Yes. Travelling to Thailand just got cheaper. A popular destination for Indians, the Thai Cabinet recently passed a motion to waive off the visa on arrival fees (it is 2000 Thai Baht or approximately ₹4400 currently) for Indian travellers for two months starting from December 1, 2018.

Not just for Indians, Thailand visa on arrival facility is now free for travellers from Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as well. However, the duration of stay for travellers using visa on arrival facility remains 15 days.

Why suddenly?

There’s been a huge dip in travellers from China to Thailand and to make up for that loss, the Thai Government is trying to attract travellers from across the globe. They expect a 30% bump in tourism numbers with this move.

What makes this move a little strange is that Thailand had in June 2018 completely shut Maya Bay which was made famous by Leonardo Di Caprio’s movie The Beach because of over-pollution by tourists. Now, they are trying to do the reverse – trying hard to get more tourists to come into the country.

Island hopping in Krabi!

Given that the average trip to Thailand for two costs around ₹1 lakh, a saving of ₹8,800 turns out to be a decent enough saving, thus making Thailand an even more attractive destination for a quick trip.

Roaming around the streets of Krabi

For those looking to take advantage of this move, check out our Thailand 10 day itinerary where we started from the south, spent four nights in Krabi, three nights in Chiang Mai and two nights in Bangkok.

Here are a few pics from our trip.

At Doi Inthanon – The Highest Spot in Thailand

White Temple in Chiang Rai

Check out more on our Instagram handle.

Have we enticed you enough to pack your bags? What are your plans for the upcoming vacation season?

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