Thailand to Implement 300-Baht Fee for Foreign Arrivals

[island coconut]

22 hours ago, roath said:

What you are failing to take into account is that those of us who live here will be treated as tourists, so what benefit do we get? There is no indication that those on non immigrant visas etc will be excluded from this, so what's your response to that?

Again, it is less than $10. No one should expect any meaningful benefit from it. And in the eyes of the government, everyone here (for a week or a decade) is a "visitor".

[Phil1964]

A small amount for Western / Aus-NZ and not enough to pay for infrastructure and tourist support. Not enough to be missed in 2 years time etc, so most of the 300baht will end up in the pockets of the corrupt few and their connections  more likely.

 

[jacko45k]

20 hours ago, island coconut said:

Again, it is less than $10. No one should expect any meaningful benefit from it. And in the eyes of the government, everyone here (for a week or a decade) is a "visitor".

Putting it up to rectify that is already under discussion!

[mtls2005]

20 hours ago, island coconut said:

Again, it is less than $10. No one should expect any meaningful benefit from it.

Certainly thai citizens should expect something beneficial from this potentially massive (6 billion baht in 2023 from 20 m tourists) government collection of fees?

 

Or are you suggesting it will be 100% embezzled?

 

 

[new2here]

Apologies of this has been posted earlier (i didn’t scan the previous 6 pages) but .. the Post had a short article in Wednesdays edition (front page of Business section) that “Foreigners with a work permit or border pass” are/will be exempt.. 

 

This makes sense because having a WP in many (not all, but many) cases also means you’re covered for health care under the Thai SSO system.. and because one of the stated goals of the new fee is some kind of an “insurance” component, it would make sense that WP holders be exempted as their SSO would apply (again, recognizing that not all WP holder have Thai SSO, but a large percentage do)

[Lancelot01]

On 4/29/2022 at 3:19 PM, vinci said:

didn't they use to charge 500-Baht Fee back then, i remember paying 500 baht at the airport but don't remember what for.

They did, I think it was called a departure tax. Eventually, instead of paying the tax in cash at the airport prior to departu,it was added to the price if your airline ticket and remains so to this day.

[island coconut]

On 5/4/2022 at 7:30 AM, mtls2005 said:

Certainly thai citizens should expect something beneficial from this potentially massive (6 billion baht in 2023 from 20 m tourists) government collection of fees?

 

Or are you suggesting it will be 100% embezzled?

 

 

What I am saying is that a tourist shouldn't expect any kind of massive help with their hospital bills, should they get injured, for $10. Think about it.

[Freed1948]

On 5/4/2022 at 5:29 AM, Phil1964 said:

A small amount for Western / Aus-NZ and not enough to pay for infrastructure and tourist support. Not enough to be missed in 2 years time etc, so most of the 300baht will end up in the pockets of the corrupt few and their connections  more likely.

 

Yes, and multiply that with the expected 20 million tourists and they will be drooling.