Thailand visa fee cut for Chinese tourists to boost flagging sector

	(CRI) Many people are enthralled by the tropical weather and rich culture of the magical 'Land of Smiles' - Thailand. If you are one of them, here comes a good news - the country is slashing visa fees for tourists from 19 countries and regions including China, for a period of three months starting in December. The Thai cabinet announced recently that it would eliminate visa fees for tourists from 18 countries, as well as China's Taiwan, who apply for a visa at a local Thai embassy, and halve visa-on-arrival fees to 1,000 baht (about 28 USD). The move is aimed at boosting tourism, which is a main engine of the Thai economy, with the period fro m December to April the high season for Thai's tourism. However, the country's tourism sector has been suffering over the past few months for various reasons, according to a staff from a travel agency in southeast China's Fujian Province. For example, Thailand has just increased visa fees to 2,000 baht (about 56 USD) on September 27 this year. Meanwhile, the death of the Thai king has had an enormous impact on the country's tourism and the number of tourists from China has been reduced by 60 percent, as the country declared a month-long ban on public entertainment, the staff said. The Thai government hopes the policy would bring 350,000 more international tourists and 28 billion baht (about 787 million USD) tourism revenue to the country, as the time period coincides with the international winter break, Christmas, New Year's and Chinese New Year, according to media reports. The 18 countries whose visa fees are to be cut or made exempt for the three months are Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Source: CRI from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm