National Parks In Thailand Reveal Earnings On Daily Basis

[webfact]

National parks reveal earnings on daily basis

JANJIRA PONGRAI

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- National parks across the country are revealing income from admission fees on a daily basis in a move to counter corruption allegations and the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website.

"The figures are updated at 8.30am every day," DNP deputy director general Theerapat Prayoonsit said yesterday.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk gave Theerapat the task of looking into allegations that park officials were embezzling admission fees.

Theerapat said he had set up a centre as well as committees to monitor the collection of admission fees since November 2.

"The committees are tasked with reviewing fee collection and conducting random checks on whether tourists get tickets after paying the fee," he said.

There are 128 national parks across the country.

The DNP has been working hard to eliminate graft at national parks after Democrat MP Naris Khamnurak, chair of the House committee on natural resources, called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe into the embezzlement of parks' admission fees.

"With the revenue figures posted on the Internet on a daily basis, transparency should increase," Theerapat said.

But a DNP source complained that the probe had, so far, targeted just the period when Damrong Phidej was national parks chief. "In fact, income soared during his tenure and showed an increase even during the flood crisis last year," the source said.

According to the source, income from parks' admission fees was shared among various agencies. "If they are going to launch probes, they should review income from all periods," the source said.

-- The Nation 2012-11- 21

[theajarn]

Time to throw the corruption ball in the other player's backyard...

[noob7]

"the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website."

Where's the link to the 'Similan Marine national park'?

Would be interesting to see, how low the 'figures/day' are. Compared to the amount of Dive/Speedboats, full of people, every day.

[jaltsc]

Come on!!! Even the businesses which the Mafia shook down on a regular basis showed earnings. This doesn't mean that there isn't corruption. After all...TIT

[asiawatcher]

When there is a correlation between the number of vehicles entering, the number of pax and the ticket matching those, rather than a shoe box with cash, I could believe they are doing something about corruption. But hey, it's a start if you choose to believe it.

[soundman]

Inflammatory post removed from view.

[tomross46]

I wonder if Obama paid the entry fee for the temple?

[MEL1]

Simply turnstyle it, with a counter. End of problem.

Oh! Then again, 50 years ago, the west discovered how to clock back car mileometers, until they became digital.

Well we could start 70 years back, until they 20 years later suddenly clock onto to how to clock back the turnstyle counters, and then they could digitize them. That would be a grand improvement on the current random abacus method; one for you two for me.

-mel.

[JurgenG]

I don't know if some of you remember the time when there was a conflict regarding the money collected at the toll booth on Bangkok highways and there was a policeman in front of each booth counting the number of cars going through ?

[fareastguy]

No till receipts = corruption.. cash sales are a disaster & recipe for self indulgence.

Just for reference: I am a Thai resident with drivers licence ID etc etc..

I was taken to a zoo in Nakhon Pathom last year as a Thai friend had a Birthday, upon entering I was asked to pay 500bt for an entrance fee which was 100bt for locals, the difference in admission was clearly displayed on the price board at the kiosk, when I said I was a resident & not a tourist I was informed otherwise & told to pay the higher price. Even when I displayed my ID I was told to pay or go away, my hosts were horrified & tried to defend me saying I was a resident & their guest, the manager turned up and made things worse, starting a verbal exchange with the whole party.

He wouldn't even look at my ID saying I was a "farang" & that was that !

My host's decided to leave the zoo & told the manager what they thought of him & his facility, not far away is a "life museum" so we decided to give that a go, same story, 50bt entry for locals & 100bt for me ID or not !

They also got the middle finger by my hosts who by now were starting to understand the life of a "farang" in the Land of Smiles !!

We decided to give the parks a miss & found a great restaurant on the edge of a ski lake & had a great afternoon instead..

[noob7]

No till receipts = corruption.. cash sales are a disaster & recipe for self indulgence.

Just for reference: I am a Thai resident with drivers licence ID etc etc..

I was taken to a zoo in Nakhon Pathom last year as a Thai friend had a Birthday, upon entering I was asked to pay 500bt for an entrance fee which was 100bt for locals, the difference in admission was clearly displayed on the price board at the kiosk, when I said I was a resident & not a tourist I was informed otherwise & told to pay the higher price. Even when I displayed my ID I was told to pay or go away, my hosts were horrified & tried to defend me saying I was a resident & their guest, the manager turned up and made things worse, starting a verbal exchange with the whole party.

He wouldn't even look at my ID saying I was a "farang" & that was that !

