Tourism fee fund to be fast-tracked after payouts to families in the Siam Paragon mass shooting

[Skeptic7]

This is the Typically Thai way. Never take charge, assume responsibility and open the vast Thai coffers making renumeration from within when you can deflect, deny and extort money from others to foot the bill or place the blame. This is the same tactic the new giant imbecile PM is using...tax all foreign(ers) income to foot other Thai problems, projects and the graft that'll go with them. Those in need will see little or none while those in charge will reap the vast majority. 

[DJ54]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

That attitude has been around as long as I have been here "Farang will Pay" 

Made we laugh…. the first time I met FIL they had a contractor installing window and glass door to his house. Knowing by the looks of things he didn’t have excess cash. Curious me asked who’s paying for it? He doesn’t speak English but said in English ..You 555 I should of done a runner 555

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

Yes, it's a Foreign Tourist Levy, nota general levy for anyone who travels!

 

New taxes on tourists have become common in many countries:

 

Barcelona taxes foreigners staying in tourist accommodation

Portugal charges foreign tourists 1 Euro per night

Austria adds 3.02% to foreign tourists bills

Belgium add about 7 Euro's per night to room bills

Bhutan charges foreigners a whopping USD 250 per day!

Bulgaria adds 1.50 Euro per night to bills

Caribbean islands, Croatia, Czech republic, 

France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia

etc etc etc, all charge foreign tourists more.

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/11/tourist-taxes-all-of-the-countries-you-will-have-to-pay-to-enter-in-2022

 

 

Are any of those taxes used to compensate victims of mass shootings by locals?

[BE88]

How to return Thailand to poverty, this government is on the right track, congratulations.

[Andycoops]

Further adding to delays in entering the country with now having to queue and handover money and will a receipt be given detailing the medical cover...

[wensiensheng]

9 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Thailand appears to be becoming an unwelcome country even more, I think time here is becoming limited now

You can avoid the tax by never leaving ????

 

just trying to be helpful ????

[newnative]

Terrible optics from a totally clueless tourism minister.

[bob smith]

if there were such an Olympic sport as 'shoot yourself in the foot' then Thailand would have a box full of gold medals by now.

 

this country is beyond ridiculous. 

[dcalaska]

Let's see, a poor family needs money, get the cousin to shoot them in a shopping mall, everybody is rich on the backs of tourist. 

[RichardColeman]

Anyone know what happens if you arrive with NO cash and your have no smart phone ? I get the feeling you'll be in immigration for passport check 20 minutes and 7 hours in the 'rip off the traveller' line, because they will need atleast 10-15 kiosks 

[flexomike]

23 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

You can avoid the tax by never leaving ????

 

just trying to be helpful ????

Hotel California

[khunjeff]

47 minutes ago, Parker2100 said:

I don't recall any exorbitant exit fees from Cambodia.

There used to be a $25 Passenger Service Charge that had to be paid in cash, but it's now included in the ticket. That charge, for airport maintenance, was paid by every person flying out of the country, not just foreigners.

 

55 minutes ago, Parker2100 said:

I am actually in favor of a fee to reimburse Thailand for medical costs incurred during normal tourism.

Even if you believe all the claims about the amount of unpaid medical bills left behind by foreigners - which I don't - the total could be covered with less than 10 baht per incoming foreigner. Instead, they want to charge 300. Hmm.

 

31 minutes ago, Parker2100 said:

the original plan years ago, was just tack a 200 Baht fee to your airplane ticket.

Yes, and the airlines rightfully refused to collect it. It's simple for them to add a fee that applies to all passengers, but very difficult and expensive to only charge the fee to some people and not others. (And before folks start saying, "but they know who the foreigners are! They ask that when you book the ticket!" - well, no, most airlines don't ask your nationality until check-in.)

[phetphet]

2 hours ago, Colabamumbai said:

Need to get back the money they paid to families of dead. Lets hush this up quick. 

Yes, but how much did they actually pay out?

I read somewhere THB 1Million for each person killed. Add to that possible medical costs, and Tourist Assistance Fund or not, the government's bill couldn't have been very large.

 

Tourism fee for Emergency medical insurance and "other benefits".  Other benefits for who? 

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

providing emergency medical health insurance cover and other benefits for 30 days from the point of entry.

If that's the case then I have no problem with it, perhaps other countries can follow suite, as last I heard it cost my home country $80 million per year pre Covid to treat tourists who then upped and left with the tax payers footing their bills.

 

I believe a lot of guys on this forum missed the point, it's a slush fund to payout for situations like this, PLUS it provides tourists with emergency medical insurance cover and other benefits for 30 days from the point of entry, suffice to say, ask yourself, how many tourists come here without insurance and then end up on forums with GoFundMe asking for help.

 

Usually I don't agree with a lot of the things the Thai authorities come up with, but on this, reading between the lines, I give them my support, as I don't believe that they should have to put their hands in their pockets to payout families of victims of fatally shot innocent people, or treat people for emergencies in hospitals for free if they don't have insurance, so a slush fund is a win/win for all concerned, especially tourists who in an "emergency" requiring treatment without insurance, that of course happens more so than tourists being killed here, so like I said, it's a win/win for farangs.

 

To sum up, I would have thought the insurance company of the mall under public liability would have had to pay out to the victims families, but I don't know the laws here when it comes to Thai Insurance companies.

