nigelforbes

International Tourism = 12%, Domestic Tourism = 9%

The reality is that unpaid medical bills by Westerners, at government hospitals, is almost certainly very low when compared to losses by them from citizens of other countries in the region. Citizens of Myanmar are a particular problem in places such as Phuket where there are large numbers of documented and undocumented Burmese, few of whom have medical insurance - the number of workers at one point was in six figures. Most of the losses at one of the government hospitals there appears to be from them. But trying to tax poor Burmese workers is a non-starter hence paying such charges is a job reserved specifically for Westerners.

Those writes offs are for GOVERNEMNT hospitals, not private hospitals which are completely out of scope. It is government hospitals that are funded by the government and tax revenue, private hospitals are private businesses. Health care costs in 2019 was 6.8% of GDP or USD 36.6 bill. Whether or not only 10% of the new charge will go towards recovery of those costs, is very unclear. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS?locations=TH

A Pavlovian response, a new tax must mean more corruption, really! How about the real reason is the degree of hospital bills that remain unpaid, that was the original purpose of the levy. And how about comparing tourist/airport surcharges levied around the world and realizing that Thailand remains very low. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/destitute-foreigners-in-thailand-and-unpaid-hospital-bills-360259

The last aspect associated with Baht strength that I want to cover is the forecast for GDP growth globally and the impact that may have on Thailand and trade this year. The IMF produced a global growth forecast which somebody else has conveniently mapped so I'm going to borrow it and same myself some effort! Even though we're only in February and the map that follows is only a forecast, the estimates for growth have remained consistent for some time. The direct effects of recession in 2023 are found in the West, Asian countries and the East are forecast to perform correspondingly better. Since Thailand's major export markets and sources of International Tourism are all in East Asia and ASEAN, it can be guessed that Thailand should fare much better than many Western countries, particularly Europe. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-gdp-growth-forecasts-by-country-in-2023/

I said I'd find some International Tourism data on nationalities, here it is. We're still all very much about the Baht in this thread, but it's important to understand the sources of International tourism, if we're going to try and understand how it will hold up this year, in what may be a recessionary year for many Western economies. It is clear that in 2019, the last full year of pre-covid tourist data, about 75% of Thailand's international tourism derived from East Asia and ASEAN countries. Only 16% came from Europe and 4% from the US. This means fewer long haul flights and increased fuel surcharges are unlikely to be a major constraint to tourist arrivals in 2023. A similar picture exists in 2022 when the numbers were subdued, over 75% of tourists arrived from the region. Plus China was still closed during 2022 and there was a low number of Chinese tourist arrivals compared to 10 mill. (25% of all tourists) in 2019. https://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourists-nationalities-Thailand.asp

The truth of the matter is that, it's only 300 baht. Some people will make noise and express outrage, which will quickly pass, because it's only 300 baht.

I was going to ask that but he seemed like he was enjoying himself. I thought it best to just let him rant, it's good that you did though, otherwise, false fact contagion takes off pretty quickly on this forum.

A what scheme? Thailand doesn't do refunds, not at any level!

There should be a daily staying charge also. Perhaps a daily fee to avoid all double charging and scams and be treated the same as locals, proof of payment would let you into a national park at the standard rate. They could issue badges or hats that say, "fee paid", just so everyone would know.

VAT is the biggest single tax income earner in the Thai Revenue tax system, followed by business taxes.

Why, thank you !

Errr, foreign retirees do pay tax here, on income and investment earnings, I certainly do.

Long Term Resident Visa's soon to be rebadged as Long Term Holiday Maker Visa. to accommodate the new charge. ????

There is merit to doing things this way, if they tried to do that in western countries, governments would fall if it didn't work out properly straight away. Here, it's de rigueur.

It's accepted practice

He's right, you don't understand.

And any time of day at small mom and pop stores outside the center of any town or city.

Excellent and oh so true.

You can do it using internet banking, if you have it. Or you might be able to do it using the app (unsure) from your bank. You can't however pull money in a funds transfer, you can only push it, mostly that means you need to be here, or at least appear to be here.

What happens to the Thai economy depends on what happens to the rest of the world, the Thai export market. But Asia looks like it will fare better than the West so he may well be right.

25 mill times 300 baht, it's enough. 40 mill. times 300 is even better!

Nobody has mentioned Russian oil purchases, do they or don't they....they did in 2020.

Here's the detail on 2022 tourism from BOT: https://www.bot.or.th/App/BTWS_STAT/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=875&language=eng Number of foreign tourists per month, Occupancy rates by location (North South etc), Average cost of room by location, by month, Number of foreign tourists as a percentage of total tourists. I'll look for something meaningful by nationality.

When people pay 3,400 Baht per night for a hotel room, they don't care about an extra 300 spread over the course of their stay. Anyway, average room rate in the North during December is under 1,375 per night, USD 100 per night is very expensive. https://www.bot.or.th/App/BTWS_STAT/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=875&language=eng