Tourism minister pushes for cuts in tariffs on branded products to boost tourist spending

[Yinn]

13 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Restaurant prices are always high. Do you expect the restaurant owner to do all at cost? 

I just compare. 

 

15 minutes ago, overherebc said:

In UK, USA and AUS' people expect to pay more in a nice restaurant,

Read the posts. They complain pay more for wine. 

I not complain. I not care. I not drink alcoholic. Make you crazy. Many problem.

 

18 minutes ago, overherebc said:

are you comparing it to a roadside  plastic seat and table that get washed only if it rains.

No. Many nice restaurant in Thailand. Not on the road not have plastic chair.

You talk about fast food one. I talk about thai pub and restaurant.

[Scot123]

5 hours ago, happy chappie said:

Luxury goods at 30%. My ray ban sunglasses were 3,750b in the uk.they are 9,600b in top chereon here.to buy anything of western quality from a sink tap to a Porsche is outrageously overpriced.

over the years I have paid for extra baggage and saved £1,000s from a tin opener to a makita drill to a Bose sound system.

i think it's time trump looked into the tariffs Thailand sticks on imports.only in the last year America has lost Harley Davidson jobs to Thailand and its not about the logistics.

in the uk we have much choice with the likes of eBay and amazon but here most of the goods sold are Chinese trash.im forever repairing or throwing items in the bin.

years ago my pals used to come back from Thailand with suitcases full of tshirts but it's the other way around now,I bring all clothing,trainers and even reading glasses with me which were 37.5b in the uk and at the market here they are 150b.

in reality the import duties are called national protectionism but to thais its called easy pickings.

youll never see a customs officer/worker on a bicycle for sure.

So true but people on here are in such denial maybe because they have thrown everything in to the "fantasy life" in Thailand so need to convince themselves and everyone else that paradise still exists. That ship started to sail many years ago speeding up with the last coup. People hate him even I didn't like him much but he was the elected leader who did so much good for Thailand. Yes I remember "The Taksin" years. The golden years for me anyway. When buying my new pickup was only 725,000baht 4x4 Triton with a carry boy back £11,000. I used to buy silk/casmere suits(2x trouser and a couple of silk shirts) for under 10,000baht. I asked in bkk for the same and was quoted 40,000baht. This says it all... 

[Nyezhov]

2 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

So true but people on here are in such denial maybe because they have thrown everything in to the "fantasy life" in Thailand so need to convince themselves and everyone else that paradise still exists. That ship started to sail many years ago speeding up with the last coup. People hate him even I didn't like him much but he was the elected leader who did so much good for Thailand. Yes I remember "The Taksin" years. The golden years for me anyway. When buying my new pickup was only 725,000baht 4x4 Triton with a carry boy back £11,000. I used to buy silk/casmere suits(2x trouser and a couple of silk shirts) for under 10,000baht. I asked in bkk for the same and was quoted 40,000baht. This says it all... 

Paradise is a place where you dont have to wear a suit.

[spidermike007]

You lower the taxes on foreign wines, to a reasonable level, say 100%, and you triple consumption and purchases by tourists. Who buys a good California pinot for 6500 baht, when you can find the same bottle elsewhere for $60? The duty is inane and the nation loses billions. Same applies to handbags, watches, etc. Totally non visionary policy. Regressive thinking. And it prevents wealthy tourists from visiting. Really dumb policy. 

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, BobbyL said:

A huge percentage of branded products in the UK, US and Europe are considerably cheaper than Thailand.

And possibly come from the same place as those in Thailand.........................China!

[Psychic]

3 hours ago, Garbol56 said:

The 7/11 sells Jacob creek wines for the equivalent of $40au which you can buy for $10 in Australia!

 

And if I'm not wrong there's a FTA on Ozzie wine.

Doesn't do much good when it's smacked with a brutal retail tax.

[overherebc]

52 minutes ago, Yinn said:

I just compare. 

 

Read the posts. They complain pay more for wine. 

I not complain. I not care. I not drink alcoholic. Make you crazy. Many problem.

 

No. Many nice restaurant in Thailand. Not on the road not have plastic chair.

You talk about fast food one. I talk about thai pub and restaurant.

Found this on a Thai restaurant menu, outside of BBK, Large river prawn with herbs and chilli 2200 baht per dish. Throw in a good bottle of wine makes thick end of 10,000 baht. 

That's £270

[baansgr]

2 hours ago, Yinn said:

Australian complain a lot because not have cheap wine in the thailand hotel. So much. Aussie really like cheap wine. 

 

If the thai go to Sydney, the jasmine rice is $3.5 for one plate. 70 baht! 

4 people 280 baht!  Just for the rice! Laab pig 3-400 baht! 

Thai people like cheap jasmine rice.

 

This is story is positive (I think). The guy say he want reduction the tax. Why complain?

 

In thailand the low wage worker not pay salary tax. But the rich pay luxury tax for euro cars, wine, brand name hand bag. I think it good way. The rich can pay because have money. The low wage people need the money to live.

