Cabinet approves tourist fee of 150-300 baht for all foreign tourists

[Captain Monday]

Don't oppose it but 300 can't be enough for the purposes stated.

 

Should be more like 300 baht per day, and real good accident insurance.

[nigelforbes]

2 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

Don't oppose it but 300 can't be enough for the purposes stated.

 

Should be more like 300 baht per day, and real good accident insurance.

25 mill times 300 baht, it's enough. 40 mill. times 300 is even better!

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Can but hope that every country in the world now puts an extra 300 baht fee on ALL Thai tourists in this xenophobic policy 

If you had ever applied for a tourist visa to enter the UK you would know what xenophobia actually looks like.

The whinging on this forum is unbelievable. Over 40 countries tax tourist in various ways but when Thailand does it, like armageddon.

 

[shackleton]

The cost of the 300 baht will be included in the air ticket 

From which I am hearing is pretty expensive as of now 

If you can afford the Flight then 300 baht is not going to break the bank ????

[jacko45k]

43 minutes ago, tpbon said:

I live here full time on a visa based on retirement.  So if I pay the 300 baht, (When returning from a family visit)  and then have an accident, my medical bills will be covered until I leave? Yea right. Just explain what exactly the insurance covers.   

Seriously, don't even think that any medical cover will be forthcoming out of this money grab. The best we could hope for is that a pot of money is made available for those extreme cases, one or two every few years, that end up in the international and public eye, and spending the money can generate much positive reaction and good face. 

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

So every airline/flight booking portal is going to update their website to ask if you have a Diplomatic passport or Work Permit and charge you accordingly?  

 

Oh & give you the opportunity to enter your receipt number if you're travelling on a re-entry permit? 

 

Obviously not so this fee will be charged to everybody (Including my Thai partner if I book us flights together) or (as I suspect will be the case) collected at the airport... Which will be a nightmare, will be canned after 1-2 months & cause irrepareable damage to Thailand's reputation as a tourist desination. 

 

Very few people care about the 300b but I'll never go to Bali again after having to stand in line for almost 2 hours to pay for a Visa to enter... It's not what I go on holiday to do. 

 

That is my bet also.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

2 hours ago, SuperSilverHaze said:

Not visa on arrival?

Unless you are from an ASEAN country, you pay 35USD VOA, sometimes the line is very long?

[Smokey and the Bandit]

15 minutes ago, sandyf said:

If you had ever applied for a tourist visa to enter the UK you would know what xenophobia actually looks like.

The whinging on this forum is unbelievable. Over 40 countries tax tourist in various ways but when Thailand does it, like armageddon.

 

The OP is about Thailand not the rest of the world, or did you miss that?

[IAMHERE]

2 hours ago, TimeMachine said:

Also, is the amount I pay only going to pay for those that skip out on bills or will it afford me any advantage?

I have to suspect some is going to be siphoned off. If it were all going to pay for medical services the tax would be pushed for by the medical industry; appears to me it is being pushed by the political industry.

[Sig]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

According to the Minister, from 2017 to 2019, the government has incurred up to 400 million baht in medical expenses for foreigners at public hospitals.

 

3 hours ago, loong said:

So average of roughly 4 to 6 Baht per tourist per year!

Even if it were 20 or 30 baht per tourist per year... I have a very difficult time believing that isn't recovered from visa fees. If it isn't already accounted for as a part of visa fees, it should be. And with the cost of the tourist visa, for Americans, being 200 USD for a multiple entry tourist visa and 40 USD for a single entry... and 1,900 THB for an extension... and 500 THB per day penalty for overstays, it is VERY difficult to believe medical expenses foreigners may incur to the Thai government would possibly not be covered quite easily. And I also doubt that very much of those expenses are caused by tourists, who most likely have the money or insurance to pay for the vast majority of any medical expenses that might come up. I'd bet that those expenses caused by "foreigners" are more from foreigners from countries just across the border (documented and undocumented migrant workers, approx. 4,000,000 in number as well as another 500,000 or so stateless persons).
Being at public hospitals... I don't even think a foreigner on a tourist visa would be very likely brought to a public hospital. I think the odds are that they'd end up at a private hospital. Documented and Undocumented workers from Laos, Cambodia, Burma, etc. and Stateless people who need medical care on the other hand are highly likely not to be brought to a private hospital and VERY likely to only go to public hospitals. That minister bringing a statistic like this up, is just pulling something out of his you-know-where just to try sounding sensational, when he should already know that these kinds of expenses are accounted for ahead of time and are a non-issue.

[Mike Teavee]

37 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

Don't oppose it but 300 can't be enough for the purposes stated.

 

Should be more like 300 baht per day, and real good accident insurance.

You do realise that this will be levied on the 20Million (2019 figures, Thailand expects this to go up to 100Million within the next decade) visitors per year so would equate to 6,000,000,000 (6Billion Baht) way beyond (by a factor of at least 10) what every non paying foreigner costs the Thai government in health care. 

 

And you want to change that to days, the average stay is 10 days so 60Billion!

 

And exactly how much do us expats pay when we arrive... do we pay 300 x 365 (109,500baht) or are we supposed to book our next exit from Thailand before we arrive back. 

 

 

The whole idea is stupid beyond belief & will be quietly sidelined when they realised that people are voting with their feet (wallets). 

 

 

[dcalaska]

Oh yeah this help tourism, 555. 300 B arrival fee and 700 B departure fee comes to 1,000 B. Does anyone really think this money goes to promote tourism? 

