Thai Tourism industry group warns against extra fee from foreign tourists

[nong38]

This government has gone tax crazy and I see Thais following suit raising prices across the board on everything. The only exception I see is most food is relatively the same.

It's like the government has opened Pandora's box.

The food prices are rising, things that were 20/25 and 30 bts are now 40 and 45bts, we found some today that had gone up 5bts a portion, so much for the 300bts a day. This administration is spending money it does not have, personal debts are rising and now they want to scare off tourists its a recipe for disaster what this country needs is for the electorate to wake up to what the country needs and to elect a government that represents the country and take the steps, hard decisions to put it on the right track but I guess that it will fall into the usual colours and the bickering will go on, sad to say.

[wolf5370]

How about everyone paying with a bag of 1Bht coins !

Make it more fun. Pay in 10 Satang coins.

Think it would have to be legal tender - 25 satang are the smallest.

[nong38]

The government’s plan to collect Bt500 from foreign tourists staying in Thailand more than three days will severely affect the local tourism business

Classy tourists whose budgets are so tight that Bt500 affects them, possibly.

At present, airline prices include such things as arrival tax, departure tax, special invented taxes etc. Mostly these are contrived ways for governments to grab some money but people pay them with barely a whimper.

Now, all of a sudden, they will be outraged at having to pay 500 Bt and will never visit Thailand again.

I don't think so

So right, it will be their last visit to Thailand, next time well how about Burma, Malaysia or Vietnam? There are after all 198 countries in the world and Thailand is not No.1.

[GeorgeO]

This could be one of the most insane ideas ever from the government...... TAT wishes tourists to come, stay,

and freely spend money.

What is the point of charging an entry fee ? That makes about as much sense as charging a fee to enter a food supermarket. The red buffaloes voted these money grabbing lunatics into power, they are the one who should bear the pain of these endless government revenue ideas. Why punish foreign tourists ? They perhaps should enact a tax on buffaloes , rice land, or bar girl money sent to Isan.....

As I have stated before, the TAT is one of the biggest cash cows of this government; if the government is allowed to levy this additional fee on tourists, the Governor of the TAT is going to get a bit miffed...to say the least...!

I have had personal dealings, on an amicable basis, with this particular individual, and his predecessor, but I can promise you, if he gets miffed, there will be changes....!!

[899cc]

This could be one of the most insane ideas ever from the government...... TAT wishes tourists to come, stay,

and freely spend money.

What is the point of charging an entry fee ? That makes about as much sense as charging a fee to enter a food supermarket. The red buffaloes voted these money grabbing lunatics into power, they are the one who should bear the pain of these endless government revenue ideas. Why punish foreign tourists ? They perhaps should enact a tax on buffaloes , rice land, or bar girl money sent to Isan.....

As I have stated before, the TAT is one of the biggest cash cows of this government; if the government is allowed to levy this additional fee on tourists, the Governor of the TAT is going to get a bit miffed...to say the least...!

I have had personal dealings, on an amicable basis, with this particular individual, and his predecessor, but I can promise you, if he gets miffed, there will be changes....!!

We bow to your superior knowledge, can he show us the way.............................LOL.................

[HaleySabai]

At what point in the immigration process are they going to collect this fee?.....it'll be like - fee-lady: "you must pay 500 baht"...tourist: "oh sorry, I need to exchange first", fee-lady: "cannot, must pay $20usd".....they will have a running list of all currencies and the proxy inflated exchange rate. it's like a government penalty for making Thailand your holiday destination.

Hopefully Vietnam,Cambodia,Burma jumps into the tourist-circle and uses it as a positive marketing spin in their own directions.

[1plumber]

Actually nothing would make me happier than for this greed driven economy go totally tits up as my the value of my dollar backed baht would soar. (yeah I know'....let it soak in) People would be selling everything they own just to survive. Things would find their more natural balance. Crap cars would garner crap prices. Things would "normalize" ....er more or less.

[Misterwhisper]

The right thing to do would be to land in Thailand, pay that 500 Baht BS fee, then go straight to the next hospital, get your teeth fixed/your tummy tucked/your ingrown toenails excised/etc. and tell the hospital to charge the government. After all, you are insured, right?

Unfortunately, that's not the way it works. Nobody has ever said that this fee is going to furnish tourists with a health insurance while they're here. It's simply an additional fee this financially inept government is levying on foreigners for highly dubious reasons. Only one thing's for certain: It is NOT intended to recoup losses incurred from unpaid bills left behind by foreign tourists.

