Thai Tourism Minister insists on collecting 300 baht ‘land entry fee’ on all foreign visitors, says will be to help tourists and transparent

[fulhamster]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Yeah right !!!!

End of hospital treatment, here's your bill sir how do you wish to pay?

I thought I was insured on entry?

Nah, you gotta pay!

And then try to claim when you get home

[hotchilli]

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You think the 300 baht at the airport will cover the 300,000 bill they likely will present you with.... rather surreal I say.

I don't think the 300 baht at the airport will get you anything.

The money will be banked, lost and never be accounted for or transparent as to where it disappeared.

[chilli42]

2 hours ago, nightfox said:

What's the big deal as just about every country in Asia charges a foreigner to enter their country. Only difference is Thailand calls a entry fee where most call it visa on arrival just like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam as last time I checked it was $30 USD + to enter those countries. 

Well just because you/others can or do does not mean it makes sense.  

[nightfox]

3 minutes ago, chilli42 said:

Well just because you/others can or do does not mean it makes sense.  

I think you don't make sense?

[dogfish180]

How will the differentiate between a "Tourist", and any other traveler? If they build it into the air ticket price then Thai's will be paying it also. ????

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

I doubt that very much, this is an entrance fee for all foreigners - it's going to cause big problems for local countries.

 

Agreed - imagine being a foreign worker entering thailand in the future on a daily basis and paying 300 baht and only working for 480 odd a day. Is in fact a potential 65%+ job tax now !

[Swampy999]

So the 300 baht is to pay for tourists without insurance and the remainder is to fund tourism development ????????

Welcome to Thailand, YOU will pay for other people's insurance and YOU will pay for the upkeep of tourist attractions whilst being charged vastly more than the local population to visit the aforementioned tourist attractions.

What next? A 30 baht charge on all tourists restaurant bills to cover the cost of someone doing a runner and the upkeep of the air conditioning?

The few tourists without insurance blends into insignificance when compared to the Thais driving/riding without insurance but maybe the insurance companies prefer this, just imagine the compensation payments due to the ineptitude of Thai road users if everyone was insured ????????

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, nightfox said:

Vietnam as last time I checked it was $30 USD + to enter those countries. 

Vietnam entry was free for Brits, I used to go there a lot before COVID.

Philippines and Malaysia also free entry.

Laos, Cambodia and China were the countries charging for entry.

 

As for Thailand, don't you need insurance (Thailand pass) before they let you in?

If I wasn't already here, I wouldn't be coming, Thailand has nothing to offer me that I can't find in Vietnam/Philippines/Cambodia.

Edited February 23, 2022 by BritManToo

[Hoppyone]

1 hour ago, jcmj said:

So they are going to keep the Thai Pass so they can track you.  You have to have health insurance, And you get charged 100%+ more to go to any attractions. Sounds like a great place for a holiday. ????????

They have got you covered all ways

[vandeventer]

45 minutes ago, fulhamster said:

So when you pay the 300 baht, will you be given your insurance policy straight away ??

 

Or same as road fines, 300 baht with receipt or 200 baht without ?

 

 

Forget the insurance as it is unclear and just give them a free ride to their hotel for the 300 baht. Give a little get a little!

[Jimbo53]

4 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

To help tourists..... What a Laugh.. 

You mean to help your self's to a slush fund.... 

Tourists don't need help,they are required to have prepaid insurance prior to arriving in Thailand,so why charge 300Baht? T.I.T.

[RichardColeman]

If every country on the planet said we will reciprocate this tax on all thais, Thais would be outraged and calling other countries Thai'a'ophobic

[nickmondo]

i dont know why people complain

if you dont like it, dont come

if your already here, it does not affect you, unless you leave and re enter.

and if you dont like the fee charged on re enter.........dont leave.

or........leave for good.

 

[Andycoops]

As soon as you read the words transparent and accountable from a government Muppet, you know exactly the opposite will apply.

 

Another slush fund to fill their accounts with.

 

The truth will out when an unfortunate tourist get ill and says but I paid 300 baht at the border ...

[JonnyF]

18 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

Forget the insurance as it is unclear and just give them a free ride to their hotel for the 300 baht. Give a little get a little!

But that would involve actually providing something. As opposed to just talking about providing something that doesn't really exist. 

 

Thais are much better at the latter than the former.

[Enzian]

It would make sense if the fund were restricted in use to reimbursing hospitals for cases where a foreigner managed to escape without paying their legitimate hospital bill, but then the hospitals would in many cases find ways to abuse the system. There's really no way for people of this mental capacity to implement this on the "insurance" level unless they genuinely give everyone a bona fide policy on entry. Otherwise they can use it to promote tourism, but why? since as they say the product sells itself.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Dialemco said:

Thailand also charges visa fees understand delay implementing 300 Bht entry fee is because airlines have stated this is illegal. Alternative is simple increase the departure tax to Bht 1,000 and include with tickets cost it would have to be payable by every one including Thais. This is a small amount considering enormous expenses to enter Thailand under the Thailand Pass which is considered mainly of interest to sex tourists as not family attractive as costs are outrageous 

 

 

 

So you are saying that the Thai Pass is used mostly by 'sex tourists'? What a load of rubbish!

