Asean Travel And Tours

  Tourists on the Chao Praya River in Bangkok on Dec. 9, 2022. Photo by AFP Thailand's Cabinet recently introduced updates to the qualifications, criteria, and conditions of the Long-Term Resident (LTR) Visa program, aiming to attract a broader range of experts, investors, and executives to strengthen the country's foreign talent pool. In a statement on Jan. 15, the Board of Investment (BOI) said the minimum annual income requirement for Wealthy Global Citizens category applicants has been removed to prioritize the cumulative wealth and investments in Thailand, which are the core requirements for this category, aligning with the goal of encouraging greater foreign investment activity in the country. Meanwhile, the corporate revenue requirement for overseas-based employers sponsoring an applicant has been lowered. The rights for dependents of the principal applicant, to any of the four LTR categories have been expanded without a limitation on the number of dependents. The rights...

Foreign tourists take a group photo at Southeast Asia's deepest canyon Tu San in Ha Giang Province in northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Ha Giang Department of TourismThe exemption of tourist visas for citizens of all 27 EU member countries would help Vietnamese tourism compete with neighbors like Thailand and Singapore, experts say. "Vietnam should consider waiving visas for all EU citizens to boost its tourism industry and strengthen its ties with the European Union," Martin Koerner, head of tourism working group at Vietnam Business Forum, told VnExpress International. "It will attract more visitors from the EU market, which has a population of over 500 million and a high demand for travel as well as high budget." The European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam last week called on Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to waive visas for the remaining 20 countries in the 27-member EU. Now only nationals of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland can e...