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

[Mickmouse1]

<deleted> should I fund business people who were making tons of money before C19?

What do they offer me ir offered us in the past?

I will go to Cambodia.Langkawai laos or Vietnam. 

[tandor]

...this is getting worrisome...they can now do short multiplication sums. 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Bangkok Business News called it a "charge to step onto the land" that is Thailand.

More like stepping into a 6ft hole.

Thailand is fast digging it's own demise.

[4MyEgo]

12 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

So sorry that it is so much AUD, can't blame Thailand for the Aussie Dollar being more like the Aussie Peso...   hey, at least it is now much closer to the Aussie Movement tax of $45 for flying international.  ????

You mean the Passenger Movement Tax (PMC), actually, its $60 or 1,440 baht, so add the 1,200 in and out of Thailand taxes and your up for 2,640 baht or $110 AUD and you haven't even gone anywhere yet, I would be travelling domestically to make my buck stretch further.

 

Who knows, maybe other countries will follow suite and charge to enter, where there is a buck to be made, there is a buck to be made, after all, someone has to pay for all of these vaccines oi.

 

[2 is 1]

Maybe there coming new chance desk's before entrance to immigration desk! Prayut have giving clear oder, if todays exchange rate is 1€=39 bth then our lovely tourist can get 1€= 10 bth! Ofcource you cant pay whit amex-,visa- or mastercard coz nobody cant know if you really have money! Thailand say the tourist, that only poor people use credit cards, real people have cash money where have picture of true KING.

[Robbkk]

6 hours ago, Kadilo said:

In the grand scheme of things no one is going to worry about an extra 500 baht to travel. Many countries already charge a fee to enter and some also have a tourist tax added to their stay. 

I'll just say that once upon a time I was undecided between travelling to Thailand or Vietnam and the choice came down to a Visa fee that Vietnam had at the time. I'm still in Thailand today many years later.

[KhruGin]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

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

So that would mean everybody regardless of nationality ...Thais too. Yep it will be bunged in the ticket price pretty sure. Can a Thai claim this back? Maybe but it would be a ballache, if at all.

6 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

Me too, but it ain't a 'tourist tax' it's just simply a tax IMO.

[madmen]

Designed to weed out the cheap Charlie's that have no insurance get free hospital and go home straight to media telling how horribly they were treated 

 

Bye.... Bye. 

 

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, Robbkk said:

I'll just say that once upon a time I was undecided between travelling to Thailand or Vietnam and the choice came down to a Visa fee that Vietnam had at the time. I'm still in Thailand today many years later.

Things have changed, so I'm told and Vietnam is apparently more accommodating ?

[herfiehandbag]

6 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. 

There again, with all the supplementary charges: special insurance, testing charges, possible quarantine charges etc. etc, this may, for some (many) be the straw which breaks the camel's back!

 

I am willing to bet (were it legal) that it will only be payable in cash, into the sticky paws of an official. "Sorry, no change, receipt cannot!"

 

Thailand is certainly determined to restore it's tourist industry!

[FarangJon]

No tourists and no bribes that end up indirectly through tourism in the pockets of the corrupt politicians and the police, so of course a solution must be found. Here we are.

[Deerculler]

These things happen all the time.

500 baht is not going to break the bank.

Many countries have similar taxes.

Have you lot got nothing better to do?

[Fairynuff]

6 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.

Don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting for an exemption. Watch out for new surcharges at National Parks now that the courts said it’s just fine to overcharge  

[chilly07]

This is on top of the 500 already collected via the air fare so unpaid hospital fees are very well covered but questionable what the 500 extra will be spent on minus the usual commission of course

[Robbkk]

3 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Things have changed, so I'm told and Vietnam is apparently more accommodating ?

Yes, if you are a tourist with many options and you hear that entry is free in Vietnam, Bali, Malaysia, Singapore but in Thailand you have to pay entry fee and departure fee, Thailand is automatically at the bottom of the list. 

[ArcticFox]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The cabinet will meet to decide the finer details of who should benefit. 

The rich and connected will get the lion's share.  The hardest hit will get naught. 
They'll be photo-ops, press releases, and congratulations all around.
The lines for food handouts will not get shorter.  The average businesses of the commoners will remained shuttered and targeted business will be forced to remain closed.

