TAIPEI, 4 December 2019: Taiwanese intending to visit Thailand will be required to show they have sufficient funds when applying for a tourist visa if they are not travelling on package holiday tours.
Taipei Times quoted local travel agents in a report last week that was based on a 12 November announcement by the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei.
It warned travellers it would implement an e-visa application including payments effective this month for Taiwanese citizens. They will need to complete the visa form online and then request an appointment to submit their passports in person to the office.
The office said it would no longer accept walk-in visa applications without an online appointment according to Taipei Times.
Local travel operators told the newspaper that applicants would also need to provide bank details for the three months prior to their travel dates.
Taipei-based Cola Tour said that the requirement is limited to individual travellers and that members of tour groups need only to provide a letter of guarantee from their place of work or travel operator.
During the first 10 months of this year, 700,356 Taiwanese travellers visited Thailand, a 23.96% gain year-on-year, according to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau data on outbound travel.
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism’s data for the 10 months records Taiwanese made 660,923 trips to Thailand, representing an increase of 14.27%.
Guess who pressured the Thai government to do this. Correct. Beijing.
Thailand is becoming a vassal state of China.