Thai tourism sector proposes 300-baht tax to counter over-tourism

[borderhopper2005]

B300 Admission Fee to enter the kingdom?

Which tourism body encourages the govt to introduce B300 tourist levy?

Just looks like  another bonus scheme to fatten Thailand's Already Super Rich privileged 0.1%.

 

With absolutely Zero-transparency, whose pocket will that new rip-off tax earning get into? 

 

Edited April 23 by borderhopper2005

[shackleton]

Considering what tourists are paying to fly to Thailand 🇹🇭 🤑

300 baht is pretty petty and not going to make a difference on Tourists coming to Thailand 🥳

End of 

[statman78]

1 hour ago, Scott Tracy said:

Don't they already charge tourist tax? What happened to the cash money I had to pay to leave in the 90s, what happened to the tourist tax supposed to come in on 2022? 

The tourist tax upon arrival was approved several years ago but was never implemented.  At first it was to cover unpaid medical bills.  Then part of it was to improve tourism spots.  As I recall the plan was completely dropped last year.  Now I see the idea is being brought back.

[geisha]

So, charge 300 baht to pay for the lack of infrastructure and the monstrous queues at Thai airports . That’s charging the tourists for the government’s mistakes ( thieving). Thailand is a mess . 

[Felton Jarvis]

What the HELL is "over-tourism"????  The mere concept is laughable. Money from tourism does not seem to bother any Thai merchant.  We spend money, YOU reap the benefits.

[Dan O]

2 hours ago, Nickcage49 said:

"Over tourism"? Are these people kidding?

 

One minute they're crying because they don't get enough tourists and giving freebies to countries like India and China and the next minute they're trying to do things to slow tourism down.

 

Make a decision guys!

 

And if you think 9 USD is going to make a difference you're wrong.

 

I'm looking forward to the article in the next few days about how the Thai authorities are whining about one country or another having too few tourists here or one area or another being low on tourism.

 

What a joke!

No need to wait, they wrote that article 2 days ago about the UK tourism being down and the affect losing those dollars. 

[MangoKorat]

3 hours ago, transam said:

Are you worried about 6 pound 50p...........🤭

Don't foget that we already pay a 500 baht departure tax - just that they decided to hide it a few years back by putting it on to your flight ticket price.  When you break that ticket price down, there are also other taxes and fees included for using the airport etc. - just as there are with other airports.

[VBF]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

I agree with you and plenty on here missing the point with comments of " it's only 300 baht"

 

Do members recall that we'll add something to the ticket for all the new biometrics at the airport which enhances arrivals and departures, well did it?

 

Then there was the add-on for those that weren't insured and it was to pay for the hospitals, as Thailand was fed up allegedly, with these people who couldn't pay or had inadequate medical insurance, so we'll just put another ' add on ' in there to cover this.

 

Then there was an argument about an add-on or price increase for tourists to keep and maintain the national parks in good order as tourist attractions because obviously, only foreigners litter and such in these places.

 

And the list continues until somebody says ' enough is enough ' and they decide with their feet to seek new places.

 

This is the strategy of the Thais in government, who haven't the faintest idea about the tourist on the ground and will milk the cow until it's dry and then bleat where have all the tourists gone blaming everything else from Climate change to the Global economy. They will blame anything except their dumb policies.

 

The government here float these ideas and waits and sees what the blowback is before coming out and saying what their proposals are, so they can blame some Somchai ' who wasn't authorised to speak ' if it goes belly up.

 

Are you people not surprised why it is hazy with no government announcement regarding their plans on taxation for people here over 180 days, they are seeing where the land lies, so they can back-peddle quickly if they hit significant resistance.

 

Lastly, comparing Pattaya Thailand to Bhutan is like comparing Liverpool to Monte Carlo.

Pretty much sums it up, I think 👍

[VBF]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

I remember many years ago in Pattaya chatting with a bar girl I knew very well down there who had been dating a guy from the UK who worked offshore and was wealthy. I knew him and he was a pleasant lad, but nobody's fool.

 

They had just broken up and she was sitting in the bar glum-faced, so I asked what had happened.

 

She went on to tell me she had asked for a new motorbike and he bought one, then after a while there was the farm plus animals which he provided for, ( a lie of course was that project, to extract cash) then there was the obligatory pick-up, which he paid for again.

 

Eventually, when he asked to see the items mentioned above, they weren't there. She had either scammed and pawned them or simply had the money and spent it.

 

So they broke up.

 

She blamed him for the breakup because she said when she asked the first time, he gave, so then she asked again and he gave, so then she said, she just couldn't stop asking!

 

And that is similar to what we have here in Thailand at present, they are trying to balance books obviously through 9 or 10 years of mismanagement and turning to the obvious cash cow, the tourists.

And again, you seem to have hit the nail on the head.

Or to put it another way, the Khun Chairattananon shooting himself in the foot by taking lessons from "Bar Girl 101." ☹

[newbee2022]

54 minutes ago, TheFatOne said:

 

I'm all ears. Go ahead.

A tax against over tourism? ??

Do you think a tourist would stay home because he has to pay for his ticket 10 Dollar more?

[Dan O]

2 hours ago, dinsdale said:

I thought they were already limiting the amount of people going into spots on the islands. Iimiting the number of snorklers at any one time in a single spot. These are good policies if adhered to. This is just the lastest backdoor way to tax tourists. The extremely well thought out entrance tax was a prime example of this tactic. This is just so translucent it's laughable. 