My host's decided to leave the zoo & told the manager what they thought of him & his facility, not far away is a "life museum" so we decided to give that a go, same story, 50bt entry for locals & 100bt for me ID or not !

They also got the middle finger by my hosts who by now were starting to understand the life of a "farang" in the Land of Smiles !!

We decided to give the parks a miss & found a great restaurant on the edge of a ski lake & had a great afternoon instead..

Lucky, the restaurant didn't have 'two price politics', huu?

Or minimum the "You bring a Farang, who pays, you get 10% off from the overpriced bill as commission"

(There are some of these on Phuket. Some in Patong working with stamp cards. Every full paid meal gets the Thai(girl, mostly) a stamp.

With 10 stamps, she gets a full price meal, on her own and alone.

[antpet]

What a waste of time.

Really the stupidity of these people never ceases to amaze!

We're not corrupt honest. We not corrupt so we need to prove we're not unusually rich through pocketing the money. We're also honest because we say we're honest.

Yeah.

Where I live is a large new house. A large, modern, flash expensive bew build. Across from it is a resport. a dozen single room dwellings, landscaped grounds, restaurant and all very tastefully done.

Quite a lot of money spent.

So who owns it?

A local, low level serving policeman.

Corruption right in your face. Everybody knows it yet noone drops on him and does anything about it.

Dual pricing any one? After all, who hasn't a tale to tell.

Thailand. Pure and simple. Well actually not pure but definately simple.

[falkan]

What is the entrance fees.to national parks right now?

i hear the price will go up soon ?

[Buchholz]

"the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website."

Where's the link to the 'Similan Marine national park'?

Would be interesting to see, how low the 'figures/day' are. Compared to the amount of Dive/Speedboats, full of people, every day.

Or how much Samet national park rakes in from the visitors numbering in the hundreds to thousands per day for years and years, but has a main road which still remains below the level of of northern Laos jungle path.

If anyone has success finding "the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website", it'd be appreciated if it was shared. I looked on their poorly constructed, overly cluttered pages (Thai and English) without success.

Thai:

http://www.dnp.go.th/

English:

http://www.dnp.go.th/index_eng.asp

.

[noob7]

"the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website."

Where's the link to the 'Similan Marine national park'?

Would be interesting to see, how low the 'figures/day' are. Compared to the amount of Dive/Speedboats, full of people, every day.

Or how much Samet national park rakes in from the visitors numbering in the hundreds to thousands per day for years and years, but has a main road which still remains below the level of of northern Laos jungle path.

If anyone has success finding "the figures are available on the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) website", it'd be appreciated if it was shared. I looked on their poorly constructed, overly cluttered pages (Thai and English) without success.

Thai:

http://www.dnp.go.th/

English:

http://www.dnp.go.th/index_eng.asp

.

yep, much appreciated!

Oh: Not that many people did know about this, but:

Cancelation of the one day pass ticket for multi visits of national parks within a day

is from interest for the people, trying to visit more, as one national park in a day

http://www.dnp.go.th/image4/IMG_0001.pdf

Edited November 21, 2012 by noob7

[lizardtongue]

"The figures are updated at 8.30am every day," DNP deputy director general Theerapat Prayoonsit said yesterday.

So this is going to work? When dealing with cash, 'where there is a will there is a way to steal' or embezzle as they like to call it!

[cbrer]

Amazing. Are the officials printing up their own ticket books?

In 7 years I've never not been given an official ticket.

I've also never paid higher than the Thai price due to a TDL.

I recently went through about 6 or 7 national parks and only had to pay for one - Khao Yai, which was 40b plus vehicle. Despite the news it would be 100b Thai and 4/500b for foreigner announced last year.

Whatever's going on, keep it up lads. This cheapness is great.

[Songhua]

30,000 baht in cash tin. 5,000 baht in pocket.

8:30 am ledger balance:

'what were your takings over there yesterday Bob?'

'30,000 sir'

'ok'

What difference will promulgating this figure at the start of each day make? There's nothing to check it against.

[Buchholz]

30,000 baht in cash tin. 5,000 baht in pocket.

8:30 am ledger balance:

'what were your takings over there yesterday Bob?'

'30,000 sir'

'ok'

What difference will promulgating this figure at the start of each day make? There's nothing to check it against.

The cash received is checked against the sold ticket stubs.

'OK, Bob, we checked your balance with the stubs and it comes out to 30,000 baht exactly'

'Thanks, see you tomorrow'

Meanwhile, 5000 baht worth of visitors were never given a ticket.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk gave Theerapat the task of looking into allegations that park officials were embezzling admission fees.

allegations?... how quaint....