I for one will NOT pay that fee. Instead I'll rub my health insurance card, taken out with a LOCAL insurance company, in their greedy faces every time I return from an overseas business trip. Perhaps I'll also rub into their face my income tax receipt, my Thai driving license, my work permit and of course a bunch of my monthly utility bills.

That'll teach them - and they'll probably kick me back onto the plane faster than I can say "But...". After all, I am also just a foreigner, and what else are they good for than being skimmed.

[mdmayes]

Wont they just build this into airline ticket prices anyway??

How can they...with a less than three day stay means no 500 baht fee.

[Ulic]

It will not bother me at all. Cheap insurance and I am sure much better that buying from companies who when

you make a claim point to an exclusion in the fourth page of the fine print.

[noitom]

Penny wise and pound foolish - epitome of Thai thinking. Just another skim scam - this money never ends up in the more efficient operations initiatives.

[LisuLover]

Its gonna provide a lot of tea money

[MMarlow]

At least there is one person in authority here with a BRAIN

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

Not here, no, clearly.

[MMarlow]

100,000 begging on the streets Bu/S##t, Farrangs being the burden on the health service Bu/S##t

Foreign workers mostly cross border jobs.

Farrangs to blame--get them at the airport -it's always them they are a necessary evil in the Kingdom. of course its not OUR fault we shouldn't have to organize workers to pay a little---OR have an arrangement with our neighbours on health.

we can all write travel reviews sending people elsewhere. That would fix the government.

Trip advisor..agoda..get going people!

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

Why would you want to do that? You really think that the membership of this tiny forum would "fix the government"? Nobody cares what posters on here think. Time for you to "get going".

[NongKhaiKid]

Got to pay for the rice program some way

The potential major problem on the horizon is that if Mr. T comes back and it goes haywire there will be no tourist industry.

[Maybole]

Am I thinking the right way?

If the gov collects 500 baht from 26 million tourists they get 13 billion baht from this but the cost to the gov is only 200 million. That's 65 times more money than they need to pay for the foreigner's medical bills. How can they decide that 500 baht is fair when less than 10 baht would pay for the extra expense to the government?

Also, will they still collect from people who have work visas and Thailand social security who leave for a holiday or something like that? (I read that if you have a work permit you will pay for Thailand SS every month.)

According to the PTP government themselves in various newspapers they plan to collect roughly 10 billion baht/year this way, and they need roughly 300 million baht to cover the hospital bills. They have confirmed that this leaves an estimated 9.7 billion baht, which will be spent elsewhere by the PTP government.

The government has not specified what "elsewhere" means, but given their track record, I think most people are able to figure that out for themselves

How much of it will reach the government coffers?

[jacko45k]

"but the government has never reinvested the earning to develop domestic tourism." -- Why should they? People like Thailand as is (or better as it was)...

I doubt the government needed to.

Plenty of accommodation and attractions have been built to attract tourists.

And guess what, locals can use them too, cheaper!

[impulse]

"but the government has never reinvested the earning to develop domestic tourism." -- Why should they? People like Thailand as is (or better as it was)...

I doubt the government needed to.

Plenty of accommodation and attractions have been built to attract tourists.

And guess what, locals can use them too, cheaper!

You're right. The government's role is not to build the hotels and the bars and the restaurants.

Their job is to make the roads safe and efficient, to make the trains run without tipping over, to inspect the buses and vans that tourists trust their lives to, to keep civil order and keep their officials from participating in extortion of tourists, keep the beaches and water clean, and protect tourist and local alike from crime and shoddy safety standards.

I haven't seen one of these government functions that comes close to matching the travel brochures. I'll reiterate that I accept a tax increase, as it's pretty much inevitable. But I sure wish they'd use the money to buy a little bit of food for the goose that's laying the golden eggs.

Edited November 1, 2013 by impulse

[Bkungbank]

When enter fees for certain places farang and local price are not the same but don't mind because used to restoration purpose but do this country need 500 baht to substitute migrate workers hospital expenses?

[rotary]

This new 500 bhat fee must have come from the same person who thought up the 300 bhat minimum wage which has been a big mistake

[shaurene]

I have said it before and it sticks out a mile, the top government heads have told the different ministry's to come up with any lucrative ideas to boost revenue. They have to try and cover the stupid RICE pledging cockup.

They will go ahead with this greed because they believe 500 baht will not stop people coming. All other country's should now charge all Thai tourists..

[Prbkk]

Perhaps the receipt for the 500 baht could have printerd on it " Thank you for your generous support of Thai farmers"

quote name="shaurene" post="6991131" timestamp="1383358907"]

I have said it before and it sticks out a mile, the top government heads have told the different ministry's to come up with any lucrative ideas to boost revenue. They have to try and cover the stupid RICE pledging cockup.

