The relaxed and visa-free policies of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have helped the three countries reap a bumper crop of tourists.
As Southeast Asian countries open up to tourism after the pandemic, the race to attract international visitors to the region begins. The race will become more exciting in 2024 when most Southeast Asian countries aim to welcome the same number of visitors or higher than before the pandemic, in 2019.
Thailand, a regional tourism powerhouse, aims to welcome 35 million international visitors in 2024, nearly 90% of the 40 million in 2019. Singapore expects to welcome 15-16 million international visitors, up 84% from pre-pandemic levels. Malaysia aims to welcome 27 million visitors, up from 26.1 million in 2019.
Increasing flight routes, opening new tours, creating unique tourism products and especially relaxing visa requirements are solutions that many Southeast Asian countries are aiming for to attract tourists.
Thailand is the country that has expressed the most ambition in recovering and developing tourism after the pandemic, introducing many open policies.
On February 7, Prommin Lertsuridej, Secretary General of the Thai Prime Minister, said that the government is planning to cooperate with four neighboring countries, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia, to discuss visa exemptions. Thailand wants to establish an agreement that allows international visitors to travel freely between the five countries with only one visa from one country. If the countries agree, Thailand will bring this result to negotiate with the European Union (EU) to aim for visa exemptions between the Schengen group (27 countries, mostly in the EU) and the five ASEAN countries mentioned above.
Previously, Thailand also introduced many attractive visa policies from the end of 2023, such as Chinese and Kazakh tourists can enter without a visa, from September 25 to February 29, 2024. Thailand expects to attract an additional 5 million visitors from these two countries during the peak tourist season at the end of the year. Not stopping there, on January 2, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced that Thailand and China will permanently waive bilateral visas, effective from March 1. Thailand also reduced the visa issuance time from 14 to 7 working days, simplifying paperwork.
Chinese tourists visit the Grand Palace in Bangkok on January 29. Photo: EPA-EFE
Malaysia and Singapore have also rolled out visa-free policies for their largest international tourist markets. Malaysia will waive visas for Chinese and Indian visitors in December 2023 after previously exempting visitors from the wealthy Middle Eastern market and Jordan and Turkey. Singapore has implemented bilateral visa exemptions with China since February.
Visa exemption or relaxation policies have helped three Southeast Asian countries Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia achieve significant achievements in attracting tourism.
Malaysia had a successful year in 2023 as it became the top international tourist destination in Southeast Asia, with 29 million arrivals (higher than the target of 27 million in 2024), according to Focus Malaysia .
Responding to VnExpress, Director of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board in Vietnam Nor Hayati Zainuddin said she was "proud" that the tourism industry was leading the race in Southeast Asia. "This is a milestone for the continuous efforts of the government and the entire domestic tourism industry," Ms. Nor said.
A Malaysian representative said that one of the reasons that helped the tourism industry surpass the 26 million mark in 2019 was "improved customs procedures and relaxed visa policies". The Malaysian Immigration Department allows foreign visitors to register for digital customs declarations within 3 days before arriving in Malaysia, starting from December 1, to speed up immigration procedures and increase tourism and investment attraction. In addition, the policy of visa exemption for entry under 30 days for Indian and Chinese tourists is also implemented to attract tourists from these two billion-population markets.
Secretary-General Prommin Lertsuridej said the success of Thailand's visa-free policy contributed to the increase in international visitors, citing that in 2023, the country expected to welcome 25 million visitors but actually welcomed 28 million. In January, the country welcomed nearly 4 million international visitors, nearly double the 2.14 million in January 2023.
Sharing with VnExpress , the Singapore Tourism Board said the tourism industry recorded "a significant recovery in 2023", reaching 13.6 million international visitors, more than double that of 2022 and 71% compared to 2019.
Fan Dongxiao, director of the short-haul international travel department of Chinese online travel platform Tuniu, said Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are "very popular with Chinese tourists", especially after all three countries adopted visa-free policies.
The article on the website of the General Office of the State Council of China also stated that Thailand and Singapore are "the countries that benefit the most" by attracting more Chinese tourists than other countries, especially after the bilateral visa exemption. Chinese travel agencies said that the 5-day tour to Singapore - Malaysia during the Lunar New Year is one of the best-selling tours.
On average, each day during the Lunar New Year, Thailand welcomed nearly 125,000 international visitors, with Chinese visitors accounting for the majority. The number of room reservations in Thailand by Chinese visitors from February 10 to 17 (the first to eighth day of the Lunar New Year) increased by more than 240% compared to the same period last year.
Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports Sudawan Wangsuphakitkoson said on February 13 that international visitors are expected to continue arriving in February. Visa exemptions for visitors from China, India, and Kazakhstan, along with increased flight frequency, "are greatly supporting the Thai tourism industry."
The race to attract visa-based tourism in three Southeast Asian countries has resulted in a surge in visitors for those countries that have implemented the scheme. But it has also become a concern for the neighboring tourism industry as the largest market, China, gradually shifts away. Johnny Nee, director of a Perth-based travel agency, said "Australia is being disadvantaged" as Chinese tourists choose cheaper, closer-to-home destinations such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Notably, these three countries have all simultaneously exempted visas for China.
The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) said Chinese visitors to Australia during the Lunar New Year accounted for 26% of international visitors, much lower than the 50% figure for the same period in 2019. "The visa exemption policy from Thailand and Singapore is quite attractive," Nee added, believing that this has caused many Chinese visitors to "change" their travel destinations.
Phuong Anh (According to Reuters, Nation, Asia Nikke i)
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