 

IMO if you pay 100,000 baht for Louis Viuton bag is stupid, waste the money. For what? 

The thai joke about this people. “Louis Dingdong”

A real Louis Viuton bag is a lot more than 100,000 Baht....oh...Thais don't like brand names?...I suppose thats why I only ever see thais on samlors eating sticky rice and drinking yadong

[0815]

7 hours ago, upena said:

NOT 38.2 million tourists. 38.2 million ARRIVALS. Big difference

Why don't they tell for how long tourists stay in the country ?
Because people who stay in Bangkok for 6 hours waiting for a connecting flight count as tourists as well ?

[Fairynuff]

2 hours ago, Yinn said:

Laab pig

If I didn’t think you were a troll before....you just proved it. Your Thai style English is totally transparent.

[Fairynuff]

Why are Thai made cheeses (Imperial brand) the same price as imported? Why does the foreign owned cheese factory in Hua Hin charge the same as imported cheese? 

[Guderian]

I'm back in the UK at the moment and noticed that my local B&M are selling bottles of Singha beer for 69p. That's around 26 Baht a bottle, much cheaper than you can buy it in Thailand. Crazy.

[KKr]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

the number of foreign tourists continued to be on the rise, according to the Bank of Thailand.

and I always thought that immigration counted the number of travelers,
and TAT consolidated those into statistics after cleaning statistics for migrant and nomad workers..

... for the times they are a-changing ... 

having said that, more to the point, if import taxes are lowered AND the price advantage is passed on to customers, that may be a good idea.

[dallen52]

It's an odd one for sure..

A few years ago Ford and Australia did a deal on importing cars.

Thai built focus and Fiesta came to Australia. 

The Ford territory was to be exported to Thailand. 

Unfortunately the thai government put a caveat that the engine should be less than 3 litres.

Territory was a 4 litre six.

A $50,000 Territory titanium when sold in Thailand became a $100,000 vehicle..

FoA went out of business. 

They were to build the Focus. 

Thailand exports Focus and Fiesta's to Australia still.

 

I think Focus, was the right word. 

Well and truly Foc us, they did.

[overherebc]

2 hours ago, Yinn said:

I just compare. 

 

Read the posts. They complain pay more for wine. 

I not complain. I not care. I not drink alcoholic. Make you crazy. Many problem.

 

No. Many nice restaurant in Thailand. Not on the road not have plastic chair.

You talk about fast food one. I talk about thai pub and restaurant.

Fast food is carpet burgers, fried old chicken and lots of things in batter that no self respecting Scotsman would put in an original haggis.

Take a restaurant in Thailand and a similar restaurant in UK and the price in Thailand will be higher than UK. Why?

[thetravelbee]

10 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

How about dropping the gouging tax on wine and foreign beers? In Aldi Spain last week where a bottle of decent wine could be had for 85cents, just over 30 baht!

Exactly! Such ridiculous prices on what is primarily fruit wine... What a pity... I used to love spending time in TH. Now I don't enjoy it much anymore. And something tells me I am not the only one who will end up spending less and less of his/her time (or otherwise known as money in THAI vocabulary) in Thailand.

Way too much nonsense. And for what?

[Airalee]

49 minutes ago, dallen52 said:

It's an odd one for sure..

A few years ago Ford and Australia did a deal on importing cars.

Thai built focus and Fiesta came to Australia. 

The Ford territory was to be exported to Thailand. 

Unfortunately the thai government put a caveat that the engine should be less than 3 litres.

Territory was a 4 litre six.

A $50,000 Territory titanium when sold in Thailand became a $100,000 vehicle..

FoA went out of business. 

They were to build the Focus. 

Thailand exports Focus and Fiesta's to Australia still.

 

I think Focus, was the right word. 

Well and truly Foc us, they did.

I think it goes beyond “odd” into the crazy territory.  Especially for sports models. 

 

2019 Ford Mustang Ecoboost (essentially new) ฿3,990,000

https://www.one2car.com/en/for-sale/ford-mustang-ecoboost-bangkok-metropolitan-liab-duan-ram-inthra-kasetnawamin/6112964

 

Same car in the US.  (New from dealer) ฿1,000,000 (including taxes)

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/773673515/overview/

 

That’s US$131,000 for a 2.3liter 4 cylinder mustang vs just over US$33,000

 

[overherebc]

8 minutes ago, Airalee said:

I think it goes beyond “odd” into the crazy territory.  Especially for sports models. 

 

2019 Ford Mustang Ecoboost (essentially new) ฿3,990,000

https://www.one2car.com/en/for-sale/ford-mustang-ecoboost-bangkok-metropolitan-liab-duan-ram-inthra-kasetnawamin/6112964

 

Same car in the US.  (New from dealer) ฿1,000,000 (including taxes)

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/773673515/overview/

 

That’s US$131,000 for a 2.3liter 4 cylinder mustang vs just over US$33,000

 

Can't have Joe Soap driving a nice car in Thailand ( 1.5 to 2.0 litres is enough for them ). How would the HiSo's show they are different.

