Report Thai Booze Rules Set for Reform as New Laws Under Review

[dinsdale]

2 hours ago, Tom100 said:

What nonsense. What percent of booze-selling stores follow any central regulations?

My area has 4+ shops that sell booze anytime. Only 7-11 is hurt by these rules.

7-11, Big C, Lotus, Macro, Tops, Foodland etc.

[paul1804]

Just another complete meaningless article!!

[Geordieabroad]

So that's it then, clear as mud as usual. I just want to buy beer between 2 and 5pm from 7/11.

Is that too much to ask?

[SpaceKadet]

1 hour ago, alekth85 said:

> However, we will continue to ban alcohol sales at other stations and aboard trains.

And this is why I'm not taking a train since they banned alcohol on them. I enjoy having a beer or two when travelling or with food, especially if it's a 12 hour overnight trip...and having a state decide if I can do that or not rules out trains for me. Seriously one of the dumber <deleted>n laws Thailand has, among sea of others, preventing fully grown adults from having a beer with their meal because a meth head killed somebody 10 years ago and blamed it on alcohol.

 

He was also an SRT employee, and high on other substances too.

Why they should ban alcohol for passengers is beyond me.

[findlay13]

7 hours ago, Enzian said:

I'm in California (an expensive state) rn and good Scotch and American whiskies are nearly half the price as in Bangkok. But these policies may reduce my overall alcohol intake there; I can't recall lol. But I do recall wondering exactly whose pockets these markups ultimately end up in. 

Same with everything though. Why can I buy a Triumph motorcycle ,made in Chonburi, cheaper in Australia than Thailand? Massive rack offs everywhere.{Rhetorical question]

[Jiggo]

If they want to encourage tourists, may be cutting the tariffs on overpriced imported beer and alcohol may help, and encourage more variety.

Sick of Thai beer, only Heineken out their for me.

Vietnam's got it right, plentiful choice at respectful prices, even have Chang if you can stomach it.

[ikke1959]

Promise things and do nothing or even be more strict... Reform decently please.. scrap all the silly buying selling hours and Buddhistic holidays and everybody will be happy.... Thai people know how to deal with these hours so it has no effect them and tourists will be happy, Example,,look at next week.. If you arrive on Wednesday than 2 days they can't buy alcohol, or even beer and wine when sitting on the beach...That is a nice start of the holiday

[0ffshore360]

I think every response to this topic so far has totally ignored the monopoly factor that inhibits any radical changes.

Increasing penalties for underage sales is a simple appeal to the  wowser element.

"Hard liquor" is relatively cheap even for the mass produced import whiskies.

Beer flavored beverages not so .

Wines are ridiculously over priced despite being probably the least poisonous  to the liver.

Interestingly I have never seen much about the cost of alcoholic beverages in Bali  where top shelf alcohol and wines are exorbitantly taxed but tourism continues  regardless.

 

[3STTW]

I get the impression that the article is supposed to give hope (again) to the tourists and expats who have been complaining about Thailand's alcohol policy for decades.

We've had rumors of deregulation which would have allowed everyone in TH to finally enjoy a decent beer without paying stupid amounts of money, Nope, the general monopoly still stands. Then we had the tax reduction on wines, etc. Despite the cut, prices have been rising steadily ever since - especially in restaurants and hotels. Supermarkets are still charging US$20 -30 for cheap Australian plonk. The idea that any price reduction would be passed on to the consumer was always pure fantasy anyway.

Then there was the proposal to get rid of the inexplicable 14:00 - 17:00 sales ban - the most ridiculous alcohol restriction on the entire planet - nope again.

They keep harping on about how they're modernizing the alcohol policy to attract more tourists, yet it always stays exactly the same. Literally, nothing has changed in 20 years.

 

[watchcat]

15 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

The Thai authorities like to presume that rich tourists are dumb, but there's a reason why they're rich. 

 

Greedy...?

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Everything they  do here to try and improve anything and bring more tourists and re unite usually makes it worse. And they are  loosing the  expat retirees because they continue to try to screw them. And now expats and retirees are only looked at -  like an ATM machine for the locals to take from.  
And then everyone scratches their head wondering why it did not work. 

[DiDiChok]

On 7/2/2025 at 8:11 AM, Quentin Zen said:

I spend about 90,000 a month on alcohol and will get the new Maow Visa set to lure the best of the best from around the world

Can you tell me what this new "Maow Visa" is please?  I've done a search on Google but nothing comes up other than chatter about "O" visas.