Tourism industry demands action amid 300-baht fee controversy

[snoop1130]

 

Thailand’s private sector is urging the government to address the supply side of tourism after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced the suspension of a proposed 300-baht fee for foreign tourists. This fee was intended to establish a tourism development fund.

 

Chamnan Srisawat, President of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) stated that The government’s performance over the past eight months would be rated 10 out of 10 for stimulating tourism demand, mainly attributed to visa policies.

 

“But for more critical problems related to Thai tourism, such as inferior supply development, we’re not able to give them any score as nothing has been done to help resolve the problem.”

 

At the opening of the northern tourism cluster in Chiang Mai, the 62 year old Thai PM said there is currently no plan to implement the tourism fee. Instead, the government aims to attract more tourists and encourage higher spending, believing the benefits from increased spending would surpass those from the fee.

 

Without the tourism tax, there is no dedicated financial resource for tourism development. PM Srettha said the government would allocate a budget to the Tourism and Sports Ministry for project proposals to boost tourism income. However, Chamnan expressed concerns about improving the overall tourist experience and spending without proper plans.

 

“It’s regrettable to hear that the tourism fund won’t be set up due to the postponement of the fee collection. We don’t have any concerns with regard to volume, but poor tourism experiences and a lack of attractiveness are the key points.”

 

Chamnan stressed that without a development fund, Thailand would struggle to enhance its tourism infrastructure or create new attractions, unlike countries such as China and Vietnam, which continually develop new tourism sites. He mentioned that revenue from tourism in the first five months of the year had only reached 830 billion baht, far short of the government’s 3.5 trillion baht target for the end of 2024.

 

Chamnan proposed initiating five major man-made projects across five regions to generate tourism revenue, especially in second-tier provinces. He suggested that tour operators could integrate these new destinations into their packages, attracting more tourists in the future.

 

Federation of Thai Tourism Associations

 

The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (FETTA) also called for urgent tourism development in a forthcoming white paper. Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, highlighted the need for a balanced policy that prioritises supply development and demand stimulation.

 

FETTA urged the government to establish new key performance indicators (KPIs) focusing on supply improvement, including safety standards and environmental impacts. Sisdivachr also recommended a tourism carrier capacity blueprint to guide development.

 

Sisdivachr concluded that once the tourism fee is collected, 100 baht per tourist should be dedicated to sustainable tourism development and crisis management, addressing Thailand’s low score on the Travel & Tourism Development Index compared to other Southeast Asian countries, reported Bangkok Post.

 

By Puntid Tantivangphaisal

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-06-11

 

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[ikke1959]

The tourist industry should come with ideas to attrack more tourists, and get more income and better profits instead of waiting of a tourist tax. Innovations, renewal and investment, instead laying back and waiting will bring much more

[BangkokReady]

4 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

The tourist industry should come with ideas to attrack more tourists, and get more income and better profits instead of waiting of a tourist tax. Innovations, renewal and investment, instead laying back and waiting will bring much more

 

Exactly what I was thinking while reading the article.  They make a lot of money from tourism, and in many cases there aren't huge overheads, so it should be fairly straightforward to reinvest.  I think, perhaps, they're thinking that if they can get a new pot of money to maintain and develop tourist attractions, then the income generated by tourism becomes pure profit for them.

[DjSilver]

All these greedy Thai scammers will never give up 🤮

[TheFishman1]

Yeah, some high official would like that 300 each person tax how much money that would actually be used for Tourist or how much it actually go into his own pocket corruption they just think he weighs how they can make more money TIT

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This fee was intended to establish a tourism development fund.

Use the money generated by tourism more efficiently.

[thailand49]

Hub of all fee hubs.

Development🤣 building up their bank accounts, 299 baht for me 1 baht for tourist. 
 

[wensiensheng]

“But for more critical problems related to Thai tourism, such as inferior supply development, we’re not able to give them any score as nothing has been done to help resolve the problem.”

 

if they have done nothing, then that is a zero score, not a no score.

[wensiensheng]

12 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Exactly what I was thinking while reading the article.  They make a lot of money from tourism, and in many cases there aren't huge overheads, so it should be fairly straightforward to reinvest.  I think, perhaps, they're thinking that if they can get a new pot of money to maintain and develop tourist attractions, then the income generated by tourism becomes pure profit for them.

