Thailand will offer visa-free entry to tourists from India and Taiwan for a six-month trial period starting next month.

The move is aimed at reviving the country's tourism sector which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thailand's tourism sector accounts for almost 20% of the country's GDP, but it has struggled to recover since the pandemic began.

Indian and Taiwanese tourists are a key market for Thailand, and the government hopes that the visa-free entry scheme will attract more visitors from these countries.

Until now, tourists from India and Taiwan had to apply for a 15-day visa-on-arrival at immigration checkpoints.

The new scheme allows them to stay in Thailand for up to 30 days without having to apply for a visa.

The government has already opened a similar visa-free scheme for Chinese tourists in September.

It hopes that the scheme for Indian and Taiwanese tourists will attract an additional 1.4 million visitors and generate an additional 55 billion baht ($1.5 billion) in income.

In the first nine months of 2023, Thailand received about 1.2 million Indian visitors, making India the fourth-largest source of tourists for the country.

The government is confident that the visa-free entry scheme will help to boost the number of Indian visitors even further.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who took power in August, has said that boosting the tourism sector is a top priority for his government. He hopes that the visa-free entry scheme for Indian and Taiwanese tourists will be a step in the right direction.