Thai media investigates trouble in Koh Samet - foreign tourists ripped off, operators hit with charges - claims of parks' dept bribery

[webfact]

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Siam Rath went to Koh Samet on Thailand's eastern seaboard to investigate after a former director general of the nation's National Parks and now "green MP" Damrong Pidej went on TV to suggest corruption on the holiday island that is part of a national park.

 

The Thai Forest Conservation Party list MP said that 50 pick-ups ferrying tourists on the island had been charged 16,000 baht for a yearly permit.

 

He also pointed to irregularities in that people were paying for permission to build illegally on the island.

 

Officially it is part of the Khao Laem Ya Mu Koh Samet national park.

 

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Siam Rath were told by a song thaew driver on Samet that it was true. They all got a sticker, he said there were sixty who paid, and the parks people raked in 960,000 baht.

 

He paid in December and still has to pay 330 baht a month.

 

In addition 660 motorcycle taxi riders on the island have had to pay a yearly fee of 1,600 baht each netting a further 1,056,000 baht.

 

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Hawkers were being asked to pay money. The media noted much new building. 

 

Foreign tourists were also being fleeced in a new scam.

 

They had already paid to enter the National Park but they were now being asked to pay 100 baht "extra" to go on diving trips to Koh Ku Dee, Koh Thalu and Koh Panteen.

 

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Tourists were unhappy with having to pay and the operators understood their frustrations.

 

Throughout the Siam Rath article was the elephant in the room, alleged corruption at the National Parks.

 

It is nothing new in Thailand.

 

The media concluded their report by saying that operators on the island were borrowing to pay the new fees coming on the back of pandemic slowdowns and economic distress. 

 

People on the island were calling on a ministerial review of what is going on at the parks' office. 

 

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Picture: Siam Rath

Picture: Siam Rath

[JoePai]

Good to know all is back to normal

[Tarteso]

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

It is nothing new in Thailand.

 

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

corruption on the holiday island

 

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

were being asked to pay money.

 

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

alleged corruption

 

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

paying for permission to build illegally

A copy & paste report year after year, decade after decade… 

[stoner]

went on a boat tour to phi phi last week. included maya bay and monkey island.

 

they had people out on a deserted beach staring at the rocks looking for monkeys. 

 

 

[d2b2]

A corruption accused director who approved higher entrance fees for foreigners has a department lousy with corruption and bribes. Who could imagine?

top down investigation with appropriate consequences for those involved with corruption is way past due.

[Mywayboy]

I Rest my case your Honour. 

Guilty as charged take them down.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

Good to know all is back to normal

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

Good to know all is back to normal

And i was worried there for a while...

[spidermike007]

The national parks have been a scandal for quite some time. I remember several years back the federal government issued a mandate that allowed foreign residents to enter the parks paying the same fee as local Thais, with proof such as a driver's license or a pink card. I had one park honor it, then none. I have not visited a national park for years now. For expats to be asked to pay 10x what the locals pay, is a total scam. Tourists, OK. But expats? 

 

Does this spectacularly corrupt administration have any semblance of will or volition to do anything about the national park franchisees? Is it ever possible for them to do the right thing? Just once? 

[bluemoon58]

Shocker eh...??? 

[prakhonchai nick]

Not been to Koh Samet for over 20 years, but before then always took a speed boat direct to my pre-booked hotel and never paid any entry fee!????

[SuwadeeS]

Tourist should awoke to to visit an country with dual pricing.

 

[MadMac]

LOS - Land of Scams. 

[d4dang]

4 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Not been to Koh Samet for over 20 years, but before then always took a speed boat direct to my pre-booked hotel and never paid any entry fee!????

me too but the boats were not cheap but they had transport that did not pay extra fees and dropped you where ever 

[TheFishman1]

Gonna talk about it for a few days and that’ll be that your pricing scam Tourist just another day. TIT

[dddave]

9 minutes ago, SuwadeeS said:

Tourist should awoke to to visit an country with dual pricing.

 

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

[Robert Tyrrell]

Hello,

 

My Nation regardless of Nationality including Thais offers the same price for you as an American ????????, Able to purchase land and homes.

I truly think this duel pricing and bribery is very distasteful and doesn’t attract Tourism in my opinion just like this travel fee they want to initiate this June in Thailand, Just tell people they must show proof of healthcare coverage while traveling to Thailand , Let them  be responsible for themselves not another scheme to make money Thailand !! 