,

Edited November 21, 2012 by Buchholz

[cbrer]

30,000 baht in cash tin. 5,000 baht in pocket.

8:30 am ledger balance:

'what were your takings over there yesterday Bob?'

'30,000 sir'

'ok'

What difference will promulgating this figure at the start of each day make? There's nothing to check it against.

Cameras?

[RedBullHorn]

No till receipts = corruption.. cash sales are a disaster & recipe for self indulgence.

Just for reference: I am a Thai resident with drivers licence ID etc etc..

I was taken to a zoo in Nakhon Pathom last year as a Thai friend had a Birthday, upon entering I was asked to pay 500bt for an entrance fee which was 100bt for locals, the difference in admission was clearly displayed on the price board at the kiosk, when I said I was a resident & not a tourist I was informed otherwise & told to pay the higher price. Even when I displayed my ID I was told to pay or go away, my hosts were horrified & tried to defend me saying I was a resident & their guest, the manager turned up and made things worse, starting a verbal exchange with the whole party.

He wouldn't even look at my ID saying I was a "farang" & that was that !

My host's decided to leave the zoo & told the manager what they thought of him & his facility, not far away is a "life museum" so we decided to give that a go, same story, 50bt entry for locals & 100bt for me ID or not !

They also got the middle finger by my hosts who by now were starting to understand the life of a "farang" in the Land of Smiles !!

We decided to give the parks a miss & found a great restaurant on the edge of a ski lake & had a great afternoon instead..

I'm a Singaporean Chinese, With a serious looking Asian/Thai face...Went with the entended family on a trip to Chiang Sean's Golden Triangle Museum of drug (can't remember what it's call) years back... I speak fluent Northern Thai and told the cashier that i didn't bring my wallet...had my wife wrote my name on the register and i paid local enterance fee

Edited November 21, 2012 by RedBullHorn

[cbrer]

Lucky, the restaurant didn't have 'two price politics', huu?

Or minimum the "You bring a Farang, who pays, you get 10% off from the overpriced bill as commission"

(There are some of these on Phuket. Some in Patong working with stamp cards. Every full paid meal gets the Thai(girl, mostly) a stamp.

With 10 stamps, she gets a full price meal, on her own and alone.

Now that's a barstool story if ever I heard one.

Edited November 21, 2012 by cbrer

[noob7]

Lucky, the restaurant didn't have 'two price politics', huu?

Or minimum the "You bring a Farang, who pays, you get 10% off from the overpriced bill as commission"

(There are some of these on Phuket. Some in Patong working with stamp cards. Every full paid meal gets the Thai(girl, mostly) a stamp.

With 10 stamps, she gets a full price meal, on her own and alone.

Now that's a barstool story if ever I heard one.

up2you, pal.

http://goo.gl/maps/Zbkqx

Here you looking at an area, where some of the Restaurants having nice business cards in Thai language.

With 10 stamp boxes on the back side.

You can find these cards in a lot of Bg-purses/handbags.

Minimum one Restaurant behind the old Tiger had these, too!

I hope, you can read Thai.

Edited November 21, 2012 by noob7

[Time Traveller]

Why is everyone complaining here about the NP price rules? Everyone knows that thai citizens pay less than foreigners. That's it. Get over it. You are really taking away from the real issue which is that most Thai NPs are just garbage dumps that (mostly) Thai people damage.

Paying entrance fees similiar to those in Western countries would be ok if thai parks were the same quality.

[Thai at Heart]

Why is everyone complaining here about the NP price rules? Everyone knows that thai citizens pay less than foreigners. That's it. Get over it. You are really taking away from the real issue which is that most Thai NPs are just garbage dumps that (mostly) Thai people damage.

Paying entrance fees similiar to those in Western countries would be ok if thai parks were the same quality.

I think it probably annoys so many people, that the extra money isn't worth it.

I just don't see what the benefit is other than money with the detrimental effect of people feeling ripped of. Then a lot of people don't go at all because of dual pricing.

So all in all a stupid policy if your idea is to create a reputation as a tourist friendly destination.

[Buchholz]

So all in all a stupid policy if your idea is to create a reputation as a tourist friendly destination.

Mixed with a racist policy such as the personal experiences of RedBullHorn reveals in Post # 21.

,

[Whale]

I regulary visit National Parks and ALWAYS get given a receipt ticket, I never have to ask for one.