Okay given for Bt300 foreign tourist entry fee

[Cobby007]

Another hair brain idea the Thai ministers dream up ideas to put more money in the piggy bank 

they have no idea about how the west feel about the way they have treated the Thai people with little or no support for them during this pandemic  so another reason for western tourists to stay away I am sure the Chinese will still come and spread another form of virus 

as I’m sure they will be exempt from the entry tax ????????????????

 

 

[malthebluff]

Everything is money money money lots of much better countrys to live. After 18 years I've had enough with all the hoops we go through just to stay and spend our money now they still want more and this covid is worldwide every countries economy is struggling they are really hurting themselves for the sake of 300 baht. They will say that it's just because of covid but after covid ends they will not end the fee. Another 2 price Thailand. So its goodbye Thailand hello phillipines 

[Scott Tracy]

Easy done. Same as in Egypt. Pay cash for the visa. $25 and no local currency, unless you get at one of the bank windows.

 

Or, if they do insist on cash before engry, hope they get some ATM s and currency exchanges before immigration...I

 

Or, as is done now... Get the airline to collect the 300 baht through the ticket pricing. No one will see, no one will care. Furore over....

[473geo]

6 minutes ago, Cobby007 said:

Another hair brain idea the Thai ministers dream up ideas to put more money in the piggy bank 

they have no idea about how the west feel about the way they have treated the Thai people with little or no support for them during this pandemic  so another reason for western tourists to stay away I am sure the Chinese will still come and spread another form of virus 

as I’m sure they will be exempt from the entry tax ????????????????

 

 

You really have not worked out the options open to the Thai government to 'support' the Thai people  - if you are concerned, a miserly 300 baht will be a contribution you should be pleased to give. Seems there a few more with your tunnel vision

[undercover]

The comment ...How about 500 baht in entry and free health care for all tourists - I think we'd all be happy with that .

 

I would be happy to settle for a fair priced healthcare .

Edited January 15, 2021 by undercover

[cyril sneer]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

The money collected will go to the tourism promotion fund.

 

maybe 5% of it

[473geo]

1 minute ago, Donaldo said:

I think you are the one living in cloud cuckoo land, or to say it in Thailand as the frog under the coconut shell. My Thai wife is quite disgusted at the way foreigners are treated in Thailand. Especially as she has never experienced any discrimination whatsoever in the years she spend in Europe. Now we live in a country with an average income way under the Thai one, and we are still treated exactly the same as the locals. As for your comparison between the income of foreigners and Thai labourers. I find it quite amusing when foreigners visiting on a limited budget have to fork out double or more to visit a park or similar in Thailand at the same time Thais arriving in the latest SUV only have to pay a fraction. I think you are quite out of touch with reality.

My boss years ago was approached by a neighbour, hey says he nice new car you must be loaded.........

Nope says my boss just spent all my money on a new car ????????

 

Reality is many countries are struggling financially with the covid issue, and as the Thaivisa faithful constantly try to portray foreign tourists as a major influence on the Thai economy, now is the time to step up, or step back.

 

You compare foreigners 'visiting on a limited budget' with Thai rural wage earners, are you for real? You are aware of the Thai subsistence model? Most Thai people visiting 'local' attractions have no money to fly halfway around the world to 'visit' anything!! When you visit a temple, who on earth do you think paid for and built that temple, support it and the monks on a daily basis!!! I am asked for nothing when I visit my local temple but in keeping with Thai tradition am quite content to leave a donation. 300 baht crybabies is what you guys are.

 

[m Stender]

Define tourist.

If I am visiting Thailand together with my Thai wife, are we both tourists or is it only me. I can still remember the old 500Bht fee for leaving the country

[masuk]

I seem to remember having to pay quite a few Baht to get my first visa.  300 Thai baht seems rather pathetic.

[473geo]

4 minutes ago, masuk said:

I seem to remember having to pay quite a few Baht to get my first visa.  300 Thai baht seems rather pathetic.

Yep agree with Pravda should be more, 300 baht just means the complainers will keep coming but the high pitched whine of agony when parting with cash, will be more ear piercing ????

[Nemises]

One lady drink. Wow.

[Marco100]

Wich Tourist ???? ?

[SupermarineS6B]

1 hour ago, 473geo said:

Oh now the 'tourists' dislike the way Thailand has been run, but still manage to put that aside and exploit the situation, I get fed up with the double pricing accusations it is those people who are removed from reality, more so those who would complain about a 300 baht charge

 

Please stay away don't touch what it appears you no longer want to afford!!!

