Thailand expands visa-free countries to 93, including Cuba, Mexico and Colombia

Thai authorities stated this Friday that the list of countries exempt from visas to travel to the Asian country will be expanded from 57 to 93 starting next Monday, by including new additions in Latin America such as Mexico, Colombia and Cuba, among others.

On the Thai government’s Facebook page, the Thai Ministry of the Interior indicated that the new list of countries whose citizens are allowed a stay up to 60 days comes into effect July 15. The measure seeks to encourage tourism since the exotic southeast Asian country is still recovering from economic losses suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that took place largely from 2020-2021.

Countries such as Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru did not need previously require a visa before the new measure, but the recent expansion will benefit more Latin American countries such as Panama, Guatemala, Uruguay and Ecuador.

In the last year, Thailand has reached agreements on visa exemptions and extended stay permits with countries such as China, India and Russia in an attempt to revive tourism. Those countries previously represented between 12% and 20% of the country’s gross domestic product before the pandemic started.

In 2023, an estimated 28 million foreign tourists visited Thailand, mainly from Malaysia (4.6 million), China (3.5 million), South Korea (1.66 million), India (1.62 million) and Russia (1.4 million), according to official data.

This year, the Thai Ministry of Tourism foresees a more robust recovery of the sector with the arrival of some 35 million international tourists. In 2019, the year before the pandemic started, the Asian country reached close to 40 million tourists, with Chinese travelers accounting for more than 27% of the more than 11 million tourists who visit the Asian state.