Tourism hotspot Thailand introduces mandatory digital arrival card for foreign visitors
Thailand will require foreign visitors to fill out a pre-departure digital form from May 1, a move that will make it easy for authorities to track travellers amid a broadening crackdown against human trafficking into Southeast Asia's illegal cybercrime centres.
Starting Monday, travelers can fill up the Thailand Digital Arrival Card for trips beginning Thursday. The online card replaces the previously used paper form, and is mandatory for all foreigners entering the country by air, land or sea routes, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The forms can be accessed on the Thai Immigration Bureau's website.
The arrival cards will be synced with the Thai immigration bureau's biometric database, which will allow for the screening of criminal backgrounds of visitors, Choengron Rimpadee, chief of the Immigration Division 2 at Suvarnabhumi Airport, told reporters last week.
The introduction of a mandatory pre-departure card comes in the wake of a multinational crackdown against criminal gangs operating cyber scam centres in the border towns of Myanmar and Cambodia. The viral kidnapping of a Chinese actor earlier this year triggered the campaign as trafficking through Thailand has stoked security concerns among Chinese travellers, who were the largest group of tourists last year.
Thailand is popular among tourists for its tropical climate, pristine beaches, a vibrant nightlife and Buddhist temples. The industry, which employs one in five of the country's workforce and accounts for about 13% of gross domestic product, has welcomed about 12 million tourists since the start of the year, little changed from a year earlier.
Travellers may submit the online forms up to three days before their scheduled arrival date, and they can be submitted individually or as a group, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Required details include passport information, personal and travel details, accommodation in Thailand, and a basic health declaration. It's modelled on the digital arrival card requirements in many other countries.
Still, the mandatory arrival cards are unlikely to affect tourism sentiment, according to Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
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