Thailand’s dual pricing still gets everyone posting

[SbuxPlease]

The dual pricing irks me because it feels like a type of racist discrimination - something many people have a moral objection to in my home country because of some various beliefs and rights that the country (tries) to stand on.

 

If we put up a gatekeeper outside Times Square who charged $150 after judging a visitor's citizenship/ethnicity and deciding they are the wrong one - even if you've lived in the US for 10 years - (everyone else no charge) they might feel a bit hacked off too.

 

In any case, the other benefits still outweigh this particular thing so I'm still here. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by SbuxPlease

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

????...You just can not let that one go now can you...????

It did include a monogrammed flanged niblick.....????

[Nicholas Paul KNIGHT]

8 hours ago, 2baht said:

Racism....plain and simple....shame Thailand, shame on you!

Thailand is not only Racist but also Xenophobic as well, the fact that following the Pandemic they have lost nearly 20% GDP, does not seem to faze them. If all the Expats left, Thailand woul;d be so POOR yet they still treat us like criminals from Visas to Entry prices, if that happened in the UK the Government would be hung out to dry !!

[shackleton]

It's the way it is Tourists will pay as probably their first time in Thailand????

Expats who live here if married to a Thai will pay first time moan about it  and say never again ???? 

[koolkarl]

Dual pricing also exists in hospitals, big time. 

Now companies like Shopee and Paypal (Thailand), make it extremely

difficult to get a refund into a foreigners bank account without a Thai ID number,

even for 100 baht !!

The last time I looked at my trees in the backyard, money wasn't growing on them.

 

[Mises]

I agree.

It is also about time throughout the world that theme parks, swimming pools, cinemas, hotels and airlines stopped dual pricing.  Discounts for kids, how unfair!

[Stefanix]

15 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

The last time I looked at my trees in the backyard, money wasn't growing on them.

Wrong manure. Try to get some sh.. from Soros, Buffett and the like. ????

[condo62]

Easy.....don't go to the places that do this...leave it for the locals been visiting Thai for 30+ years happy to eat swim sleep and explore without getting ripped off more than I have to.

[worgeordie]

The sneaky way they put Thai entrance fees in Thai script,

knowing 99 % of tourists cannot read Thai.....says it all.

 

regards Worgeordie

[Sydebolle]

Published government road 2331 leads through a National Park, which is not indicated as "toll" road. After driving up 20+ kms I hit a toll booth. We were en route to visit Wat Phra Phu Thap Boek. 

The ranger insisted on me getting out of the car - which I did. Then he told me that I would have to pay 540 Baht; 20 Baht the car, 20 Baht my wife and 500 Baht the dirty farang, a.k.a. alien. 

He had already ripped off the relevant receipts and that's when I told him to put those up his backside and left. He got furious (as he had already ripped off the tickets and invalidated them) and called me names I cannot put here. We turned around, never having visited Wat Phra Phu Thap Boek. 

[Kalasin Jo]

Why should we, that is foreigners living in Thailand pay any taxes at all then? We are, even as long stayers on the perpetual annual renewal of permission to stay, clearly viewed as temporary residents at best, or tourists staying for a year, even with our Thai families. It's true I don't pay tax in Thailand on my pension but I do pay "withholding tax" on my Thai bank deposits, maintained almost solely for the purpose of the financial requirements for that annual permission to stay...for which I am also charged along with any re entry permits I may need. Plus soon the charge for coming in to Thailand. 

 

TIT some may say, and generally I go along with that, but I do not like the blatant dual charging on top, especially when the multiple is so much more than my Thai family pay. Which other countries do this? Certainly not in Europe. And with a growing " middle class"  in Thailand who can afford to pay more than a token admission charge and the poorest Thais uninterested in such places the justification is threadbare imho.

[ThailandRyan]

19 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

The sneaky way they put Thai entrance fees in Thai script,

knowing 99 % of tourists cannot read Thai.....says it all.

 

regards Worgeordie

Nail on the head.....

