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TRAVELING in and out of southeast Asian countries is a cheap, fuss-free affair for ASEAN tourists, but for the rest, visa runs can prove stressful and expensive.
At the recent Thailand Travel Mart in Chiang Mai, Thai politician Surin Pitsuwan proposed the idea of multi-country tourist visas in order for ASEAN nations to foster a stronger bond through shared tourism promotions and revenues.
His pitch suggested that a single ASEAN visa could be more attractive to international travelers than individual visas would, and could also generate more interest for tourism within neighboring countries in southeast Asia.
Surin said, “The pattern of consumption of tourism here, on the landscape of ASEAN, is going to change.”
“ will come to Malaysia, but they will want to come to Phuket too. They come to Bali, but they would want to come to Chiang Mai too.”
At the moment, tour packages are offered for travelers wishing to travel to dual or multiple southeast Asian countries.
However, Surit stressed that a multi-country visa could help to streamline the process of visa requests for travelers from outside of ASEAN nations who do not have access to visa-on-arrival arrangements or visa-free exceptions.
He went on to suggest that an initial move could be approved to allow foreign tourists visiting Thailand an additional one-week “connecting” visa to the neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
However, Travel Pulse argued that even if the idea sounds practical on the surface, it’s more difficult to execute in theory. This is because ASEAN nations are subjected to their own immigration and visa policies as well as different approaches to security and screenings for inbound travelers.
The article went on to claim that a two-country visa is a more feasible option in the beginning stages rather than blanketing the whole region with a single visa.
Would you want to see the multi-country tourist visa being implemented in southeast Asia? Let us know in the comments below.
The post Would you support the idea of a multi-country tourist visa for southeast Asia? appeared first on Travel Wire Asia.
Source: travelwireasia.com