Thailand to introduce 500 baht tourist entry fee from Jan 1st

[waders123]

Yep...A lot of tea for a few sticky fingers.  "The majority of tourism businesses hit by the pandemic" will never see a baht.

[Edwin Cameron]

Always trying to gouge money out of tourists, where are the tourists at the moment?? I'll say it again 'Farangs aren't stupid', you haven't got a tourist industry now or in the foreseeable future so I wouldn't go around flapping my mouth about silly tax's that WON'T get to where it's supposed to be going anyway, Thailands to corrupt and some 'Police General' will get his hands on the money,that I'm sure of.

[Franko666]

19 hours ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

The funny thing is that we see the 700 baht departure tax + the 300 baht entry tax now (total 1000) as something outrageously Thai... but it is quite common for different countries to have these hidden fees that most people never see and never know about... (just the names differ).  Australia has a $45AUD tax for international flights out, Canada has up to a $45 Airport Improvement Fee (depending on airport you exit from),  UK has a fee that ranges from £13 and £194 (depending on class etc.).  If it makes you happy the Thai government could just call it a 1,000baht movement fee like Australia does (and the details of what it is for are buried in the budgets). 

I suppose the difference is other Countries hide these charges whereas  Thailands authoritarians revels in this stuff.

[sandyf]

8 hours ago, JGV said:

is it greed, stupidity or do they just don't care about the industry

Same reason 41 other countries have done it.

https://www.insider.com/countries-that-require-a-tourist-tax-2019-2

[sandyf]

16 minutes ago, Franko666 said:

I suppose the difference is other Countries hide these charges whereas  Thailands authoritarians revels in this stuff.

Quite, maybe they should have copied Europe and had it added to the hotel bill.

 

Many European countries have a tourist tax added to the hotel bill. In France, the tax varies depending on where you are. Places considered a "tourist town" or "resort," such as Paris and Lyon, collect the tax and use it to maintain tourism infrastructure.

https://www.insider.com/countries-that-require-a-tourist-tax-2019-2

[Tonypandy]

21 hours ago, new2here said:

I’ll say this, rightness or wrongness of the tax aside, so long as it’s rolled into and collected at the time of ticketing (speaking for air tickets of course) then i think the pushback will be minimal and short-lived..: since EVERY fare will automatically adjust upwards by the same amount, no one will be out-of-step as far as pricing goes … and considering that fares can fluctuate by hundreds of dollars, a net change of about US$15 will probably be hard to notice. 

If its done in the price of ticketing then Thais would also be charged, foreign airlines are not going to carryout this extra work and be expected to determine between foreign and Thai customers 

[Tonypandy]

Visit Thailand 2022, Now Even More Amazing Thailand Has It All” 

 

Say no more 

[hotchilli]

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's minister for tourism and sports said all the money gained will develop tourism and help businesses affected by Covid. 

 

He did the math in the BBN article saying that 1 million tourists would mean 500 million baht.

With complete transparency and accountability for every baht in and every baht out....

I can envisage 500 million baht miss-appropriated.

[zzaa09]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

With complete transparency and accountability for every baht in and every baht out....

I can envisage 500 million baht miss-appropriated.

Hey.....someone's gotta do it.

[sirineou]

It will kill tourism!!

 Who can afford to pay $15 extra to come to Thailand. 

[hotchilli]

12 minutes ago, sirineou said:

It will kill tourism!!

 Who can afford to pay $15 extra to come to Thailand. 

The great un-washed who have saved up their welfare benefits so they can come over for 6 months as they don't need to work. Maybe they can even arrange for their benefits to be paid overseas.

[zzaa09]

14 minutes ago, sirineou said:

It will kill tourism!!

 Who can afford to pay $15 extra to come to Thailand. 

Parodies might not penetrate the trivial overreaction of many here.

Nice attempt, though.

[elgenon]

Why? Why not just tax the Thais? Adding more fees for tourists is counterintuitive.

 

Actually, I am wondering if the fee is only for foreigners.

 

When Thailand has a problem, it blames or charges the foreigners. I think the needle is stuck in the vinyl record. Someone needs to kick the turntable!

[shdmn]

23 hours ago, Boarn said:

If this was only for tourists I could stomach it, but if long terms expats have to pay as well that would be yet another spit in the face.

Long term means you are not coming and going and if you can't afford 500baht a year or whatever to get out during sonkran you don't belong in Thailand anyways.

Edited October 6, 2021 by shdmn

[jacko45k]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Every man, woman and child who enters Thailand from January 1st will have to pay 500 baht for the privilege.