Along with fitting tourists with tracking devices, the politicians have also wanted to do this for a long, long time.  It gives the connected another slop-trough to feed from.  This will do nothing for the commoners who may be allowed to root in the grounds around at the edges of the trough after the biggest porkers have fed to bursting and lay satiated in the sun-drenched mud.

^{All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
-Orwell, Animal Farm}

[Ginner]

7 hours ago, tonray said:

Yep...That'll bring em in !

I remember the first time i came to Thailand you payed 500 when you left, airport tax they called it.

 

[Bim Smith]

Only is it the Logic of Thai business and government at a time when you want to encourage tourists back and even then what few will come anyway and bring in a policy that will achieve the opposite. Expect this scrapped by next week. 

[madmen]

18 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Things have changed, so I'm told and Vietnam is apparently more accommodating ?

They are copying Phuket sandbox for one island but no onwards travel. Still no long term visas for farang. Horrible for those with family 

[jippytum]

quote ...The cabinet will meet to decide the finer details of who should benefit. 

 

nothing new there

[EricTh]

Why not just remove visa exempt and just charge tourist visa fee for every tourist?

 

Some countries are exempted from paying anything if they stay for 1 month.

 

 

[head bender]

Good thing its not a shotgun he's holding because that would really hurt. One more reason for people not to come

[Dogmatix]

Originally they claimed they needed this money to reimburse government hospitals who treat foreigners that don't pay. Basically they just want to fleece foreign tourists for this money which will largely go to corruption and will come up with different reasons depending on what day of the week it is. 

[Boedog]

Wow he is really good a maths, how many envelopes is that. Its not the amount its the principal they just cant help themselves in trying to scam anyone who,s not Thai out of money, they are a joke, this will not help anyone except the corrupt ones making the rules

[QPRFC]

Yet another dangling carrot....LOL

 

Maybe the following taxes (I know levies are different) will help fund lawyer fees to cover up Pandora Papers leak.....

Visa Costs

CoE Paperwork

Departure Tax

Entry Tax

Noise Levy Tax

Fuel Levy Tax

Airport Fees Tax

PCR Tests

Grab / Taxi Airport Levy Tax (plus Additional bags levy)

Bottle of Water (because they switch off / break the taps at the airport intentionally)

Hotel Quarantine (sorry only 5 star is available, oh and you cannot use any of the facilities whilst locked in, oh and Phuket is practically closed after dark)

Flight ticket (at a risk that they go bankrupt prior to departure, no refunds)

 

I really don't know why I am sitting here writing this and not applying for my Thailand Entry Visa !?!

[herfiehandbag]

4 hours ago, placeholder said:

At current exchange rates that amounts to slighty less than US$15. It that's going to be an impediment to some people, they probably shouldn't be traveling at all.

"I am thinking of a holiday somewhere in the Far East - maybe Thailand?"

 

"Righty ho, now, we can get you some good deals on flights, £xyz return with Rattle Snake Air."

 

"Sounds good!"

 

Yes, now of course you will need Certificates of Entry, you can get them from the Embassy, vaccination certificates, you will have to pay for a series of tests when you arrive - pricey I know but the nurse is cute, special Covid insurance only available from a Thai government approved company, maybe the same for quarantine, it's a bit unclear, after you have been in whatever sandbox you end up in for a couple of weeks you may be able to travel around if the local police chief is in a good mood, oh, and of course, now there is an entry tax of..."

 

(Potential tourist interrupts at this point)

 

"No, sod it, I think I will go to Greece!"

[Butterflyman]

6 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

and do Thais pay ?

I think the was a clue in the first paragraph.                                 Every man, woman and child who enters Thailand from January 1st will have to pay 500 baht for the privilege

[kuzmabruk]

7 hours ago, new2here said:

as it’s rolled into and collected at the time of ticketing

They will bring the old machines out of moth balls from Don Muang that used to be used for departure tax and rename them Now Even More Amazing Thailand Has It All - only 500 baht per person.  I love that new slogan.  

[DefaultName]

"to bail out tourism businesses hit by the pandemic"

If it was used for that, it would almost be acceptable.  Likely the big boys of the tourist industry will benefit, but I think the small players who really need it won't see a satang.

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, smedly said:

so they are going to tax tourists to pay for the mess they mostly created themselves 

 

please come to Thailand but we are going to charge you an entry fee lol

And during your stay you may pay double or more than Thais for entry venues like parks, museums, zoos, etc. because foreigners can afford it as per the Thai Charter Court. Welcome to Thailand!