Thailand: you can leave but you must pay ฿1,000 more. Departures tax hailed as the kiss of death

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, Funkymover said:

for a country that is supposably Buddhist,  which , buddha , a  supposably real man, that is treated as a god , said, live a simple and non materialistic life, thai's are just obsessed with money and scamming as much as they can from non thai's 

they don't just scam non Thais

[KannikaP]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This aims to generate extra revenue for the government and prevent Thai people from spending excessively overseas, according to the poll. It also aims to reduce the country’s trade deficit.

Somebody explain this please.

Of course it will generate extra revenue for SOMEONE, but giving Thai people Bht 1000 less to spend abroad seems rather silly, especially when they want us falangs to spend as much as possible in Thailand. What's it got to do with Trade Deficit? 

[kingstonkid]

3 hours ago, JayClay said:

Who in their right mind would be in favour of legislation that makes it harder to leave the country and spend time in foreign country in exchange for no tangible benefits...?

That's easy the super rich and those that never leave and have no plans to leave in the future.

[zzzzz]

According to the questionnaire, Thai citizens and foreign permanent residents would be required to pay a departure tax of 1,000 baht for air travel and 500 baht for land and sea travel. This aims to generate extra revenue for the government and prevent Thai people from spending excessively overseas, according to the poll. It also aims to reduce the country’s trade deficit.

So which is it??
all OR
only the above

[Gknrd]

56 minutes ago, bogs smith said:

my word. speechless. may as well just give them our credit cards when we land and say have at it fellas...

 

 

they really are totally without even a modicum of shame. 

Think about the guys that pay 800K for a one year extension then have to pay to come and leave... 

Man these guys are getting hosed. Taking care of a Thai GF or Wife and family allot of times then supporting the government to rip you off.  Got to hand it to the Thai's. No stone unturned..

[mfd101]

2 hours ago, Gknrd said:

It's called capital flight. 10-1 you will see laws put in place to stop the rich from transferring money out of Thailand.

Why would the rich do that to themselves?

[khunjeff]

33 minutes ago, LukKrueng said:

The 1st article is saying 1000 THB for All while the 2nd is saying 1000 THB for Thai citizens and PRs only... So which is it? In the early 90's there was a 1000 THB tax for Thai citizens (don't know if it was for PR's as well) and it was a pain...

The first article is wildly inaccurate. The proposed tax would apply only to Thai citizens and permanent residents, not to tourists and others. And contrary to what they claim, there is no "existing outbound levy for tourists" - there is a Passenger Service Charge (PSC) for people departing by air, which is an airport user fee - not a tax - and which applies to all outbound air passengers, not just tourists. There is no charge or tax of any kind for people leaving the country by rail, road, or on foot.

[Moti24]

This aims to generate extra revenue for the government and prevent Thai people from spending excessively overseas, according to the poll. 

 

Who Else!

 

This aims to generate extra revenue for the government and prevent Thai people from spending excessively overseas, according to the poll. 

 

I've read some rubbish, but this takes the biscuit!

And the foreign tourists being milked for their last pocket change!

I think the next time I visit my home country, it'll be with a one-way ticket.

 

[radiochaser]

4 hours ago, nglodnig said:

Interesting. - I have heard of several stories before (when there was a departure tax of 500 baht) of people who had spent literally every baht they had and had nothing when they got to the airport. What are they going to do if they can't pay? Deport them? Make them stay a month longer? Stupid idea.

That happened to me.  I did not know about an exit fee.   Just before checking in or sometime during my check in I gave my remaining baht to a Thai relative.   Fortunately, I was able to locate him outside trying to get a taxi!  

Fricking embarrassing it was!  And I don't embarrass easily!

[drbrit]

The TTAA is absolutely correct in their opinion.  This will cause significant impact to tourist levels and be very offputting to the younger visitors who may well choose Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia as cheaper alternatives.

This is another example of one gov department looking to cash in on an increasing wave of tourism returning to the country, and in doing so potentially eliminating the wave,.

[Paul Henry]

Thailand OUT Cambodia and Veitnam IN. Better service, fraction of cost, French influence in food and wines. Less ripoffs.

[ThaiBob]

Hmm..... Consider the timing, wonder if this is politically motivated in light of the elections.  It's just a bad idea. 

