Work permit holders account for largest group of foreigners to enter Thailand in last 10 months
More work permit holders than foreign tourists have entered Thailand in the last ten months, new data has revealed.
According to data released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 81,489 foreigners entered Thailand between 4 April 2020 and 13 February 2021.
Of those, work permit holders, including their spouses and children (30,738 in total), accounted for the largest group of foreigners to have entered the country.
Retirees were part of the group that account for the second largest amount of foreign arrivals.
While the stats didn’t specifically identify if tourists had entered under the Special Tourist Visa or Thailand Elite program, they are likely included in the listed as “People under special agreement such as businessmen, tourists & retirees (24,852)”.
Those married to Thai nationals were the 4th largest group, with some 9,618 in total arriving in Thailand, while students and ‘other’ made up the remaining arrivals.
The stats further reiterate the desperately grim state Thailand’s tourism industry finds itself in.
As Thaivisa reported earlier this month, the amount of foreign tourists who have entered the country over the past 10 months are fewer than would typically have entered Thailand in a single day prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Despite Thailand launching its Special Tourist Visa scheme and allowing foreigners to enter the country on 60 day tourist visas and visa exempt entries, it hasn’t been enough to tempt foreigners to visit the country in any significant numbers.
Source: Richard Barrow & Thaivisa