[Choochai]

Yep, we made a mistake but others are going to pay for it. M.O for almost everything in (not so) amazing Thailand...

[new2here]

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

Good luck with collecting the fee from visitors who just do not want to pay ...

 

Or will the payment via app or website be controlled by immigration before entry ?

This would create a lot of confusion .

Why not just let the airlines collect it when boarding ?

 

 

 

I suspect that the issue is IF you were to hard-bake it into ticket prices (like all other taxes applied to airfare) you loose (or make it very difficult from a programmatic basis) the ability to;

 

a) readily identify citizens versus non-citizen buyers - both would end up paying it as most booking engines don’t factor in passenger details (like nationality) when calculating fare. 

 

b) identify any subset of non-citizens who might otherwise be exempt. I recall reading that it was proposed that non-citizens who hold work permits may be exempt.

 

So running with an upon arrival, kiosk style payment gives you the ability to better define exactly who is exempt or not.

 

As far as dealing with those who arrive, but before being admitted, now refuse to pay goes… I highly suspect they will be a near-zero situation— only because if they were so set it up like that, once you arrive, they’ve essentially  “got you” — you’re a captive market .. You don’t pay it? They don’t admit you or deem you inadmissible and repatriate you like those who Immigration won’t allow entry.  For the country it’s basically a no miss no fuss answer … 

It’s the AIRLINES that I could see voicing a concern over this pay-upon-arrival system as they might be inadvertently swept into a problem if someone doesn’t. pay and Immigration wants to repatriate them, now the airline gets swept up as they’ve got to deal with the repatriation flight issues and payment for that. 

 

 

If it were me?  I’d take the easy road.. just up the current “TS” tax from 700 to 800 across the board -  citizen or not - make it 800 or whatever.. . it’s a tax that’s always on the books and easy to collect… it’s baked in so there’s no “in your face” of a new tax either.. and since everyone would pay it, it would be very hard for a person to really detect that the tax was increased versus the natural ebb and flow of ticket prices themselves . 

 

Yes, citizens would also pay it - true.. but to me the easiest way IMHO, is just bump the TS upwards. 

 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

3 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

Yes, it's a Foreign Tourist Levy, nota general levy for anyone who travels!

 

New taxes on tourists have become common in many countries:

 

Barcelona taxes foreigners staying in tourist accommodation

Portugal charges foreign tourists 1 Euro per night

Austria adds 3.02% to foreign tourists bills

Belgium add about 7 Euro's per night to room bills

Bhutan charges foreigners a whopping USD 250 per day!

Bulgaria adds 1.50 Euro per night to bills?

Caribbean islands, Croatia, Czech republic, 

France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia

etc etc etc, all charge foreign tourists more.

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/11/tourist-taxes-all-of-the-countries-you-will-have-to-pay-to-enter-in-2022

 

 

Does it apply to all foreigners or just foreign tourists? Most of the taxes in your linked article are for accommodation or hotel bills? So if you have house or condo you would not pay it?

[Big Bert]

Will this be tax deductible from the proposed pension tax due in Jan 2024, the tax that so far has no details released.

[Mike Lister]

7 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Does it apply to all foreigners or just foreign tourists? Most of the taxes in your linked article are for accommodation or hotel bills? So if you have house or condo you would not pay it?

It is for all non-Thai citizens, regardless of whether they own property or not.

[RandolphGB]

Mass shooting in Thailand.

 

Thai government: Let's make tourists pay

 

 

[Peterphuket]

3 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/11/to-to-com-to-nl-de-landen-je-moet-betalen-naar-enter-in-2022

 

 

About Bhutan you are wrong, you have to spend 250$ a day, that is different from paying this amount of tax!

[Mike Lister]

3 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

About Bhutan you are wrong, you have to spend 250$ a day, that is different from paying this amount of tax!

Write to Euronews and tell them!

[Peterphuket]

Just now, Mike Lister said:

Write to Euronews and tell them!

I don't care but you post it.

[lordgrinz]

Thai culture at its finest, disgusting.

[Stevey Fishwick]

There use to be a tax when you left the airport about 20 years ago, guessing that wasn't just scrapped it was just probably passed on to the airlines and then the passengers when they bought the tickets.  Can the not just do something similar with this tax instead of hitting people with an extra charge as they arrive in the country.  I suppose it does help prepare people to be charged extra for being non Thai during the rest of their stay though .....

[AAArdvark]

So you have just arrived after a 24 hour flight(s), you don't have  ฿, you wait in immigration for a half hour and then your half dead brain has to figure out what this kiosk thing is all about in 50 languages. Great

[Artisi]

5 hours ago, bendejo said:

So it makes the world news that LOS has experienced a mass shooting.  Such a thing is bad for tourism.  How to solve this problem?  Introduce another tourist fee!  Or did this news tidbit really originate in The Onion ?

 

No, coming direct from TAT, the organisation where any sign of a brain is replaced at best with an onion or left completely empty. 

[KhunLA]

About time ... should have been done when 1st introduced.  

 

Do they still have an exit tax ... get you coming & going ????

[Smokey and the Bandit]

18 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

It is for all non-Thai citizens, regardless of whether they own property or not.

"Yes, it's a Foreign Tourist Levy, nota general levy for anyone who travels!

 

New taxes on tourists have become common in many countries:"

 

So its not a Foreign Tourist Levy, its a Foreigner Levy?

[retarius]

Is it a foreigner tax or a tourist tax ie people with tourist visas?