 

[Marco51]

Don't get upset people, it won't happen......this way. It is just another example of someone near a microphone who's tongue is working independantly of the nugget , is probably in the election race and had a bad dream .  In a day or 2 someone else who is watching and seeing how he can profit from the general uprising and daftness starts issuing other daft propositions and versions of the same until nobody speaks of any of them and the next cow is chased through the village. The old exit tax of 500 Baht by the way still exists but you do not notice any more, the airlines grab it for them. And who said the 300 Baht entry tax is entirely off the table............very likely the empire's zero Baht tours will receive a voucher for some noodles as compensation.

????

[bradiston]

Search the BP under "departure tax". You'll see it was all a non starter. You're wasting your time even commenting on it, and the OP should never have posted it. Such poor journalism.

[proton]

Its 700 baht now included in air tickets, would this be and extra 300 baht or 1k making it 1700 baht?

[DrDave]

4 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Wow, that'll rake in some money. 

 

 

No kidding!  This will haul in tens of millions of baht each day. Every 2-aisle departing flight will be good for at least 300K baht, and short-haul flights a minimum of 100K. Now multiply that by the number of international departures and it boggles the mind.

[curtklay]

Personally, I think 1000 baht to get out of Thailand is a bargain! 

[ujayujay]

You have to be mentally ill to come up with this idea...????

There are so many ways to be ripped off in Thailand and now the Thai Gouverment is trying too....

[ThailandRyan]

Left scratching my head on this new proposed policy.  One wonders what the finances in the country truly are and how much is left in the coffers.  Should be someone who has the information to step forward with the info and a reason a true reason, why this policy is being discussed.  The more that stuff like this arises, at least to me, it makes tourists in my view just shake there heads and choose to go elsewhere.  Soon there will be no Visa Exempt arrivals if they keep going this way.

[shackleton]

Let's wait and see if this departure tax is implemented as it affects all tourists and Thais leaving ???????? 

Personally I can't see it happening ???? 

They are having enough problems sorting out the insurance arrival tax as it is ????

Time will tell

[Pink Mist]

An off-topic post dragging another country into the Op has been removed.  Please do not post any comments designed to hijack the OP thread. The OP is:

 

Thailand: you can leave but you must pay ฿1,000 more. Departures tax hailed as the kiss of death

[Smokey and the Bandit]

6 hours ago, bg53 said:

The outgoing levy would be a bad move, in my opinion.

Not just your opinion. I am guessing everyone's opinion?

[sammieuk1]

I would be more in favor of an exit tax if they doubled it for Chinese and Indians to float another idea ????

[herfiehandbag]

4 hours ago, BayArea said:

I tell you what Thailand is trying their damn best to destroy the golden goose. After a nice recovery in tourism from the pandemic,  you would think they would be grateful getting an economic boost from tourists, but as usual greed is never too far away. 

Those proposing these taxes, both for entry and now for exit, are essentially those who gain no economic benefit from tourism.

 

But they must have budgets to create and manage, because with budgets to manage comes power and influence. To create and manage a budget you need a handy cash inflow.

 

Suvarnabhumi Airport reported just under 18 million international passengers last year. If we assume that half of them were departing, that would be a tax take of B900,000,000,0.

I would say that counts as a handy cash flow!

[soalbundy]

4 hours ago, BayArea said:

I tell you what Thailand is trying their damn best to destroy the golden goose. After a nice recovery in tourism from the pandemic,  you would think they would be grateful getting an economic boost from tourists, but as usual greed is never too far away. 

Considering the cost of air travel and the money spent on hotels and entertainment, 37 Euros isn't going to break the bank. I thought that 500 Baht was reasonable, the fact that they are considering to double the fee shows that all is not well as much as TAT would like it to be.

[Road Warrior]

6 hours ago, bg53 said:

The outgoing levy would be a bad move, in my opinion.

agreed -and where does the 1000  go to ???????????????????????????

[vinci]

at this point its just daylight robbery, people coming know nothing about this by the time they leave slap them in the face and rob them for money.

[Stargeezr]

Does this mean that Thais have to pay when heading out on a trip as well. They are departing Thailand after all.

  This tax will just be on the tickets of anyone flying into Thailand on a return ticket back to their country, just like the old departure tax was.

[klauskunkel]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai citizens and foreign permanent residents would be required to pay a departure tax of 1,000 baht for air travel. This aims to generate extra revenue for the government and prevent Thai people from spending excessively overseas,

So, basically foreign permanent residents have to pay 1,000 baht to prevent Thai people from spending excessively while outside the kingdom...

[Brian Hull]

Another hare-brained idea from Bangkok's decision makers. Let us hope that the new government will do a dramatic purge of all their departments, replacing the deadheads with competent professionals.