[jesimps]

19 minutes ago, dddave said:

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

Yes, but it's based on your postcode and not whether or not you're a US citizen. You could be a Thai, Indian, African etc living in the state and pay the same as a US citizen. Here, the lower fee is purely for Thais. A clear case of racism.

[waders123]

TIT   Brown bags are king!  I want some too!  555

[Flink]

14 minutes ago, dddave said:

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

And that makes it okay how? I can understand why they might charge TOURISTS more, but expats?

[DjSilver]

I have always said this since I moved to Thailand 5 years ago "Racist"

[dddave]

24 minutes ago, Robert Tyrrell said:

Hello,

 

My Nation regardless of Nationality including Thais offers the same price for you as an American ????????, Able to purchase land and homes.

I truly think this duel pricing and bribery is very distasteful and doesn’t attract Tourism in my opinion just like this travel fee they want to initiate this June in Thailand, Just tell people they must show proof of healthcare coverage while traveling to Thailand , Let them  be responsible for themselves not another scheme to make money Thailand !! 

What nation?

[Black arab]

I must be missing something here, All these songteaws and motorcycle taxis on Samet, I thought the island was tiny when I went there a long white back, where do all these taxis etc go.

[sabai-dee-man]

Can't understand for the life of me why anyone would support dual pricing. Fair enough if you're a foreign family with kids on a "once in a lifetime" trip to Thailand, and know no better (and can't see/read the Thai prices often displayed in plain sight), but anyone who's had even the remotest experience of this kind of thing needs their head testing paying hundreds of baht on top. Same goes for all the water parks and other so-called attractions. More often that not, there's just as nice an alternative elsewhere.

If people voted with their feet more, rather than just spout the usual "awww... if you can't afford a few $$/££/euros/whatever...." then maybe, just maybe, things might change. It's not the price, it's the principle.

[AhFarangJa]

We need a committee, definitely need a committee. The only way forward is to set up a committee. 

[sabai-dee-man]

2 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

We need a committee, definitely need a committee. The only way forward is to set up a committee. 

And then take some photos pointing at some taxis!

[Bob12345]

44 minutes ago, dddave said:

Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.

It might be unique to The Netherlands then, but eveyrbody pays the same for a single ticket at the door no matter your country of origin.

I suppose that is the same all over Europe (at least Northern Europe), but maybe I am wrong.

 

What they normally do is sell yearly memberships. One time entrance is say 10 euro's, or you can come as many times as you like for a year for the total sum of say 50 euro's. That way the local people can enjoy the attraction for a lower average price, but there is no dual pricing (which is against the law). In Holland you buy a museum year card and you can enter 200 musea for a year for like 100 euros. Visit 5 museums and you got your money out of it already. A similar thing I see here in Thailand as well: the aquarium here on Phuket sells a yearly membership for 999 baht where a regular ticket is about 100-200 baht. A waterpark sold tickets for 500 baht, or you buy a yearly membership for 4 people for 25K baht. Come once a month and you are better off with the yearly ticket, but for tourists it is not worth it as they are only here for a couple of days/weeks.

[SpanishExpat]

Still they want to be seen as a developed 1st world country. The reality is that Thailand is closer to India than to Japan/South Korea in that context????

[prakhonchai nick]

What happened to the Thai hotel chain, farang owned, that 2/3 months ago announced it wanted to charge foreigners more.?   Went very quiet

[sabai-dee-man]

1 hour ago, dddave said:

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

The difference is, they don't hide it.

I'm a Brit, who worked in Florida for a while back in my early 20s, and I was easily able to get a Florida ID card (based on my passport details -- yes, I understand other states/now might be different) that I could then use for "touristy places" and even many night clubs, and they would give me local pricing. Previously, when just holidaying there, it was clear that locals could buy passes to most of the attractions like Disney/Wet'n'Wild/Universal etc., for discounted entry. The irony is that back then, locals were even selling discount "tickets" to tourists to use to get into many places cheaper, that were basically just unused tabs torn from full-price tickets they'd snapped up (or possibly obtained from someone working at the attractions).

And don't give me "yeah, but in America it's all in English and and you're a native English speaker", because other than hidden entry fees, when do you EVER see Thai prices written with Thai characters rather than Arabic numerals?! Even in deepest Issan where English menus often don't exist, prices are shown as "฿40/50" etc.