(Yicai) March 26 — The number of tourists from Thailand to China has surged after the agreement between the two countries on reciprocal 30-day visa waivers kicked in on March 1.
The border station in China’s southern Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, has inspected and released 17 times more Thai tourists in the first 15 days of March than a month earlier, it said. Such travelers entering China through the Kunming port in the same province surged 866 percent to 7,100, with over 6,600 eligible for visa exemption, the Kunming Border Inspection Station noted.
Yunnan and Thailand are separated by about 200 kilometers by land, the shortest such distance between China and Thailand, with the number of Thai tourists entering the province by land or air soaring since the start of the visa-free policy. In addition, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other modern Chinese cities are attracting more Thai visitors.
It has become much more convenient for Thai tour groups to enter China thanks to the visa-free policy, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Yu Bo, a tour guide at Yunnan International Travel Service’s Xishuangbanna branch. Previously, tourists had to get a visa on arrival at Yunnan’s Mohan port after taking a train from Laos’s capital Vientiane to Boten on the China-Laos border, but now they can enter directly via the Laos–China Railway, Yu added.
Thai people are also interested in Xishuangbanna because they share a language and customs similar to those of the local Dai ethnic minority, sparking their curiosity.
Thai tourists mostly fly to Kunming Changshui International Airport or take the Laos–China Railway to Yunnan’s Mohan station.
China and Thailand also have complementary tourism resources, with Chinese tourists visiting Thailand for its sunshine and beaches, while Thai travelers go the opposite way on ice and snow tours.
Thai people needed to apply for a visa in Thailand three to four weeks before traveling to China previously, so the reciprocal 30-day visa waivers save a lot of time and about THB2,000 (USD55), attracting more citizens to travel, said Chen Meijuan, a manager at Thailand’s Dongyu International Travel and Trade.
Editor: Martin Kadiev