The Anutin Charnvirakul government’s decision last week to cancel the extended visa-free entry scheme, which allowed stays of up to 60 days instead of 30, was based on the belief that it would strengthen national security, combat transnational crime, and prevent foreigners from exploiting the policy to work illegally, engage in business without permits, or behave unruly.
The government cited reports of foreign nationals and criminal syndicates posing as tourists in order to work illegally, engage in drug-related activity, use illegal business ownership structures, and commit other crimes. Authorities could strengthen immigration controls and improve the tracking and screening of foreign visitors without shortening the visa-free stay. They simply need to work harder and smarter
In an increasingly competitive global tourism market, the Thai government has decided to undermine one of its key competitive advantages. It is as if the government believes that the longer foreigners stay in Thailand, the greater the likelihood they will commit crimes, rather than the greater the likelihood that police will apprehend them.
Tourism competitiveness vs populist policymaking
While there is no solid evidence that these anti-crime objectives will be achieved, it is also premature to conclude that the move will not affect them. What is clear, however, is that the decision makes it more inconvenient for tourists wishing to stay longer than 30 days, as citizens of 93 eligible nationalities return to a 30-day limit.
This comes at a time when Thailand needs to maintain its tourism competitiveness and attract more foreign visitors amid global economic and political uncertainty and sluggish GDP growth. Last year, the Thai government also chose to shut down border trade with Cambodia during two disputes that could reasonably be described as avoidable, causing significant economic damage to both countries.
The government cited a study showing that most tourists stay just over nine days. If so, why reduce the limit instead of maintaining it to encourage longer stays? Officials say they fear criminals posing as tourists, as if 30 days were not enough time to commit crimes.
It is unfortunate that the government chose a populist response to rising concern over crimes involving foreign visitors. Admittedly, the move was popular among many Thais who have a tendency to blame foreigners for many of the things that go wrong in the kingdom. Some expatriates are also relieved, believing complaints about foreigners in Thailand may decrease and will not unfairly tar them by association.
The Role of Media and Stereotyping
Beyond the tendency to blame “outsiders” while ignoring Thai accomplices in many of these crimes — such as Thais acting as legal proxies for foreign criminals — the Thai press has inadvertently reinforced perceptions of certain nationalities as crime-prone or unruly. This occurs when the Thai press highlights cases of unlawful activities by foreign visitors and expats as ‘exotic news’, while the public often forgets that such cases represent a tiny minority of the more than 30 million foreigners who visit Thailand annually.
The urge to stereotype foreigners, or ‘the other,’ so we do not have to examine ourselves is real and problematic. Because misconduct and criminal activity involving foreigners are often treated as newsworthy by the Thai press, more Thais may be susceptible to drawing sweeping conclusions about people from certain nationalities, even when such behaviour does not represent most visitors from those countries.
We should refrain from being tempted to draw overly generalised views of the conducts of people from different nations, as much as we would detest any generalised views of Thais being bent on becoming illegal migrant workers in South Korea because tens of thousands of Thais are currently living illegally in South Korea.
Thais would oppose anyone who thinks all Thais are bent on becoming illegal migrant workers in South Korea. For the very same reason, we should avoid drawing a stereotypical conclusion about tourists from certain nationalities in Thailand.
A Call for Evidence-Based Policy
It is regrettable that the Thai government has taken a lazy option in dealing with the growing illegal activities and/or unruly behaviour by foreign tourists in Thailand, particularly when there is no hard evidence to suggest that longer stays lead to more crimes committed.
Steps to prevent people from misbehaving have been taken by at least one embassy in Thailand when the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok reminded its citizens to respect the laws of the countries they visit and reside in. Such an approach could be adopted by a few other embassies when more than a few of their citizens end up on the wrong side of the news.
“Please, for your own good, be sure to act according to the procedures and the laws of the place,” the Embassy of Israel wrote in the notice earlier this month with a focus on their nationals in Phuket after a series of incidents received media attention.
And since the government should base its decisions on facts and evidence, we need to follow up on the number of crimes committed by foreigners and the number of tourist arrivals and see whether the former drops significantly while the latter does not decline sharply in the next three to six months. If there is little correlation between shorter stays and less crime, then it is hoped that the Anutin government would be sane enough to revisit the decisions they made this month and reverse them.
According to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, Thailand welcomed more than 13.4 million foreign tourists between 1 January and 24 May, generating nearly 654 billion baht in tourism revenue.
The top arrivals by nationality include:
China: 2.24 million visitors (largest group)
Malaysia and India (with arrivals officially surpassing the one million mark this year)
Russia, and South Korea.
Now the police and the Ministry of Tourism will need to analyse the figures in the next three to six months from now and see whether the visa move was justified or not. If there’s not enough hard evidence, they should reinstate the 60-day visa-free entry scheme as soon as possible.
I do not want to be more pessimistic, but some see the move as an act of political performance — an attempt by the government to appear as though it is doing something about the situation. There is a Thai saying for this: ‘dumb but diligent’ — ngo tae khayan. I hope that is not the case.