They were already floating a tax before and shelved it about 3 years ago suring covid in order to help support tourust areas affected but shelved it. Then again  last year. That fee was to provide health insurance for tourist. 

[proton]

Thought this was originally to cover medical cost for tourists and improve tourist facilities? now it's just another tax to add to the 700 departure tax.

[fondue zoo]

Wait, which 300 baht is this, the  'if farang breaks leg'  one or the  'if farang eat all the mangoes'  one?

[TheFatOne]

20 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

A tax against over tourism? ??

Do you think a tourist would stay home because he has to pay for his ticket 10 Dollar more?

 

True :D

[JackSinclair]

clik-clik
operators are advocating...
They propose ....
they believe ..could ...
is set to.. present a white paper
suggests a key strategy.....
Adith also proposed...
supports the idea 
He believes it could...
Surawat suggests...
could be ..

Cutting edge journalism or professional clikk masterbaiting ?

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, terryofcrete said:

If there was no prostitution in Pattaya the s-hole would be empty...oh wait... there is no prostitution in Pattaya ! 

 

Didn't the TAT announce in the past that Pattaya tourists come for the temples?

[ChipButty]

Ok 300 baht but add that to everything else you buy thats maybe imported, certain foods, stay in a 5 star hotel and everything is plus plus, 160 baht for a chang beer ++ 

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, Almer said:

What they want is to increase tourism with hair brain idea's, but collect 300 baht if them to pay for it whilst in the North East people have little or nothing to show fod the continued mismanagement of everything.

 

It's not about those people in the North East, but the few greedy upper-class billionaires who want to add 300 baht times X to their already outrageous fortune...

[AboutThaim]

6 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

Didn't the TAT announce in the past that Pattaya tourists come for the temples?

Yep!  They got a lot of bar girls to say " my body is a temple" then put out the above announcement LOL

[thesetat]

3 hours ago, Aviatorhi said:

"Not enough tourists" - you writing that from your porch in "inner Bueng Kan" at a house you need to travel to using an off roader?

Sounds good to me. Better than being bumped into while walking on the sidewalk by tourists not looking where they are going or so many that there is not enough of a walkway to get by. Noisy rude people not caring about anything except their own satisfaction even if it ruins the place they are at. 

The 300 baht fee is not a lot. But if they implement the mandatory insurance on top of it then it will surely deter people. Why not make a compromise and split the 300 baht fee for insurance.. 

This type of fee collected is very hard to keep people's hands out of the till. It sounds like a great opportunity to have an excess of cash to throw away on projects they will profit from or simply keeping some of the money themselves. I great chance to add to the corruption already present in the country. 

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, transam said:

I remember that, I was charged 500bht on exit at the airport, think it was 2007/8..

When the new airport opened Sep 2006  the introduction of PSC was not far away so they never moved any of the machines from DM. Think it likely the fee went onto tickets 1st Jan  2007

In the first few months it was chaos with someone going up and down the check in queues selling the 500 baht tickets, of course the majority had no baht left so had to leave the queue causing massive disruption.

Fortunately it wasn't for long and took the exit ticket away for good.

 

However the thread is about tourist tax rather the PSC, just booked an overnight stay in Brussels an that included a 4.24 EUR tourist City Tax. You wouldn't get many nights for 300 baht.

[AustinRacing]

Which part of sex tourism as the major attraction do they not understand. You wanna divert tourists to other locations build a Walking Street in those towns. 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

How many tourist authorities are there in Thailand that they need a federation to oversea them. Maybe if there were less or, heaven forbid, only one the 700m baht would not be spread so thinly and be more than enough for their needs.

Considering this is an effort to limit tourism, while the PM is busy building an F1 circuit one minute, the World's Tallest Building the next and dishing out free visas with both hands it seems to me Adith Chairattananon isn't listening to the push for "more tourists" by the government.

 

Tourists are already cheesed off by all the scams and legal double pricing that another 300 baht will only help to ensure they won't come back.

[urobo]

Proof that these administrators turn with the wind.
Consultation among themselves is apparently not their strong point. One day A decides something and the next few days B, C and D come up with opposing messages

[djayz]

Call it what you want, justify it anyway you want, but at the end of the day, it's just "take take take". 

[BangkokReady]

4 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

"...Surawat suggests that the tax would not deter foreign tourists..."

 

If the problem is over-tourism, you want the tax to deter tourism.

 

They don't know what they're saying. It's just a phrase they've heard that they think means "more free money, please.

[djayz]

Call it what you want, justify it anyway you want, but at the end of the day, it's just "take take take". 

[djayz]

Call it what you want, justify it anyway you want, but at the end of the day, it's just "take take take". 

[Rampant Rabbit]

They need to try harder, way harder I mean c'mon elite visa 20 yr  price1  million upped to 5  million..........maybe give elite a  call for some advice. Bet Elite visas die a  death at those dumb prices

[PETERTHEEATER]

So....let me guess how this is going to work.

You log-on to your resident Thai Embassy website and navigate to the 'No Visa Wanted' section and fill in your personal details.

Check the box next to 'I confirm that I will not be entering Thailand for the purposes of Tourism at any time'

Go to the Payment page and pay the equivalent of ThB 300 in local currency by Pay Pal.

Seems like a fair deal to me......😋