Ministry seeks incentives for Japanese long-stay visitors

The Tourism and Sports Ministry plans to sound out the Board of Investment (BoI) on measures to woo back long-stay Japanese tourists to Thailand.

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul will talk to the BoI about potential investment promotions for longstay tourism in a bid to make it a major source of national revenue.

Such a move could help to boost Thailand’s competitiveness against neighbouring Malaysia, which actively promotes longstay tourism.

Mrs Kobkarn joined Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on his visit to Japan this week and was updated on Japanese long-stayers by Ryuji Funayama, chairman of Japan’s Long Stay Foundation, which advises Japanese who stay abroad for lengthy periods.

Japan now has 1.2 million long-stayers, with the number rising each year.

Some 60,000 Japanese tourists visit Thailand annually, 4,000 of whom head to Chiang Mai.

Statistics show Thailand has fallen in popularity among Japanese retiree tourists, to perhaps sixth place from second before.

Their favourite destination is now Malaysia, whose government grants 10-year visas that can be renewed for another 10 years to visitors who are financially stable.

Malaysia also lets long-stay tourists transfer their property ownership to descendants, and Mrs Kobkarn said this ownership transfer was important to the elderly.

“The limit on foreign property ownership is a big issue for Japanese long-stay tourists,” she said.

“Elderly on long stays abroad are interested in buying condos or houses. This goes along with the growing trend of free, independent travellers among elderly who do not want to depend on agents any more.”

Japanese travellers have told others about the obstacles in Thailand, leading to second thoughts among those who had planned to have a long stay here.

Malaysia has conducted marketing campaigns to attract long-stay tourists from 10 cities in Japan.

Long-stay tourism is one of 12 key economic areas for Malaysia, which hopes to draw 36 million visitors and generate 168 billion ringgit (1.52 trillion baht) by 2020.