Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of video suggests, we are discussing this upcoming "Electronic Travel Authorization". This is one of those I am very much hoping cooler heads prevail and we don't see this, but that said, let me dig in here. Quoting directly from a recent article in the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: New 6-country tourist visa planned by Foreign Ministry. Note 'planned', okay? We talked about this almost a year ago. I have talked about this multiple times in the context of a possible pan-ASEAN Visa. There are always plans to have this sort of multi-jurisdictional Visa. As a practical matter I don't know. I think it's possible, but I don't think it's going to be happening anytime soon. Quoting further: "New 6-country Tourist Visa planned by the Foreign Ministry as well as Electronic Travel Authorization. Quoting directly: "Thailand is working on a new 6-country Tourist Visa plan covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Malaysia, plus a new Electronic Travel Authorization System." So, let's set the 6-country Visa aside; we have talked about that in the past. If it came to fruition okay. I think, again they talk about this like it's almost a foregone conclusion but you're talking about six different Immigration Authorities having to coordinate such a Visa. That is a tall order under any circumstances. Quoting further: "Seen by many as one of the more decisive Cabinet Ministers.." - well decisive insofar as talking about things beyond your bailiwick, decisive? Because they keep talking about Immigration matters that; again they talked about the DTV, 'you'll be able to extend it in country'. Well Immigration hasn't said anything about that. "It's going to be easy to come and go over the borders and this, that and the other thing.' It's not Ministry of Foreign Affairs that would be administering that, it's Immigration under Interior that deals with that. Quoting further: "Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa on Thursday gave an overview of his Ministry's plan to assemble members of the press corps at the Ministry in Bangkok." Again, that's what's really worth noting here too. A lot of this is a PR blitz and on one level I think it's a good thing. Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be out there making proactive moves to get people to travel to Thailand, so as far as that goes, good. That said, again creating unrealistic expectations and more importantly ring-fencing Thailand in from tourists is not such a good thing, and what am I talking about? Let me get to it further. "The Minister confirmed the new Electronic Travel Authorization System". So to be clear, this is similar to what we call ESTA in the United States, that's the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. It was discussed and described as the so-called back door Visa under the George W. Bush Administration. Bear that in mind because that gives you some idea who came up with this in the American context. My opinion, it was a terrible idea; it arguably decreased tourism to the United States substantially. So this back door Visa basically what it means is - in the United States context - if you were a Visa waiver country - for example you had a British passport - you didn't need to go get a Tourist Visa, you just got on a plane, went to the United States, they stamped you in under our Visa waiver program, and that was it. Like with Thailand, if you have a US passport or British, you just get on a plane, come in to Thailand, they stamp you in under the Visa Exemption stamp, akin to a Visa waiver if you will in the American context. 

Now what they're planning to do in Thailand and what they are currently doing in the United States, you have to go through ESTA in the United States which as they call is a backdoor Visa, because it's Travel Authorization. Even though you don't have to go to an Embassy and get an actual Tourist Visa sticker put into your passport, you still have to deal with ESTA which is a travel authorization. And what is travel authorization if it's not a Visa? That's why it's called a back door visa. What I'm talking about in the context of Thailand is they are looking at putting on one of these for Thailand which is going to ring fence Thailand from tourism in a way; it's going to make it harder as just a Visa exempt passport holder, to just get on a plane and come to Thailand. You're going to have to go through this Electronic Travel Authorization. What does that mean? Well, it remains to be seen exactly, but I think we have some idea - it's going to look a lot like the Thailand Pass. Effectively they're bringing back the Thailand Pass, the so-called Certificate of Entry that we saw administered at the beginning of the so-called COVID emergency here in Thailand. They shut down the country and then they said anybody that wanted to come in, first had to get documentation from Ministry of Foreign Affairs called a Certificate of Entry. They later digitized that program and created what was called the Thailand Pass Program and then they got rid of it when we got rid of the Emergency Decree. I would kind of like to know where they get the authority to administer it now. They are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; this does pertain to travel inbound from Thailand from outside, so I guess that is within their bailiwick, but I thought this could only be rolled out in terms of an emergency. I don't see where there's any great emergency that requires this Electronic Travel Authorization. 

That being said okay, we're probably going to get it one way or the other but again I question whether or not this is the best idea for Thailand. I can really see tourists down the line mind being put off by having to deal with going on to some online bureaucratic system and fill out a bunch of stuff. Let's be also honest, how often have a lot of these online digital systems that interact with the Government really worked all that well? I'm not saying this one won't but it's going to have bugs and those bugs are going to cause people to get frustrated and possibly cause people to not want to come here. Again, there is maybe a way to do this and a way not to, but to effectively put the Thailand Pass back on to Thailand at a time that it doesn't need it, I don't really see where that's a great idea. Meanwhile I can see a situation where it's going to negatively impact the tourism sector here. That said, quoting further: "In particular, he announced plans for a new Visa regime that would allow access to Thailand and it's five neighbouring countries, such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia." Again, this has been discussed for a long time. I think this is unlikely to happen in the near term. Not impossible, maybe they'll make proactive moves and get a deal done but again you are talking about six different Immigration apparatuses having to operate in coordination here in Southeast Asia. That's a tall order. Quoting further: "The Minister emphasized that the Ministry was working with the Government to boost the country's economy." Well, I fail to see where creating an extra step for tourists to even get in the country is going to create much of a boost. Quoting further: "At the same time, he insisted that Thailand would remain a 'neutral' player in geopolitics. The latter commitment is increasingly being examined as tensions between China and the United States in the region have grown substantially." 

Okay that's all interesting, but long story short this Electronic Travel Authorization, it looks like they're going to be rolling it out. I hope cooler heads prevail and they don't. It is set to roll out in my understanding at the turn of the year so we'll be dealing with it in 2025. Again, I'm hoping we don't end up doing this because I don't think it's the greatest idea for Thailand to effectively re-administer the "Thailand Pass" at a time when there's no exigent need to do so and it could also result in a drop in tourism to the Kingdom of Thailand.