Tourist levy hits further turbulence with fears it could harm airline’s effort to boost flight numbers

[webfact]

Minister of Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn announce the Thailand Tourism Fee (TTF) earlier in the year at ฿300 per tourist entering Thailand which offers automatic insurance cover. The proposal, which at one point was designed to exclude expats and people living in Thailand with work permits, was removed from the agenda of the cabinet in June due to problems with a plan to collect the fee with reports of resistance from international airlines and who were tasked with collecting the charge and providing final passenger manifests to Bangkok after takeoff. The latest news is that all foreigners will now be charged the proposed fee on entry but that it has again been postponed to find a suitable way of collecting the levy for sea and land passengers.

 

by James Morris and Son Nguyen

 

The fee will provide automatic insurance cover with 11.3% of the money from it going to pay for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days after they first enter Thailand while 88.7% will go to a fund to be used by the government to develop foreign tourism infrastructure in the kingdom. However, ongoing efforts to implement the proposal have repeatedly been stalled or postponed since 2019 and even before this, similar moves in 2006 and 2013, all fell through.

 

Many observers feel that the likelihood of a General Election being called between now and the end of 2022 as well as the pressing and critical economic need to boost foreign tourism numbers with increased international flight connections and frequency into Thailand may see the plan being postponed yet again.

 

Efforts by Thailand to introduce a new tourist levy to be known as the Thailand Tourism Fee (TTF) are making slow progress after it was confirmed this week that the plan is currently being delayed over discussions to formulate a method to collect the charge for incoming travellers by land and sea.

 

It has also emerged that the proposed collection method has generated resistance from the international airline industry who are being asked to charge the fee which involves communication between Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports and aircraft with the finalised passenger manifest required to be transmitted to Bangkok 15 minutes after takeoff for each incoming flight to the kingdom. 

 

Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/18/tourist-levy-or-fee-hits-further-turbulence-airline-flights/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2022-07-18

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Looks like the proposal and implementation are an issue that Thailand never figured out, yet they decided to go ahead anyway.....

[TTSIssues]

I wonder what the “tourist infrastructure” will be that all this money will be spent on.

 

a low cost public bus service in phuket and Samui ?

 

No, I didn’t think so ! 

[Andycoops]

And the lion's share goes into a fund never to be seen again, as usual.

[vandeventer]

We told you it wasn't going to work!!!

[Martyjustice]

How about the balance going to re election campaigns. 

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days after they first enter Thailand

I feel a new fleece extension available for 300 baht again on 30 day extension coming !

[tandor]

...a couple of old girls with baskets on long sticks should do the trick.

[mikebell]

'We used to pay 500 baht per ticket and I think at some point it went to 800 baht per ticket. It is yet another tourist rip off adding another 300 baht to total now 11,00 baht. No one believes they are going to receive 500,000 baht coverage at a first-class hospital if you're injured. This is a money grab, plain and simple, by someone in government who thinks he can get away with it.' - a BP reader's letter.  LOS = Land of Scams.

[dadofsak]

I think it is a good thing insurance for all , 300 bht is not a lot in the scheme of things, if you cannot afford 300 bht then you shouldn't be travelling.  I remember years ago there was an entry fee to thailand added to you plane fare.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, dadofsak said:

I think it is a good thing insurance for all , 300 bht is not a lot in the scheme of things, if you cannot afford 300 bht then you shouldn't be travelling.  I remember years ago there was an entry fee to thailand added to you plane fare.

It still is, you can see it in the fare breakdown. As to whether the new 300 baht actually will be used for some effective insurance, it has yet to be seen.

[redwhiteandblue]

They should call it 'idiot tax'.

[ThailandRyan]

17 minutes ago, dadofsak said:

I think it is a good thing insurance for all , 300 bht is not a lot in the scheme of things, if you cannot afford 300 bht then you shouldn't be travelling.  I remember years ago there was an entry fee to thailand added to you plane fare.

For All, really? How many expats who have insurance or even travelers travelling have travel insurance or insurance that already covers them? How much more will they have to subsidize for others. It's another subsidy like the others they have charged and just where has that money gone?  Just put a big collection box at the entry point in the airports or at the land borders and point the person entering towards it to drop money inside of a numbered envelope with their information on the outside, like a TM6 card had, and take the receipt end, just like paying for a day use facility at a park or campground in the US in many spots.....

 

Idiocy knows no bounds.

[herfiehandbag]

They do seem to be making "a mountain out of a molehill"!

 

Why not a simple protocol that on disembarking from an aircraft, ship, walking or driving over a land border each traveler simply hands the first uniformed fellow they see a wedge of cash.

 

That is after all the real point of the exercise...

[Excel]

6 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

That is after all the real point of the exercise

Not really because that would mean the local IO's etc get the cash. The main intent for TAT and the government I suggest is that the billions that this charge would bring in is syphoned off and distributed to the government/TAT elite only.

[IAMHERE]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

11.3% of the money from it going to pay for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days

35 baht for the insurance then? Hellbells, let me have another 35 bahts worth.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Looks like the proposal and implementation are an issue that Thailand never figured out, yet they decided to go ahead anyway.....

