Recently, in order to attract more foreign tourists who have stayed for a long time, the Thai government refers to the idea of the EU Schengen Zone, and is jointly developed a plan to jointly develop a joint visa plan with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.According to reports, this mechanism is to ensure that tourists are unobstructed in these six countries.At present, the leaders of most related countries give positive responses to the concept.
The six countries attracted about 70 million tourists last year; of which Thailand and Malaysia were more than half.Thailand's tourism industry has always been good, and the government's goal is to attract 80 million tourists in 2027.Tourism accounts for 18%of the GDP in Thailand.As early as 2019, Thailand had the idea of launching the "Asian Simpan Visa", but it failed to implement it.
Thai tourism industry is quite optimistic about a single visa plan. It is more attractive to call for the validity period to be extended from general 30 days to 90 days.Although a single visa plan is ambitious, it will be a long -term goal.Some analysts believe that it is not easy for countries to coordinate the launch of the Asian Simpan visa.Titanon Puffallak, a professor of political science at Julalongkong University in Thailand, said that the approval of the joint visa plan must be coordinated, and the current national development level and immigration standards planned to participate are different.These may bring challenges.
In addition, it was affected by the negative messages of Northern Myanmar telephone fraud in recent years, the abduction of Chinese people, and the Cambodian West Port Casino, especially last year, a anti -fraud film was described in China.Concerns, think unsafe.Whether the tourism market in Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and other countries is mature, and whether the tourism industry is prepared to be observed.
In this case, is it a better choice to give priority to letting New Matai form a Schengen area?
New Matai is a dedicated vocabulary in China. Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have similar geographical locations. This tourist line is favored by Chinese tourists.On March 1, China and Thailand officially entered the era of visa -free.Since then, the three new Matai and the three countries have achieved visa exemptions with China, forming a "visa -free circle of friends".Therefore, the new Matai first formed a Schengen area to achieve a single visa to travel to the Three Kingdoms. It is currently ideal and realistic solution.The public security and economic level of these three countries are better, and the tourism market is relatively mature, which has always been favored by the Chinese.If the Three Kingdoms can coordinate each other, it is not impossible to achieve the prototype of the Southeast Asian version of the Schengen area, which will greatly increase the attractiveness of tourists, and it may not only target Chinese tourists.
The Schengen area in Europe was not built in one day.At the establishment of the Shengen District in 1995, only seven countries have developed to the present, and have reached 26 member states.Therefore, the "Schengen Zone" of New Matai can also develop slowly, and it will be successful in one day. It depends on the development level and specific national conditions of other countries.This policy is not necessarily static. If criminal phenomena such as smuggling or smuggling increase, you can still restore the border inspection and visa system.
If the new Matai Schengen area is successfully tried and achieved the ideal effect, you can add other Asianan countries to add and expand the lineup.Compared with Europe, the number of Southeast Asian countries is relatively small, and the visa mutual communication policy is relatively easy to manage.If the plan can be successful, I believe that the development of the Southeast Asian tourism industry will be a milestone leap.
The author is Hong Kong journalist