[sambum]

"Editor’s note: So, the debate continues and maybe the Minister for Thailand’s National Parks will change his mind and charge Thai’s more than tourists."

 

????????????

 

As soon as I saw "In 2020 Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT),............." I knew I was in for the usual dose of claptrap!

 

Just as a matter of interest, I wonder what the reaction would be if they tried to charge Thais 300 British Pounds for admission to London Zoo?

Edited June 30, 2022 by sambum
Additional text

[digger70]

I don't mind ,Lady Digger just finds out the price if it's not same as for Thais we Don't Go . they  can charge what the want. Works for us. ????

[Fairynuff]

9 hours ago, plus7 said:

Hi,

 

Easy solution with parks, earlier it worked.

If someone has Thai driver license he is not a tourist.

Remember that time?

But you’re still a foreigner and therefore considered a legitimate target.

[josephbloggs]

7 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

The author Michael Bridge, just stirring the pot, getting the moaners on board to react. ????

Bingo!   And works a treat every time.

[Fairynuff]

7 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I paid 5,000 baht more than an Australian guest at Royal Melbourne golf club.  It happens everywhere. 

Maybe you should’ve paid in AUD

[JeezeLooeze]

Went to Khao Sok NP last April and tried to get the Thai ticket price to no avail. This is despite having worked in Thailand for over 2 decades and paid over THB6million in Thai taxes. I do have a Thai driver's license and Pink ID card as proof of my long term resident status but the park warden did not accept them. I'm very selective of the NPs I visit as many of them don't warrant the expense. 

 

What was interesting was that at this park entrance there was a ticket vending machine so that the local officers did not have to handle any cash. Very trusting of their fellow state employees? That said however I doubt if much of this income ever gets onto the books at Bangkok.

 

An interesting aside is that the huge increase in park fees for foreigners was introduced by Mr. Plodprasop Surasawadi quite a few years back when he was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of which oversees the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.  In March of 2020 Mr Surasawadi was sentenced to 2 years jail for corruption and misconduct at the time he was acting Permanent Secretary.

[Paris333]

I do not understand why the prices for Westerners are in numbers and for Thais are ....with letters .....! It is illegal with direct link to xenophobia and discrimination.

 

[kennw]

10 hours ago, 2baht said:

Racism....plain and simple....shame Thailand, shame on you!

Dual pricing, a great way to tarnish the image of Thailand, no matter what spin you put on it, it's racism.

[Fairynuff]

26 minutes ago, sambum said:

I wonder what the reaction would be if they tried to charge Thais 300 British Pounds for admission to London Zoo?

They’d say no problem, can I have my tiger cooked medium rare please.

[JeezeLooeze]

2 minutes ago, Paris333 said:

I do not understand why the prices for Westerners are in numbers and for Thais are ....with letters .....! It is illegal with direct link to xenophobia and discrimination.

 

Yes it might seem that way but it's actually legally required for Thai government departments to use Thai language and Thai numerals in official notices and letters. What gets me is when the Thai private sector also uses Thai numerals instead of Arabic when double pricing....

[Fairynuff]

As long as I live here I will never (knowingly) pay an inflated price. I’ve been to a few national parks here and always used either DL or pink card. Since they stopped accepting these I’ve been to Khao Yai once. I was with Thai friends who drove their S Class in front of me driving my Accord. None of us paid anything because my friends “knew someone”. I haven’t tried any park since because I can’t be bothered getting <deleted> off when they want to rip me off.

[Bangkok Barry]

6 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

A good 10 years ago, I conducted a test with some of the locals in my wider neighborhood. I had prepared a picture of a European tourist attraction with a ticket sales booth in the foreground, photoshopping the entry fee sign to read: "Entry for Locals - 2.50 euros / Entry for Thai - 25.00 euros".

 

I asked them whether they noticed anything peculiar about that photo. Sure enough, ALL of them immediately pointed out that entry fee discrepancy and voiced how "unfair" it was to charge Thais ten times the fee.

 

Of course I explained to them that this was exactly how foreigners were being treated when they wanted to visit attractions in Thailand.

