Thursday February 07, 2008
Six-nation visa may be in place by 2015
KARNJANA KARNJANATAWE
Development Bank (ADB) is to provide $40 million (1.3 billion baht) in
funding to develop tourism and trans****tation infrastructure in
countries along the Mekong River.
At a recent meeting in Bangkok of tourism ministers from the Greater
Mekong Subregion (GMS), Arjun Thapan of the ADP noted that there have
been a rapid growth in tourism to the subregion over the past decade,
the number of visitors increasing from 10 million in 1995 to 24
million last year. The ADB expects total annual arrivals to exceed 50
million by 2015.
At the same gathering, Suvit Yodmani, former minister for Tourism and
S****ts, re****ted on the progress of introducing a common visa system
for visitors to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and China.
The idea was put forward in late 2003 and it is hoped to implement it
some time between 2010 and 2015.
At present, 70 per cent of foreign visitors to GMS nations spend their
entire holiday - an average of seven days - in a single country. Suvit
expects that the introduction of the common visa will not only make it
easier for people to travel to, and within, the GMS, but will also
increase the length of time and the amount of money they spend in the
subregion.
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