Really, even the locals?

[jacko45k]

Oh this is a good indication of where we will be going to climb out of the Covid caused recession and downturn in tourism.  Introduce deterrents. I have already seen this in Pattaya with some introduction of higher prices. 

[futsukayoi]

23 hours ago, Boarn said:

If this was only for tourists I could stomach it, but if long terms expats have to pay as well that would be yet another spit in the face.

I don't think it is too unreasonable if Thais also have to pay.  Of course I don't think it is great advertising. Pay 500 baht to visit while our tourism sector is screwed up so that we can fix things up sso later tourists have a good time.

[renaissanc]

There is the tradition of the 35% Rule, so I think that a maximum of 65% of the money might go to torism development. I can imagine loads of officials and politicians sticking their fingers in the till.

[Resident Alien]

500 THB is indeed not so much.

 

However, some people here forget that not all tourist arriving here are lonely single tourist.

Few more arrivals are families, and then paying 500 THB per person starts to add up.

 

Thailand will stay tourism destination for a lot of ordinary people, not only for TAT desired wealthy tourist.

Frequent (business) flyers, additional costs will be absorbed by their business (clients).

Expats are already here, so no need to complain about it. If you return to your country once a year than 500 THB should not be a hurdle.

 

Tourists, who say they will not come on holiday because of this arrival fee, will not be missed.

Their money not spent here is peanuts compared to the total amount of tourism THB.

And in case you are a big big spender, additional 500 THB will not make you decide not to come here anymore.

When fee will be included in flight, then nobody will know anyway what they are paying for, just the total ticket price.

 

This arrival fee will have no impact on tourism numbers.

Numbers will stay low until restrictions are lifted.

 

[golli]

Who will benefit? Well it won't be the ones who need it most. The greedy will get their hands on it and it will disappear.

[Jimbo2014]

Thailand's answer to a failing business - bump up the prices.  ????

[NoshowJones]

Did I not say only a couple of days ago that this unelected PM will think up some charge for tourists coming to Thailand? As for it to help businesses affected by the Cvirus?? Aye right, just how much of that 500 per person will that be, and will it also apply to returning expats? Oops! Silly question.

[NoshowJones]

On 10/5/2021 at 8:41 AM, RotBenz8888 said:

I doubt it'll be the ones in most need. 

 

The unelected governments offshore accounts perhaps??

[473geo]

Covid has contributed to 10%+ beneficial rise in the exchange rate 

 

I guess that should about cover it!!

[michael888]

Just more impetus to choose another destination.  Well done.

[NoshowJones]

On 10/5/2021 at 9:07 AM, mtls2005 said:

Interesting that they are quick to define the amount, but are less detailed on the collection procedures, and what the funds will be used for?

 

Massive trough controlled by whom exactly?

 

And we're often told tourists run up unpaid medical bills, so hopefully some will be used to pay those off?

and Thais don't run up unpaid medical bills in other countries??

[FunkyDunky58]

Welcome to Thailand. Show me your vaccination certificate. Show me your negative test certificate. Stay in a hotel that I designate. Don't leave the province for 7 days. Don't go to any entertainment venues. Pay me 500 baht. Have a nice stay!

 

[NoshowJones]

On 10/5/2021 at 9:31 AM, Guderian said:

Ugh, no prizes for guessing who will be on that list!

Anutin's billion-dollar construction business must have been hard hit by Covid so it will be due a wodge.

Then I'm sure that Loong Prayut must have a small restaurant somwhere that's been hurt and is in desperate need of 100 million Baht or so.

Pipat's entire job is about tourism, the poor soul must be traumatised and is surely deserving of a few tens of millions.

[Fill in your worthy contenders for the prize money here, lol]

The Chuckle Brothers will certainly be at the top of the list. 

[NoshowJones]

On 10/5/2021 at 9:47 AM, Doctor Tom said:

A silly idea, tourism is a competitive game, make it expensive and you take yourself out of the holiday market for many thousand of visitors. 

I don't think the amount of sex mongers will be much affected, if I was fat and ugly and could not score in my home country, I would be one too, but again, I would not let myself get fat in the first place.

[NoshowJones]

23 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Given there are so many unofficial ripoffs in LOS, it's good to see more official, state sanctioned ripoffs to even things up a bit.

 

Seriously though, I do question the timing. They should be begging people to come, not taxing them to do so.

Who should be begging the people to come? The unelected PM and his generals? They have made all their money and are still making it, so why should they care?