4 Thai airports launch fast track for Chinese children and their families
Officials plan similar campaign for kids from other countries
The Immigration Bureau has introduced a fast track for Chinese children and their family members at four international airports in Thailand, aimed at visitors travelling during the Chinese school holiday. The bureau also plans to extend the service to young travellers from other countries soon.
Immigration officials launched a campaign titled 暑假愉快通道 (shǔ jià yú kuài tú jìng), or Happy Chinese Summer Channel, to mark the Chinese school break. As part of the initiative, a designated immigration counter is now available for Chinese children and their accompanying family members.
The special lane is currently operational at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, and Phuket international airports. The service will be available throughout July to September.
Officials have encouraged Chinese families to look out for standees that will direct them to the fast track. The initiative is expected to cut immigration processing times from approximately 40 minutes to less than 15 minutes for Chinese children.
The Immigration Bureau hopes to serve at least 5,000 Chinese children and family members per day, from an average of 20,000 Chinese arrivals daily.
Officials also clarified that the existing priority lanes remain available at all times for children under 12, elderly people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, regardless of nationality.
In response to public questions regarding the exclusive benefit, officials explained that the campaign followed requests from tourism industry operators, who urged government agencies to help boost Chinese tourism to Thailand.
According to the Immigration Bureau, the number of Chinese tourists dropped by nearly 50% compared to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Commissioner of Immigration Bureau Division 2, Choengron Rimpadee, yesterday, July 20, told Channel 3 that the bureau also intends to extend a similar fast-track service to young travellers from other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, where arrival patterns are reportedly similar.
Despite shortening the service period, the Immigration Bureau affirmed that it continues to enforce strict measures against foreign criminals and passengers deemed at risk of criminal activity. The bureau added that immigration officials have denied entry to over 10,000 passengers due to assessed criminal risks.
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