Thailand should of learned a very important lesson from their greed. There's comes a point where even ( I'll be careful here)  Alcohol and horizontal entertainment becomes too expensive and then most sane people will just tell them to keep it . Exactly what's been happening in Thailand over the past few years......   Indeed i have a very good friend who works in Cowboy tell me...... " I can't even give it away anymore "........   If the situation arises when those two commodities are unsaleable, then you're in deep Doo doo........  And then you have to dream up other bonkers ways of relieving the tourist or anyone else for that matter of something they have that seems to be God for those with the disease of greed.......  

[lavezzi]

15 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

How about 500 baht in entry and free health care for all tourists - I think we'd all be happy with that

you mean a free private quality like health care?

[473geo]

37 minutes ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Thailand should of learned a very important lesson from their greed. There's comes a point where even ( I'll be careful here)  Alcohol and horizontal entertainment becomes too expensive and then most sane people will just tell them to keep it . Exactly what's been happening in Thailand over the past few years......   Indeed i have a very good friend who works in Cowboy tell me...... " I can't even give it away anymore "........   If the situation arises when those two commodities are unsaleable, then you're in deep Doo doo........  And then you have to dream up other bonkers ways of relieving the tourist or anyone else for that matter of something they have that seems to be God for those with the disease of greed.......  

 

One thing any 'sane' person will admit is that in Thailand you need to be adaptable and flexible, I guess there are those who cry out for change in Thailand, then when it comes, are neither prepared to accept it, or pay for it, because it doesn't suit their personal agenda

Edited January 15, 2021 by 473geo

[Marcel woods]

10 million tourists this year ???????????????????????????????????? not with quarantine requirement they wont. Not even 1 million will enter 

[Neeranam]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

The 500 baht used to be paid on departure, you bought a ticket from a machine before going to check in.

When they opened the new airport in 2006 they never moved the machines from DM and you had to pay at check in, it was cash only and caused absolute chaos. 

Physical payment was stopped shortly after and included in the the flight ticket.

I'd forgotten about that. I don't think this airport tax was stopped, it is added onto your flight cost. 

[richard_smith237]

9 hours ago, darrendsd said:

 

Travel insurance for 300 Baht - that sounds good to me although the constant Thai Bashers just can't help themselves from having a go

 

Does doing this make you feel better about yourself?

 

Typical apologist response, this it not a Thai Bash, its a bash as those making such flawed decisions. 

 

 

9 hours ago, Neeranam said:

9 hours ago, darrendsd said:

Travel insurance for 300 Baht - that sounds good to me although the constant Thai Bashers just can't help themselves from having a go

 

Does doing this make you feel better about yourself?

You can bet your bottom baht that they don't have any Thai friends. 

 

What a dumb comment - you don’t think Thai’s also draw the same conclusions that we do about such policies. 

It is because I have a wealth of Thai friends that I can readily recognise the ‘cash grab’ that this really is.

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, fakser said:

300 THB is nothing to talk about compared to 70,000 + x,000 THB for hotel quarantine and Covid19 health insurance

 

My last Thai ASQ was 40,000 baht.. Another in the Middle East was US$2200...  2 Week Self Isolation in the UK cost me about £1000... 

 

I see what you wanted to do with your comment, can’t really compare the need to isolate and quarantine policies under exceptional global circumstances with what appears to be an attempt to fill the coffers. 

 

IF this were a case of charing every arrival B1000 for insurance if they can’t provide an insurance policy the idea would make a lot of sense. Blindly charging every arrival 300 baht does not seem so well aligned. 

 

Perhaps: IF proof of health or Travel Insurance was required for all Thai Visas (Tourist, Non-Imm etc) then it would make sense that Visa Exempt arrivals are changed an 'Insurance Fee’ - but this is not how this charge was being presented - its an additional 'Tourist Tax’...  it just seems like a money grab which is why its not sitting right with many. 

 

 

[khaowong1]

19 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Yeah hardly no ones coming so let’s screw a bit more out of the few that are. 

They really haven’t got a clue what to do next. 

 

Ps. 10 million my ar.se

Oh heck yes.  Tourism is down, lets raise the hotel rates and charge tourists to come into our wonderful country.  Yep, that'll work. 

[mac1970]

Naah, these are going to look totally different when I am going to be in Thailand next time. We will take money somewhere else at least couple of years. Let's see when things are settled and the new normal is in the place. 

