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Thailand is one of the most popular travel destinations for Swiss people. No wonder: the country is well connected by air, it is cheap and you do not need a visa for entry.
However, Thai people need a visa to enter Switzerland and the entire Schengen area. This doesn’t really encourage tourism in our direction.
One visa to many countries
However, this may change soon. Thailand, along with its Southeast Asian neighbors Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, plans to start negotiations with the European Union (EU) to introduce reciprocal free entry visas. Prommin Lertsuridej, secretary general to the Thai prime minister, announced this this week.
What’s new is that tourists from the Schengen area, including Switzerland, can access all five countries with a single document. So far, a general visa requirement still applies in Vietnam and Cambodia, in Laos for stays longer than 15 days, and in Malaysia and Thailand for stays longer than 30 days.
Conversely, this will mean that tourists from Southeast Asia will have easier access to Europe. It should be noted that the flow of tourism in our direction is disproportionate to the flow of tourism from Europe to Southeast Asia.
However, there is no signal yet as to whether the EU will be ready for such an agreement. Therefore, there is no time horizon yet for a possible entry.
It’s always good to be visa free
Thailand is leading the initiative. The country argues that the visa exemption for tourists in the Schengen area, which was introduced in July 2013 and was only abolished during the Corona period, provided a great growth in Thai tourism.
28 million people visited Thailand last year. Neighboring countries also want to get a bigger share of this cake. On the contrary, European countries and Switzerland should not oppose the arrival of a few more tourists from the growing middle class of Southeast Asian countries.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
