BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 31 OCTOBER 2023:
Recently, the Sri Lankan government has announced entry of Indians to the island country without VISA and now, Thailand government has announced VISA free entry to Indians for six months. The Travel agents associations have welcomed this move.
In September, Thailand has scrapped VISA requirements for Chinese tourists and now to Indians, it will further boost the tourism in the country.
In the first ten months of this year 22 million tourists have visited Amazing Thailand.
According to officials of Thailand government the requirement of VISA for Indians have been waived off from 10 November 2023 to 10 May 2024.
India has been the fourth largest resource market this year for Thailand Tourism with over 1.2 million arrivals. In 2019, a year before the global Covid 19 pandemic broke out a record number of tourists from India has visited Thailand.
Talking to The Travel and Tourism Times, Mr. Anil Punjabi, national executive committee member of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said that he is sure that there will be a boost in the off peak season also after the announcement of VISA waivers to Indians.
“ Even the airfares are coming down and Thailand tourism is now cheaper than even our domestic packages. Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for the tourists from the Eastern part of India and is very well connected from Kolkata,” added Mr. Anil Punjabi.
Malaysia, China and South Korea has been the three top resource markets for Thailand Tourism followed by India and Taiwan.
The Tourism Authority of India (TAT) has set a target of 28 million tourists arrivals this year. In 2019, the contribution of travel and tourism sector in the country’s GDP was a whopping 21.9 percent. Tourism Author ity of Thailand (TAT) has two offices in India – New Delhi and Mumbai.
MAJOR UPCOMING FESTIVAL:
One of Thailand’s most popular and most visually stunning annual festivals, #LoiKrathong is celebrated during the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar. This year the festival is on Monday, 27 November.
Also known as the ‘Festival of Lights’ and the floating lantern festival, Loi Krathong sees people everywhere gather in the evening at lakes, rivers, canals, and beaches to participate in the celebrations and pay respect to the goddess of water.
In Thai, the word Loi means ‘float’ and Krathong means ‘container, boat, or vessel’, and people float a krathong decorated with candles and flowers onto the water. The Thais believe this is a way to rid oneself of bad luck and negative feelings, and to bring good luck and positive feelings.
Last week, Sri Lanka has also similarly announced VISA free entry to Indian tourists and also tourists of China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to further boost the tourism sector. The offer will be available till 31 st March 2024.
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