As Long As 'double Pricing' Not Eliminated Should Gov Better Not Worry About The Giant Number Of Lost Tourists ?

[wolf5370]

It could also help with lots of other things such as 90 reporting, police ID (not having to carry your passport etc) and with checking overstays, opening bank accounts, statistics, and so on...

Sorry but Thai driving licence already does this.

I travel on internal flights, just show driving licence.

Bank accounts, hotel rooms, parks, all same same.

I don't take my passport anywhere inside the country.

I'm not convinced most Thais (including police) differentiate between a Thai Driving licence and a Thai ID card. Education out here is not spectacular.

...and if you don't drive? A driving license is for driving, what I am talking about is an ID card for ID, just for ID, that's regulated like Thai ID cards, looks like Thai ID Cards (maybe with a different colour background for etc to distinguish it) - using something else is OK only if A they accept it and B you have one in the first place. The other part of my post was to do with make an official definition of 'resident' (whether temporary or permanent) and non-resident so that parks et al can (and should) have a usable official system of checking and levying fees.

Driving licenses can be had for 400B to the right hands - ID cards are somewhat harder to come by unofficially and if administered in the same way brings in revenue (rather than it being a cost), and makes a more trustable (OK made that word up!) ID that is 'universal' for all non-Thai 'residents'. It also comes with many added benefits if one thinks about it too.

[phetaroi]

Sorry but Thai driving licence already does this.

I travel on internal flights, just show driving licence.

Bank accounts, hotel rooms, parks, all same same.

I don't take my passport anywhere inside the country.

I'm not convinced most Thais (including police) differentiate between a Thai Driving licence and a Thai ID card. Education out here is not spectacular.

Except that the Thai driver license does not have address information.

[IanForbes]

Why people keep bringing USA and Canada up I don't know - if you don't like their dual pricing, go to USAVISA.COM or CANADAVISA.COM and start a thread!

Does it affect tourism, no I would say not - even the word of mouth and repeat visitors really - I have never been to any country where there wasn't something that pissed me off, and as a tourist it is chump change. As an expat its totally different.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again - it would take a very short amount of time and could even make a tidy little country wide profit if we were allowed to purchase temporary ID cards with our Visas/extensions/renewals etc - and make a small amendment in law that says a resident is officially someone with a Thai citizenship or a valid temporary ID card. Then we would all be residents for the term of our Visas (subject to a charge of course). Then anyone without either card pays full fare - sign could say "Thai ID Card Holders 40B - Non-Card Holders 400B" or whatever - it would be easier to check, cause much less resentment and would catch all the Thai-looking visitors that are getting through too (which is bound to be far more than the odd farang expat who would have voided the place anyway).

It could also help with lots of other things such as 90 reporting, police ID (not having to carry your passport etc) and with checking overstays, opening bank accounts, statistics, and so on...

That is the first post that makes sense. If the expats don't like double pricing, then form a lobby group and try to do something about it. The reason why double pricing in other countries was mentioned is to point out that Thailand is not the only place with a similar problem. But, good luck at lobbying any government. Unless you have some political clout, the ones at the top will do nothing about ANY unfair practise.

I hate to keep repeating myself, but double pricing will NOT have any affect on the numbers of people who come to Thailand... as suggested in the OP's heading.

Is double pricing fair? NO! Will it continue? YES! Do some of us accept the trivial things in life that are annoying? Yes. Do some people like to snivel and whine about everything? Obviously.

[pjclark1]

Except that the Thai driver license does not have address information.

Sorry but

My Thai address is printed in Thai on the back of my Thai driving licence

[cecco]

As long as the highly annoying racistic 'double pricing' in natureparks, zoo, doi Suthep etc. not has been eliminated should the gov better not worry about One Million Lost Tourists ? (chiangmai as example)

But if they DO worry about the huge amount of lost income from tourism and DO want to reverse this, isn't it about time to start thinking of the law of Cause And Effect, to start realizing that 'double pricing' could be one of the things that badly damages the countries image, hospitality and show of good moral ?

And may perhaps be of the first (and most easy) bad things to eliminate.

Or perhaps they simply don't worry and maipenrai and accept it as 'shit happens' as it's a traditional habit to maipenrai everything that forces serious thinking ? (the 'chan mi poewot hoewa' effect)

I think we should do it in thailand the American way, allow 70 million illegal alien mestizo to immigrate, then add millions of others around the world, tax the white people only in the USA, give the illegals free medical care and pay 10 times as much to attempt to educate them as we do the native americans, offer them health care the American Military would never receive, and do all we can to make thier illegal bodies happy and comfortable in a land they hate.

America has got it all figured out! The Asians are so backwards in their thinking for sure.

(England is 1 short step behind the USA).

You might want to reference Glenn Beck or american patrol web sites to see just how superior the western mind set has become.

[cecco]

Except that the Thai driver license does not have address information.

Sorry but

My Thai address is printed in Thai on the back of my Thai driving licence

My thai D/L is a 5 year one, and it is in English 100%. The one before was in Thai however.

[smokie36]

health care the American Military would never receive

(England is 1 short step behind the USA).

You may find the UK is ahead of the USA in this respect.