[clivebaxter]

What has the 700 baht departure tax been spent on all these years?

[Canadian Snowbird]

Don't expect it to generate much in the way of income as long as the Thailand Pass remains in place with all its extra requirements, because we aren't coming as long as it remains as it is. 

[MarcelV]

3 hours ago, cliobkk said:

IF a 300 B flat fee is applied to all foreign visitors... will the double pricing policy (Thai / Non Thai ) end?

Take a guess...

[Silencer]

- We all know this is primarily a money grab. This ministry can't buy subs and airplanes so needs other revenue source. Pre-covid, such a tax would have generated 11.7B baht (39M x 300) in 2019, tell me again this is not about money. However, nearly 12B baht pays for a lot of tourist hospitalizations....IF it were targeted as such.

- Airport implementation makes sense, not land borders. Relatively small percentage of targeted population comes from land borders.

- If not included in airline ticket (which impacts ALL people), then get a stamp in passport which indicates that it was paid and then not taxed again for second visit the same year. This helps those coming and going frequently (that aren't tourists anyway).

- Implementation would be a nightmare though...lines, delays, payment method, if attempted to collect upon arrival/departure.

[internationalism]

he is trying to twist facts again.

it was already stated, that only 20% from this tax (so only 60b) will go towards health insurance.

The next 20% (as much as for insurance), are operational costs.

The remaining 60% are for tourism infrastructure development.

Covid health emergency is just a nice backdoor excuse to put another tax, but has little to do with health.

 

Possibly those 20% insurance will go to land crossing ASEAN citizens who are rather not tourists, but illegal workers, traders or shoppers

[mrfill]

4 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

lol! Minister Phipat is a smooth talker,  but any tourist knows  he's a cash cow

Less cow, more bull

[Clarkey611]

30 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

What has the 700 baht departure tax been spent on all these years?

A slush fund for Uncle Too and a nut in charge.

[Misterwhisper]

Oh, I am all for it.... as long as it is an "entry fee" levied on foreign TOURISTS, Mr. Phipat.

 

So... how are your ministry and the immigration bureau going to distinguish between foreign TOURISTS and foreign RESIDENTS?

 

After all, I already pay personal income tax in this country and hold a comprehensive private health insurance. Thus, I am neither in need of your crappy "tourist insurance" nor will I require any assistance from your dodgy "emergency fund".

 

Therefore, please permit me to reiterate: How will you distinguish between TOURISTS and RESIDENTS?

 

My hunch is that I will have to pay your "entry fee" each and every time I return to my country of residence from a business trip (which pre-Covid happened about 15 - 20 times per year) just as much as I am still forced to pay a ten-fold entry fee to national parks and other tourist attractions only because I apparently have the wrong skin color and a nose bridge.

 

It's not about those 300 baht, Mr. Phipat. It's about the principle of things.

 

Otherwise, please consider calling that "entry fee for all foreign tourists" as what it truly is: an "entry fee for all foreigners".    

[crazykopite]

Idiots absolute idiots ! every Thai I meet does not have a good word for this administration I can understand why 

[Molly Malone]

Dear GENIUS MINIster,

 

DO NOT push ya luck! Stick to your entrenched sources of getting tea money. Your country needs tourists, insisting

on a "payment" for landing here will be seen as an annoying money grab. It's a LOT like the persistant Thai price

versus the Farrang price swindle. Petty, racist, aggravating and corrupt! 

[crazykopite]

59 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

i dont know why people complain

if you dont like it, dont come

if your already here, it does not affect you, unless you leave and re enter.

and if you dont like the fee charged on re enter.........dont leave.

or........leave for good.

 

People won’t come I can assure you not like the numbers prior to covid as there are to many restrictions on entering , now a 300 baht entry fee the baht is manipulated meaning you get a lousy exchange rate I could carry on one my biggest regret was buying a property here if I had continued to rent I would have long gone .

[mtls2005]

They never talk about the organization which will collect and disburse this slush fund.

 

There are always vague references about insurance, hospital bills, coral reefs, but never anything in detail.

 

If/when tourism returns this slush fund will be MASSIVE.

 

It will likely end up like the Thai Elite program, or Thai Airways or the SRT, perpetually running in the red.

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/464060-thailand-elite-card-closes-down-to-the-tunes-of-25-billion-baht/

 

 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

and the remaining fee would be used as a fund for the tourism development, chaired by the Permanent Secretary

Isn't that special. Permanent Secretary needs to order a larger safe for his home.

[tomazbodner]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Phiphat clarified that the money would be, according to him, used to buy insurance for travelers who visited Thailand,

So... no more 50k$ insurance requirement and all healthcare free of charge?