Image from The Nation Thailand/Asia News Network
BANGKOK (Bloomberg): Tourism-reliant Thailand will relax restrictions on foreign visitors converting digital-asset holdings into the baht to fund their travel expenses and spending while in the country.
The government wants to promote innovation and support the use of digital assets to stimulate Thailand’s tourism industry while offering convenient payment options for foreigners, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told a press briefing on Monday.
The so-called TouristDigipay program will start its 18-month trial period through a regulatory sandbox in the fourth quarter, he added.
Digital assets cannot be used directly as a means of payment for goods and services - only for conversions into the baht - and merchants will receive payments only in baht, according to officials.
"We want to take every action to facilitate foreign tourists for their stays in Thailand,” said Pichai. "This new program adds a new innovation to replace overseas visitors’ cash and credit card use here.”
Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy is trying to lure international tourists from a wider range of countries, with visitors from China slumping amid safety concerns.
The government hopes to boost the flow of tourists from the Middle East and South-East Asia to help offset a 33% drop in Chinese travelers in the first half of the year, following news of Chinese actor Wang Xing’s kidnapping near Thailand’s border with Myanmar.
On Monday, Thailand’s main planning agency lowered its foreign tourist arrival forecast to 33 million this year from 37 million earlier, citing a slump in the number of Chinese visitors.
The tourism industry makes up about 12% of Thailand’s gross domestic product. Year-to-date tourist arrivals have topped 20.2 million as of Aug. 10, down 6.9% from the same period a year ago.
Foreign tourists who wish to convert digital assets into the baht to pay for goods and services must transact through licensed digital-asset business operators and e-money service providers, according to a Finance Ministry statement.
Spending through the program is limited to 500,000 baht per month. Those limits, alongside strict requirements around opening new accounts and activating e-wallets, are designed to prevent money laundering, according to Pichai.
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