[Airalee]

1 minute ago, overherebc said:

Can't have Joe Soap driving a nice car in Thailand ( 1.5 to 2.0 litres is enough for them ). How would the HiSo's show they are different.

You know....I have thought exactly that.   But how much of a baller can you be with a 4 cylinder Ford?  I can buy a brand new 2020 Porsche 911 (992) at Beverly Hills Porsche for less money.

[Fred white]

Reduce plastic waste and air pollution . I'll believe that when I see a trash truck where I live

[Jiggo]

Also buying branded clothes that would suit not only the visitors wallet but also there body size, no XXL shirts (Uk XL) in any stores also regular 38in Levi's. Just your normal small Asian body sized, hardly competing for foreign tourist shekels....    

[Jiggo]

4 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Paradise is a place where you dont have to wear a suit.

Prison? 

[Fex Bluse]

5 hours ago, madmitch said:

I've always been convinced that the reason luxury goods are taxed so highly in Thailand is due to the fact that most high earners pay nowhere near the tax they should and it's a very good way of getting cash out of the "elites". I thought of this just this morning, when I saw a brand new red plate Bentley in the school car park. That's possibly around THB15m of tax in the Govenment's coffers!

It also has cultural and psychological components. Value proposition is distorted in these corrupt countries. 

 

Easy Money -

The wealth gap here is among the biggest in the world and the wealthy are exceedingly rich. Much of the money comes from corruption and other crimes. 

 

Chinese (Thais) buying habits - 

These people buy expensive stuff not so much to enjoy them for its own sake. Rather, they buy expensive things for FACE. To separate themselves from others who can't afford it. A thing's value is highly tied to its inaccessibility by most people. 

 

So, they are willing to pay more in many cases. 

[overherebc]

25 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

It also has cultural and psychological components. Value proposition is distorted in these corrupt countries. 

 

Easy Money -

The wealth gap here is among the biggest in the world and the wealthy are exceedingly rich. Much of the money comes from corruption and other crimes. 

 

Chinese (Thais) buying habits - 

These people buy expensive stuff not so much to enjoy them for its own sake. Rather, they buy expensive things for FACE. To separate themselves from others who can't afford it. A thing's value is highly tied to its inaccessibility by most people. 

 

So, they are willing to pay more in many cases. 

And when they don't want it anymore they will try to sell for what they paid for it and if they can't sell it they will let it rot to show how big they are.

A prime example of 'face'.

A good few years ago I wanted to change cars. I was selling a well worn, but worn well Volvo 740, sticker in the back window job. ???? Every call I got started with the question How much did you you pay for it? My usual answer was 50 million baht.

I did eventually sell it to the guy who bought it who only asked how much do you want for it?

[namatjira]

The tourism minister should go to a few overseas tourism conferences, he may well find that they drink a lot of wine, red and white.......it’s a large part of a budget, weddings and conferences.

there is no reason to organize an international conference here and then turn around and offer fruit wine at wild prices.

the laughing stock they would become yet again.

the idea was to protect the Thai wine industry......instead they

just flattened potential international tourist growth.

oh but farang rich can afford, farang also not stupid.

nobody likes paying for poor quality wine if one could call it that.

have a conference in Thailand...no thanks....

[whitemouse]

I wonder if good people of TOT have any idea how difficult it is to obtain tourist visa in neighbouring countries, and even holder of valid Thai visa, tourists are denied entry. Before going to extra steps of promoting tourism, why not make it easier to visit Thailand. I doubt TOT and Immigration Police have any kind of contact. 

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, Jiggo said:

Also buying branded clothes that would suit not only the visitors wallet but also there body size, no XXL shirts (Uk XL) in any stores also regular 38in Levi's. Just your normal small Asian body sized, hardly competing for foreign tourist shekels....    

What about XFB size.

Extra Fat B-----d

[JGV]

As usual the obvious is avoided in favour of tinkering with luxury items that only a handful buy and sick people in SE Asia - speak to the hotels and entertainment venue - tourism is dow because the baht is too strong, things are too expensive, service is poor and travelling in Thailand is too dangerous

[CLS]

No need for immediate action. The Chinese are still buying because in their country the tariffs are even higher.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[overherebc]

32 minutes ago, namatjira said:

The tourism minister should go to a few overseas tourism conferences, he may well find that they drink a lot of wine, red and white.......it’s a large part of a budget, weddings and conferences.

there is no reason to organize an international conference here and then turn around and offer fruit wine at wild prices.

the laughing stock they would become yet again.

the idea was to protect the Thai wine industry......instead they

just flattened potential international tourist growth.

oh but farang rich can afford, farang also not stupid.

nobody likes paying for poor quality wine if one could call it that.

have a conference in Thailand...no thanks....

You're dealing with those who believe that a small splash of what is looked at as 'good whisky' ( no names no pack drill ) with a full bottle of soda water and some ice added is 'up-market'.