[Miss Pickle]

Tourists are paying enough right now to enter Thailand 15 days in Quarantine is costly plus visa insurance Covid tests adding another 300 baht is unnecessary right now.

[mlmcleod]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Phipat said the fee would help fund management and development of Thai tourism, as well as insurance for foreign tourists during their stay.

So, what will the insurance be like?  I understand that travel insurance is already required for tourists or has that changed too?

[impulse]

4 hours ago, 473geo said:

One thing any 'sane' person will admit is that in Thailand you need to be adaptable and flexible, I guess there are those who cry out for change in Thailand, then when it comes, are neither prepared to accept it, or pay for it, because it doesn't suit their personal agenda

 

Great post.

 

It's not hard to figure that a lot of the development and programs in Thailand normally funded through tourism taxes are currently starved for funds with the lack of tourists.  They have a huge shortfall and they have to make it up somewhere.

 

It's a tax increase.  Pure and simple.  And there's nothing wrong with that, even if nobody likes paying more taxes.  Roads gotta be built, public servants need to get paid, economic development projects need to get funded.  And during Covid, (and probably for years) a lot of people are in need.  And if they aren't making it on hotel and restaurant taxes, they need to get it somewhere. 

 

From a practical standpoint, even if a foreigner could fly in and out once a month they will see their cost of living going up by a fraction of a percent.  Hardly a reason to get upset.

 

Anyone believing they're getting "health insurance" for $10 a trip is in for a rude awakening if they ever have to use it.

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by impulse

[hezzey]

21 hours ago, 473geo said:

I'm far from a rich man but 300 baht is not going to have an effect on me, however there will be a cumulative benefit for Thailand

 

I don't begrudge 300 baht in these hard times

you are already paying 600 TB in with your ticket, plus we are made to pay four to five times what a Thai pays to enter many attractions.

[473geo]

1 minute ago, hezzey said:

you are already paying 600 TB in with your ticket, plus we are made to pay four to five times what a Thai pays to enter many attractions.

I earn 4 or 5 times the average salary in Thailand, I am a visitor, a tourist, I don't pay a tax to contribute to Thai welfare, or upkeep of the the attractions, other than VAT or entrance fee. What amounts to a couple or so thousand baht a year is no issue to me, should I wish to enjoy Thai attractions. There will be many on this forum spending way more than that on one 'attraction' for a week.

[hezzey]

22 minutes ago, 473geo said:

I earn 4 or 5 times the average salary in Thailand, I am a visitor, a tourist, I don't pay a tax to contribute to Thai welfare, or upkeep of the the attractions, other than VAT or entrance fee. What amounts to a couple or so thousand baht a year is no issue to me, should I wish to enjoy Thai attractions. There will be many on this forum spending way more than that on one 'attraction' for a week.

So you don't think its racist to charge people extra money because they come from a different country, what would happen if you tried that in  Europe, you would be charged with racism .Also like to add my wife brother earns a lot more than me and laughs when we go out together and see the prices we pay.

[Bangkocker]

7 hours ago, Nemises said:

One lady drink. Wow.

And maybe a tooling later. OMG everyone in a lather over 10 bucks. Misers.

[garyk]

1 hour ago, hezzey said:

you are already paying 600 TB in with your ticket, plus we are made to pay four to five times what a Thai pays to enter many attractions.

Just another Thai scam, nothing new. Just a different day.

[richard_smith237]

28 minutes ago, Bangkocker said:

8 hours ago, Nemises said:

One lady drink. Wow.

And maybe a tooling later. OMG everyone in a lather over 10 bucks. Misers.

 

 

There’s more to it than just the $10 for those who think this 'doesn’t sit right'

... any idiot and see that...

 

 

 

Announcements such as this are a glimpses into the mindset of those in positions of decision making power and their disregard for foreigners whom they think... 'We need more money, charge em more !'

 

There is also the facet that the greed of such decisions is often borne out of a self serving nature to line ones own pockets. For anyone who has been here any spell of time and scratched the surface the propensity for graft and to think up ways to profit from such ideas is endless. 

 

There is also the clumsy manner in which a thin veil of justifiability touched upon with the ‘insurance angle’... If they wanted people to have insurance - just make insurance a requirement for all visas and ensure those arriving visa exempt can show proof of insurance. Many people also ready have excellent insurance. 

 

I will concede that many do not have adequate insurance and end up costing Thailand money - but will a 300b tourist scheme really cover this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by richard_smith237