Perfectly normal in Thailand, where someone comes up with an idea and shoots their mouth off without ever thinking the idea through. And typical Thai arrogance in believing that every airline that flies to the country will do as ordered by the government and spend their time processing and transmitting passenger info while in-flight. They have found resistance from the airlines - what a surprise. I'm waiting now for a government minister to threaten to ban any airline that doesn't comply. There's bound to be one, who hasn't thought through what that would mean to tourist numbers.

[austhai]

My question is for the foreigners living & working here, paying tax & super (some employing many locals & paying their tax & super) so free medical, also like myself with a good hospital insurance, doing a trip abroad, we shouldn't be charged a tourist fee at all. Maybe a bit difficult for tham to think about or separate.  

[ThailandRyan]

15 minutes ago, austhai said:

My question is for the foreigners living & working here, paying tax & super (some employing many locals & paying their tax & super) so free medical, also like myself with a good hospital insurance, doing a trip abroad, we shouldn't be charged a tourist fee at all. Maybe a bit difficult for tham to think about or separate.  

They thought about it at first, but then poopoed the Idea, because it would be to hard to figure it out not only on their end but the airlines as well.  If they were serious in wanting more money they would just raise the percentage of VAT they take from each ticket and leave it at that.

[StevieAus]

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Perfectly normal in Thailand, where someone comes up with an idea and shoots their mouth off without ever thinking the idea through. And typical Thai arrogance in believing that every airline that flies to the country will do as ordered by the government and spend their time processing and transmitting passenger info while in-flight. They have found resistance from the airlines - what a surprise. I'm waiting now for a government minister to threaten to ban any airline that doesn't comply. There's bound to be one, who hasn't thought through what that would mean to tourist numbers.

Remember the proposal a few years ago that all incoming tourists would be issued with a SIM card on arrival, so they could be tracked?

another well thought out scheme that disappeared into the ether. 

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The fee will provide automatic insurance cover with 11.3% of the money from it going to pay for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days

It's ACIDENT insurance and I doubt that, that will include any medication especially if its ongoing medication. I can see so many scenarios one being '' No we are not covering you as you were hit by a vehicle, so we are claiming from them'' 

Or knowing how some operate here they'll double dip.

[easydoor]

300THB extra.... in case this will be  problem to visit Thailand, stay home.  You cannot afford your stay here. Many people wants to stay on the first row but wants to pay for the last row.

 

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, easydoor said:

300THB extra.... in case this will be  problem to visit Thailand, stay home.  You cannot afford your stay here. Many people wants to stay on the first row but wants to pay for the last row.

 

It's not the price, it is the point that many have insurance already and this new insurance only covers 30 days.  Make it mandatory that everyone has insurance  whether travel insurance or personal insurance coverage and let it go at that. It's just another amount they are trying to put in their pockets....only 11% or so will go for the actual policy.  You miss the point entirely.

[StevieAus]

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Perfectly normal in Thailand, where someone comes up with an idea and shoots their mouth off without ever thinking the idea through. And typical Thai arrogance in believing that every airline that flies to the country will do as ordered by the government and spend their time processing and transmitting passenger info while in-flight. They have found resistance from the airlines - what a surprise. I'm waiting now for a government minister to threaten to ban any airline that doesn't comply. There's bound to be one, who hasn't thought through what that would mean to tourist numbers.

Remember the proposal a few years ago that all incoming tourists would be issued with a SIM card on arrival, so they could be tracked?

another well thought out scheme that disappeared into the ether. 

[phetphet]

53 minutes ago, dadofsak said:

I think it is a good thing insurance for all , 300 bht is not a lot in the scheme of things, if you cannot afford 300 bht then you shouldn't be travelling.  I remember years ago there was an entry fee to thailand added to you plane fare.

But only 11.3% of that 300 baht will be for insurance. So somewhere in the region of 33-34 baht. The rest will disappear down a mysterious sinkhole. Never to be seen again.

[BangkokReady]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

88.7% will go to a fund to be used by the government to develop foreign tourism infrastructure in the kingdom

????

[BangkokReady]

14 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

It's not the price, it is the point that many have insurance already and this new insurance only covers 30 days.

It's the fact that this is literally: "We should charge the foreigners more so that we have more money from them, pretending that it is for insurance or infrastructure".

[BangkokReady]

21 minutes ago, easydoor said:

300THB extra.... in case this will be  problem to visit Thailand, stay home.  You cannot afford your stay here.

Nobody is complaining due to not being able to afford the fee.  That's just silly.

[renaissanc]

1 hour ago, dadofsak said:

I think it is a good thing insurance for all , 300 bht is not a lot in the scheme of things, if you cannot afford 300 bht then you shouldn't be travelling.  I remember years ago there was an entry fee to thailand added to you plane fare.

Yes, the 800 Baht is still charged. So now everyone will be charged 1,100 Baht extra for coming to Thailand. How much of this money disappears into people's new Mercedes Benzes, I wonder?

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Looks like the proposal and implementation are an issue that Thailand never figured out, yet they decided to go ahead anyway.....

Quite, too complicated.

If they had followed the UK model, £82 on economy long haul and £180 on premium long haul seating, they wouldn't have a problem.