The Ministry of Tourism and Sports have asked the government to extend the tourism stimulus measures for another year and yesterday deputy government spokesman Watchara Kannika confirmed that the the measures will be extended from April 1, 2010 and go through to March 31, 2011.
The free tourist visa measure was set to expire on March 5, 2010 and it looks like it still will and there will be a period of 3 weeks where the tourist visa will again be charged for before the April 1st stimulus measures start.The good news is that coupled with the free tourist visa initiative each foreign tourist will also be granted $10,000 of free riot insurance which will cover their trip in the event that things get dicey on the political front. The insurance policy provides for payments of up to $10,000 in the event of death, injury, and/or trip inconvenience, and will only cover people in possession of a 60-day tourist visa.
Full measures cited in this stimulus package include:
- Visa fee exemption for foreign tourists.
- Helping state agencies hold seminars and field trips in the country to boost domestic spending.
- Cutting the electricity consumption guarantee fund for hotel operators.
- Reduced aircraft landing and parking fees.
- Providing free-of-charge riot protection insurance worth US$10,000 for each foreign tourist.
- Allowing business operators who organize domestic seminars, training courses and tourist destination trips for employees to deduct the cost for tax purposes.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports noted that tourism was down by 3% from 2008-2009 and they feel that continuing the stimulus measures will help bring tourism numbers back up to where they are expected to be for 2010. It’s estimated by the Ministry that 15.3 to 15.5 million foreign tourists will visit Thailand in 2010.
All in all some very good news to anyone visiting the Kingdom of Thailand this year for an extended stay.
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