to the cabinet's April 9 meeting an extension of the exemption of the 2,000-baht visa-on-arrival fee for visitors from 21 nations until July 31.
Vichit Prakobgosol, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta), said the extension will help attract foreign visitors during Songkran after pollution concerns in the North led to fewer charter flights from China to Chiang Mai.
Atta is scheduled to conduct roadshows in May in Xiamen, Nanchang, Changsha and cities in the southern part of China in a bid to lure Chinese tourists.
