Thailand and Sri Lanka Extend Visa-Free Entry for Indian Visitors

Bangkok, Thailand / Colombo, Sri Lanka - Thailand and Sri Lanka have announced the extension of visa-free entry facilities for visitors from India and other select countries. The move is expected to boost tourism in both countries, particularly from India.

Thailand has extended its visa-free entry until November 11, 2024. The facility, which was implemented on November 10, 2023, was initially set to expire on May 10, 2024. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has announced the extension of its visa-free facility until May 31, 2024. The country had started offering visa-free entry as a pilot project in October of the previous year. In both countries, the facility is valid for 30 days for visitors from India.

Officials from the Tourism Authority of Thailand reported a sharp increase in the number of tourists from India since the implementation of the visa-free facility. Between November 2022 and April 2023, Thailand welcomed 755,066 visitors from India. This number rose to 968,000 between November 2023 and April 2024, marking a 28.2 per cent increase in the number of visitors from India compared with the previous year.

“India is a very important market for us,” said Sirges-a-nong Trirattanasongpol, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s New Delhi Office. “This helped the Thailand government decide to extend the visa-free facility.”

In Calcutta, tour operators anticipate that the extension will boost travel to these destinations, especially during the summer and Puja vacations. City-based businessman Mukesh Hathiramani, who was planning a trip to Singapore with his wife to visit their daughter, changed his plans after learning about the extension of the visa-free entry facility in Thailand. Hathiramani and his wife will now travel to Thailand on May 19 for an eight-day trip, where their daughter will join them.

“The facility has boosted group travel and destination weddings to both Thailand and Sri Lanka. We expect the number of tourists to these countries to exceed even the pre-Covid period,” said Anil Punjabi, a national committee member of the Travel Agents Federation of India, representing the eastern region.

Typically, an Indian citizen would need to spend Rs 3,000 for a Thai visa and maintain a balance of Rs 70,000 in their bank account, according to tour operators. The visa-free entry facility, therefore, presents a significant saving for Indian tourists.