Is it a good thing to attract rich tourists/expats? Yes, of course! But they are in the minority.

Here is the important point: There is no need to take any action that harms tourists/expats that are not rich. The bulk of the Thai economy devoted to tourism/expats is not structured for rich tourists. It is this sector that will be hurt......it is already being hurt.

Do rich tourists ever come to SE Asia? I would have thought that rich people would not travel to 3rd world countries except maybe on important business. I'm talking about multi-millionaires and above.

I believe David Beckham and EPL player Joe Cole were just holidaying in Phuket and Samui. Do they classify as rich enough?

Is it a good thing to attract rich tourists/expats? Yes, of course! But they are in the minority.

Here is the important point: There is no need to take any action that harms tourists/expats that are not rich. The bulk of the Thai economy devoted to tourism/expats is not structured for rich tourists. It is this sector that will be hurt......it is already being hurt.

Do rich tourists ever come to SE Asia? I would have thought that rich people would not travel to 3rd world countries except maybe on important business. I'm talking about multi-millionaires and above.

I believe David Beckham and EPL player Joe Cole were just holidaying in Phuket and Samui. Do they classify as rich enough?

JR Texas: Solid data on this issue is likely not out there.....so common sense will have to do. Some rich people obviously do visit Thailand and they spend money. But, in terms of the tourism money pie, they account for only a small portion. Why? Because most tourists are not rich and they far outnumber the rich.

There is no reason to exclude (via insulting and xenophobic rules and attitudes and policies) the non-rich to increase the number of rich tourists. This is the basic flaw in the tourism policy at present.....they are not be able to understand that a win-win situation is possible........the USA does it, and so does Australia and New Zealand, etc. They want BOTH rich and non-rich tourists and welcome both.

I believe David Beckham and EPL player Joe Cole were just holidaying in Phuket and Samui. Do they classify as rich enough?

I don't think that a few rich young football stars visiting Phuket would be a clear indication that many rich people visit Thailand.

Why do these guys visit Phuket? Beaches? Cheap women?

Maybe they had a school trip here when they were teenagers and developed a taste for Thai women?

I'm not British and don't fully understand the habits of the British football players, but I see a lot of them running amok in Pattaya.

Edited June 28, 200719 yr by tropo

.... Baht up 10% ,means 800k should go to 700k I think a lot of posters would appreciate that ,especially the americans ,should be fair to do though , not that we can expect anything ofcourse ,would be nice for a change .

The reason they're asking 800k is to make sure you have enough Baht to get by on in Thailand. Having 100k less as a requirement wouldn't make sense.... Taking inflation into consideration, increasing the income requirement from 800k to 900k would make more sense.

Edited June 28, 200719 yr by robenroute

Has it been confirmed that this affects USA passport holders only, any changes to a NZ passport holder that anyones aware of?

Cheers

The increases only reflect currency values. Most Thai Embassies/Consulates will not change. Thai offices in Australia will not change and I expect that NZ won't either.

I paid US $215 (200,000 won) in Seoul 2 weeks ago for a Non Immigrant Multiple entry " O" visa (husband).

Australian passport

Before this current change it was $US 125 in the USA and remains unchanged in Australia at $AUD 225

You want to Play you got to PAY.

Increased visa fees from July 2, 2007

Penang is issuing Multi entry visas again

As of July 2, 2007, the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulates will raise the visa fees as follows:

1. NON-IMMIGRANT VISA

o US $60.00 for single entry

o US $150.00 for multiple entries

o US $150.00 (APEC Multiple Entries)

o US $300.00 (Three-year Non-Immigrant "B" for Business and Work)

2. TOURIST VISA

o US $30.00 per entry

3. TRANSIT VISA

o US $25.00 per entry

Source:

http://www.thaiconsul-uk.com/

http://www.thaiembdc.org/

Related thread:

Penang is issuing Multi entry visas again:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127365