 

The reactions were then quite surprising. ALL of the participants in my little survey admitted that while they knew about the practice they did NOT agree with it and that everybody regardless of nationality should pay the SAME entry fee as locals when visiting tourist attractions in Thailand.

 

The common consensus was that while Thailand always portrayed itself as a country that welcomed all foreigners, fleecing those very people for ten times the local entry fee simply did not drive home that message.

 

It seems the average person on the street has more common sense than those in government. But then again, that's nothing new.

I think that most Thais are embarrassed by the government-led dual pricing policy. There are a few businesses that see it as a green light to charge foreigners more, but go to your local market and shops and I doubt you'll find ordinary Thais ripping you off. I'd guess that well over 95% of Thais hate the practise as much as we (who are not Thai apologists and therefore don't mind being made a fool of) do. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Mises said:

I agree.

It is also about time throughout the world that theme parks, swimming pools, cinemas, hotels and airlines stopped dual pricing.  Discounts for kids, how unfair!

Idiotic comment. In Thailand dual pricing is based on race, not age.

[Wrwest]

Five year driver's License or Pink Card and Thai Resident pricing. If you want to stick it to tourists ... let Tourism of Thailand figure out if they are losing tourists as a result. We who are resident in Thailand should be recognized as annually sustaining Thailand and many, Thai nationals.

[Bangkok Barry]

52 minutes ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Why should we, that is foreigners living in Thailand pay any taxes at all then? We are, even as long stayers on the perpetual annual renewal of permission to stay, clearly viewed as temporary residents at best, or tourists staying for a year, even with our Thai families. It's true I don't pay tax in Thailand on my pension but I do pay "withholding tax" on my Thai bank deposits, maintained almost solely for the purpose of the financial requirements for that annual permission to stay...for which I am also charged along with any re entry permits I may need. Plus soon the charge for coming in to Thailand. 

 

TIT some may say, and generally I go along with that, but I do not like the blatant dual charging on top, especially when the multiple is so much more than my Thai family pay. Which other countries do this? Certainly not in Europe. And with a growing " middle class"  in Thailand who can afford to pay more than a token admission charge and the poorest Thais uninterested in such places the justification is threadbare imho.

You do also pay tax to the Thai government every time you shop. But in their eyes that doesn't count. You are rich and all Thais are poor - you pay, mista!

[Guderian]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

If you’re a foreigner you’re a tourist in their eyes.

Face it, the government feels much the same way regarding our immigration status, most expats are just long-term tourists who have been allowed to stay for one more year. Introduce a proper retirement programme like they have in Malaysia and the Philippines and maybe you can fix this muddle as well as attract more retirees to live here, the sensible sort with money who are not willing to live life on a year-by-year basis and put up with nonsense like filing 90-day reports. And they honestly wonder why so many of the expats they manage to attract to live here have hardly got two Baht to rub together.

[thecyclist]

The national parks used to be 5 Baht for everyone,Thais and farangs. That was back in the eighties and into the nineties. I was a regular visitor of Khao Yai, biking from Prachinburi to Pak Chon and back. Late nineties (don't remember the exact year) someone in the Forest Department must have noticed that most private attractions - like the Katoey shows and the elephant, snake, crocodile, monkey etc shows were ripping off farangs and getting away with it, decided to follow suit and raised the park fees from 5 to 20 Baht for Thais, and from 5 to 200 Baht for farangs. A 40 fold increase made a nice welcome to Siam mat, on which I never stepped. And, by the way, they would have to pay me a lot more than 200 Baht to go and see and suffer through one of these Katoey shows. Plenty of ladyboys up and about in the streets. Nó need for any shows. Their national parks aren't that special either, easy to stay away from. Places like Angkor Wat you have to bite the bullet and cough up the money, but nothing in Thailand that comes close. 

[Mavideol]

10 hours ago, 2baht said:

Racism....plain and simple....shame Thailand, shame on you!

not long ago one of their minister posted saying "nepotism" is legal, no shame here 555