Greedy SOBs

[Lee4Life]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

I'm sure workers will be covered by a work permit or at least under the "MOU" packaage from bordering countries.

If not they are tourists and therefore have to pay 150 like anyone else.

The problem is that those foreign workers who are most likely to be exempted by a work permit or under a "MOU" package most likely have made up the largest part of the 400 million Baht in unpaid medical bills in public hospitals that the government says it is responsible for. What would be interesting to see is a breakdown sheet of unpaid medical bills per nationality of tourists. Also do the public hospitals break down the unpaid bills by foreigners into divisions and classify them under the categories "tourists" or "foreign workers"?  

           

[sandyf]

24 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

The OP is about Thailand not the rest of the world, or did you miss that?

I certainly haven't missed the hypocrisy on this forum.

You have obviously missed the fact that everything in this life is relative.

[mikeymike100]

11 hours ago, Puccini said:

The following paragraph from the news article in the OP (highlighting in bold is mine) seems to suggest that a separate ticket will be issued for this tourist arrival fee, but by whom?

 

 

So it seems that, according to your interpretation, the tax can be deducted from the re entry permit fee?

[xtrnuno41]

I have some more money making suggestions.

1) CO2 tax, as you come in Thailand, CO2 levels rise, so tax.

You can save on holding your breath and reduce

2) You come to Thailand, you pollute more, so pollution tax.

Eat, drink less and there is a reduction in pollution tax

3) Beach tax for cleaning beaches

If you help, you have tax reduction 

 

However i agree, you pay your bill when  using the hospitals.

[ikke1959]

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

You are a tax payer = You have a WP = You do not pay

 

Simple enough

I don't have a WP I get pension, so I have to pay tax here because I live here more than 180days in a year and.......

[swm59nj]

This fee comes to $4.42 to  $8.83 USD.

if a person can’t afford that they shouldn’t be traveling anywhere.  They should be staying home.  And probably should be evaluating their own financial situation.  
 

[ChaiyaTH]

More and more money being sucked out of us. And in 3 years the fee need to be higher again.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

4 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I certainly haven't missed the hypocrisy on this forum.

You have obviously missed the fact that everything in this life is relative.

No I haven't missed that! But comparing Thailand with 40 other countries is at best misleading!

Problem is people go off at tangents and the thread then gets turned into bickering and arguments?

[ikke1959]

46 minutes ago, shackleton said:

The cost of the 300 baht will be included in the air ticket 

From which I am hearing is pretty expensive as of now 

If you can afford the Flight then 300 baht is not going to 

It is not about the 300 THB, it is about the all extra costs, as entrance fees for national parks, taxi scams, and just name it .... A tourist come to relax and enjoy and to be bombarded with many rules, extra costs etc etc...and if you need the hospital they will raise the bill as you are a foreigner....add it all and than there are other destinations which are more welcoming tourists..

[ikke1959]

6 minutes ago, swm59nj said:

This fee comes to $4.42 to  $8.83 USD.

if a person can’t afford that they shouldn’t be traveling anywhere.  They should be staying home.  And probably should be evaluating their own financial situation.  
 

that is not the point.....double pricing, extracting money in all kind of ways every time... is an adding up and see the difference between Thai people and foreign tourists and compare it with other destinations were everybody is treated fairly and equal

[catch104]

13 hours ago, zzzzz said:

Wont make a hiccup at all, as no one will even know, as its included in the ticket, same as the departure tax has been for decades 

So buying a fly tocket will require you show if you are work permit holder???
They were no such things as departure tax. It was airport tax paid at departue, and it applied to everybdody, no waiver. Today, as in most countrries, this airport tax is inside the fly ticket, yes but that tourist tax... I would love to see how they will implement that.
But sure, better tax the tourist....

[sandyf]

4 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

No I haven't missed that! But comparing Thailand with 40 other countries is at best misleading!

Problem is people go off at tangents and the thread then gets turned into bickering and arguments?

Why would a comparison be misleading. Only yesterday the forum was debating the Asia Power Index with many thinking Thailand should be at the bottom.

Obviously you prefer there was no Tourist Tax Index in case Thailand was at the bottom.

The arguments come from people complaining when there is nothing to complain about.

 

[vandeventer]

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

You know how it works... they try and get money out of you, if it works, good, if not, they move on. 

Just don't go anywhere, stay in Thailand, watch out for tourist traps, use the ATM when no one is behind you, and be happy your alive and kicking..

[crazykopite]

Once they wake up and realise that tourists have decided to go to more inviting countries they will once again do a u turn but that may be to late the only thing that they will achieve is the tourism industry suffering 

[sandyf]

7 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

compare it with other destinations were everybody is treated fairly and equal

Air Passenger Duty is based on how much legroom you have.

Does that equate to equality.

[Foghorn]

It doesn’t really matter what we say , also if we have to pay an extra 300 baht for that it’s 300 baht we will not spend on something else 

[harada]

Some nice beaches in Vietnam. ????

[Hummin]

13 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

Once they wake up and realise that tourists have decided to go to more inviting countries they will once again do a u turn but that may be to late the only thing that they will achieve is the tourism industry suffering 

Do you believe wealthy Asians  care? 

 

Thailand have announced their goal is more wealthy tourists and less budget tourists. 

 

They do not want shameless tank top or shirtless tourists who buy beer at 7/11 anymore or in the cheap sex bars. Have seen a change after covid, where more Thai frequently visits placed mostly western visited before.

 

I do not believe they worry about those who get upset by 300 baht.