Tourists may be required to pay entrance fee for visiting Koh Tao

KOH TAO: -- A meeting of tourism operators and local residents of Koh Tao in Surat Thani resolved during a meeting Thursday to collect an entrance fee from visiting tourists.

They plan to use the fee for setting up a fund to boost security for tourists on the island. The meeting resolved to have the Koh Tao Municipality hold a public hearing on the fee rate.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Tourists-may-be-required-to-pay-entrance-fee-for-v-30244592.html

-- The Nation 2014-10-02

That island will never see as much as 1 satang from me!

How about all the bar owners prove they paid all their taxes and as such complain to central govt about the lack of law and order.

These people make my skin crawl

Before we heard about the electronic tags, now about entrance fee to an island.

I said it before and I will say it again.

Are these people serious coming up with suggestions like that?

So, they're now going to charge an additional fee to provide things they and the Police should be doing anyway ... classic ...

They need a lot of money, a lot of witnesses to be paid for and suspects looked after!!

They really got to be kidding???

Unbelievable-now trying to "cash-in" on tragedy

Great PR "welcome to Koh Tao you pay us to not get murdered, thank you very much". Sheesh.

Good idea, paying your hosts to provide your security whilst they allow you to spend your money in their establishments

Rent your own bodyguard at the airport

electronic tags/ GPS coordinates/wrist bands, no bikini's....

and now having to pay a fee before your raped & murdered ...only Thailand

How about a better idea, get the BiB to do their jobs

Fme the people involved in this whole KT thing have lost the plot...

one sincerely hopes a civic minded member of TV is sending links to all these stories to the DM in the UK, to show the continued fiasco around this case..

fleece them before they get there

What a ridiculous idea! They are simply adding an insult to injury. However, foolish farangs will probably go long with it and make already rich village headman and his whole family even richer.

I love how it does not occur to them to just pay for the security of the island themselves.

How clever!! I suspect that tourists worrying about their security would rather spend their holidays (and their money) elsewhere, where decent security is already insured without having to collect an additional entrance fee from them!

Before we heard about the electronic tags, now about entrance fee to an island.

I said it before and I will say it again.

Are these people serious coming up with suggestions like that?

All those ankle monitors have to be paid for somehow.

That should bring the tourists flocking back.... not!

What are they going to be paying for anyway, more cooked security and cops?

If this is a genuine suggestion then it really shows that to many Thais , Tourists /Farangs are just walking wallets. We have to pay to look after ourselves when we put our hand in our pocket and spend our money in their country, why should they do it

Disgraceful if true

I believe the Pattaya Walt 22 SAS mobility troop should offer their services and set up a branch office on KT one really hopes Dave Walt reads this thread

With a zillion farangs visiting the place every year providing cash flow for businesses etc, what are the authorities doing with the tax revenue from the place...?.......... Surely security is provided with that tax cash.

If I were in Government I would look at the island and realise that if tax was correctly paid there would be a considerable amount for the treasury. I would do an audit of the goods sent to the island and from that deduce the amount charged tourists. I would then compare that with the Vat Paid. Not enough...send updated assessments.

I would do the same audit with the alcohol arriving on the island and ensure that vat was paid. Then I would compare the amount of goods sold in the bars and the selling prices and from them deduce how much profit was made on them and issue all the bars with updated Tax assessments.

No problem then. We would enough to fund a huge police force and they would not have to worry about having to collect tea money.

Ah well, this is Thailand

They are not going to call it an entrance fee - it is "protection money"

Can't believe this, they should be ashamed of themselves.

What is this? Phuket?

I'm sure many tourists will decide on a sensible alternative of not visiting the island and having to pay for the dubious pleasure so no extra security needs to be paid for.

SITUATION: An island that tourists are leaving and are canceling their bookings from.

SOLUTION: Create an Enterance Fee!

CONCLUSION: IDIOTS!

So, they're now going to charge an additional fee to provide things they and the Police should be doing anyway ... classic ...

And once again, putting the responsibility for violent attacks on the tourists. You see, if the tourists weren't in the country, there would be no rpaes and murders, so therefore.... it is their fault.

The stupidity continues! Do any of these officials think before they speak?