Every penny that comes from government coffers sourced from tax, is an extra penny in their own profits.

 

Put another way, why invest your own capital to develop a tourist attraction, if the government will do it for you?

[10baht]

My way of thinking is if they can't get this right the new Tax crap will never fly.

[cncltd1973]

too much corruption and not enough vision

[Korat Kiwi]

4 minutes ago, 10baht said:

My way of thinking is if they can't get this right the new Tax crap will never fly.

Hopefully you are correct. 

[findlay13]

Any word on the 60 entry visa exempt yet?

[findlay13]

12 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Exactly what I was thinking while reading the article.  They make a lot of money from tourism, and in many cases there aren't huge overheads, so it should be fairly straightforward to reinvest.  I think, perhaps, they're thinking that if they can get a new pot of money to maintain and develop tourist attractions, then the income generated by tourism becomes pure profit for them.

Reinvest is a foreign concept in Thailand

[OldmanJ]

If the government are being greedy and want to make more money they should start a police force up that enforces the law,there is always a motorcycle or car traveling in the wrong direction without lights or someone speeding.

[Frankie baby]

The days when Thailand's tourism industry generated all the foreign income they needed are well & truly over. Mickey mouse schemes to generate & compensate for the shortfalls will only speed-up the inevitable.     

[cjinchiangrai]

300 baht is irrelevant money, shut up already!

[andygrr]

Here's an idea why not levy a 500 baht fee for all tourists, and then let them enter National parks and other areas for the same nominal fees paid by Thai's, waiving the ridiculous Farang fees. 

[shackleton]

The Thai Tourist board are always re active never pro active 

Want easy money 💰 given to them instead of coming up with positive ideas of making things better ✨ 

A bit of  Brain storming needed 🥳

[mancub]

9 minutes ago, andygrr said:

Here's an idea why not levy a 500 baht fee for all tourists, and then let them enter National parks and other areas for the same nominal fees paid by Thai's, waiving the ridiculous Farang fees. 

The point is that they don't actually intend to give anything back. 

[Thingamabob]

So, the TAT awards itself 10 out of 10 for it's performance in spite of the overall decline in the numbers of higher spending visitors. 300 baht is a small issue. Way more important is the need for the Thai govt to decide, once and for all, whether it wants westerners to visit and/or reside in Thailand, or not.

[Roel]

I heard Benz dealers are also lobbying to implement this scheme.

[ujayujay]

Tourist tax is.....

 

[Elkski]

Im glad tourism income is 887 of 3400.  Let them all suffer. Maybe they will appreciate tourists after 5 years of bad times.  

Its always about the money im Thailand and tourists dont like that.  Corruption at every turn.   Cops that no one expects to be cops. 

[Cabradelmar]

If it's not handed to them, Thai people just don't seem to know how to help themselves.

[john donson]

tourist fund? but still triple to 10x overcharge for 'tourist' attractions ...

[john donson]

2 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

300 baht is irrelevant money, shut up already!

 

not x 40.000.000

 

that is a lot of cars, mia nois, houses

[mran66]

16 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The tourist industry should come with ideas to attrack more tourists, and get more income and better profits instead of waiting of a tourist tax. Innovations, renewal and investment, instead laying back and waiting will bring much more

 

The problem for those in ministry is that no matter how many tourist come and how much they spend, money  won't come directly to ministry staff.

 

I bet the main reason for the whole 300 baht thingy was/is that tourism ministry and TAT tried to find a way to get income directly to feed their families. Developing tourism is just a cover story, and content of which actually kept changing starting from tourist insurance story. 

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, OldmanJ said:

If the government are being greedy and want to make more money they should start a police force up that enforces the law,there is always a motorcycle or car traveling in the wrong direction without lights or someone speeding.

There are times when ie the traffic police cannot enforce the law, if you pass a highway police station why are there always at least one police patrol car parked there?

The answer is they do not have the funds to buy enough fuel for the cars, so cannot do there jobs.

[cjinchiangrai]

1 hour ago, john donson said:

 

not x 40.000.000

 

that is a lot of cars, mia nois, houses

Cool, make it 400. It means nothing next to the cost of a plane ticket.