They will go ahead with this greed because they believe 500 baht will not stop people coming. All other country's should now charge all Thai tourists..

[nong38]

 

Am I thinking the right way?

If the gov collects 500 baht from 26 million tourists they get 13 billion baht from this but the cost to the gov is only 200 million. That's 65 times more money than they need to pay for the foreigner's medical bills. How can they decide that 500 baht is fair when less than 10 baht would pay for the extra expense to the government?

Also, will they still collect from people who have work visas and Thailand social security who leave for a holiday or something like that? (I read that if you have a work permit you will pay for Thailand SS every month.)

So where will the money go.

Better not say.

Someone will not like that.

If they do.

Can you imagine paying it.

Sorry not have baht.

Will be like in Bali.

You have to pay for there Visa On Arrival Before you go though to Customs.

Last time there a plane load had just arrived before ours.

What a lot of long lines waiting

There will be a time in the not to far distant future when say 4 or 5 A380s will arrive at roughly the same time , then the turmoil will start when all will need money(BHT at the ready re immigration---bleeding chaos-----do they care about that NO NO.

Calm yourself - do you queue at Heathrow to give the 60% of an airline ticket price to the far worse money grabbing UK government ? No, so like the UK grab this will be built into the price of an airline ticket and won't make the tiniest difference to tourist numbers! If they put this tenner to good use, then they are welcome to it!

 A good use might to support the Rice Pledge scheme, they always seem to be running out of cash, in return each Tourist gets a free bag of rice or a tin of rice pudding.

[nong38]

 

Perhaps the receipt for the 500 baht could have printerd on it " Thank you for your generous support of Thai farmers"

quote name="shaurene" post="6991131" timestamp="1383358907"]

I have said it before and it sticks out a mile, the top government heads have told the different ministry's to come up with any lucrative ideas to boost revenue. They have to try and cover the stupid RICE pledging cockup.

They will go ahead with this greed because they believe 500 baht will not stop people coming. All other country's should now charge all Thai tourists..

 Good idea Europe can hit them with Emmision tax, green tax, CAP tax, infrastructure tax, breathing tax, water tax and consumption tax ( amount at the descetion of the Immigration Official butg bring plenty of readies).

[FarangTalk]

Got to pay for the rice program some way

The potential major problem on the horizon is that if Mr. T comes back and it goes haywire there will be no tourist industry.

There's going to be a problem if he comes back or not.

He's involved with the split in Thailand but it isn't only about him.

There's a split in the ruling faction and he is on one side, hence he was removed by the other side.

Also: LOL @ anyone thinking they will get anything in return for their 500thb.

[spidermike007]

I think very few tourists end up in public, government run hospitals. Most go to private hospitals, generating a lot of money for the local economy. This is just the AOT using the nationalist hogwash about medical expenses to justify a raise in their profitability. Let us call a spade a spade. Will an independent CPA be hired to monitor the funds collected with this scheme, and make sure they are being returned to the Thai people? What do you think?

[frimu]

I can imagine the big mess at the airport if people need to change money to pay those 500 bath , I can imagine the long queue at "Entering Thailand fee counter" , immigration ..those at immigration but who forgot to go and pay this fee .....ETC ....... dont you see it coming that way ? And that's how some other countries will benefit from tourism instead of some greedy Thai .....

It would end up under taxes and fees on your airplane ticket. After all we're in the 21st century.

Most people wouldn't even notice.

[ozyjon]

The travel industry is a frocious one world wide so the need to get as many people to travel to your country to spend their hard earned cash is fought with ingenious advertising commercials and propaganda world wide so when the new travel banners and tv commercials start advertising Thailand as the expensive country where will the people start to go i wonder,, all you need to see are the long ques at the airport and all the associated problems we read on Thai Visa and where will the tourist dollar go to.

[salapau]

I can imagine the big mess at the airport if people need to change money to pay those 500 bath , I can imagine the long queue at "Entering Thailand fee counter" , immigration ..those at immigration but who forgot to go and pay this fee .....ETC ....... dont you see it coming that way ? And that's how some other countries will benefit from tourism instead of some greedy Thai .....

Agree with you. Look at the frustation on the faces of those waiting to pass through immigration, in the photo. It takes so long now with inadequate desks open and slow, slow procedures.

[Thai at Heart]

Just wait until 1mn Chinese per year go to the hospital for any tiny ailment.

This is an insane idea.