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

[jonesthebaker]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

you get raped and murdered in Disney land ?

no but you can ride on space mountain

[12DrinkMore]

I think this is a good idea.

Not every country can afford the security and luxury of other places.

Tourist come to Koh Tao becuase its cheap.

If foreigners want more security they should pay for something rather then complain something is not good all the time.

Total nonsense, we are not talking about some village in Isaan with 20 rice farmers. Koh Tao is NOT poor by any standards.

The amount of cash that flows into Koh Tao every month is way more than is required to improve security.

Just the police alone are taking 1,000,000 Baht every month from the Burmese on the island.

One estimate, which is probably on the low side, reckons that 14,000,000 (14 MILLION) Baht are spent EVERY DAY by tourists.

That is more than sufficient to provide a safe island without charging "protection money" on top. There should be a special "business tax" levied on the island and the money spent on infrastructure and security.

I am FED UP of extremely rich Thais pretending they are poor and short of a few hundred Baht when they have HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS stuffed into their assets.

Edited October 2, 2014 by 12DrinkMore

[kkerry]

Sounds a great idea. I say go for it. Start by charging a 500 baht protection fee per victim honored guest.

If tourist arrivals to the island drop off they can always increase the fee to 1000 baht. You know it makes sense...

[jonesthebaker]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

I didn't realize paying to visit to Disneyland entitled you to a complementary rape and your head staved in with a hoe by Donald Duck

it is called irony my lesser witted friend. look it up i r o n y!!!!!!

[jonesthebaker]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

You don't pay to walk on the streets of California.......

look up the word irony. fffs

[off road pat]

I think they are looking for a place in the Guinness book of records,.....???? the most stupid police force in the world, ....or the highest number of stupid sentences in 3 weeks,...I could think of a few more,...!!!!

[IAMSOBAD]

Thailand ...is very MICKEY MOUSE IN THEIR THINKING... now they think they are Disneyland.

They should PAY US to come here and PAY US to stay with all their dumb ideas and old school plans. We should get paid for every dumb idea they have and all farang would be billionaires.

[soalbundy]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

I didn't realize paying to visit to Disneyland entitled you to a complementary rape and your head staved in with a hoe by Donald Duck

it is called irony my lesser witted friend. look it up i r o n y!!!!!!

I think he understands irony,it appears you don't

[Nuddy]

Incredible

Of course put the bad guys in charge of managing the money as well.

[Soutpeel]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

I didn't realize paying to visit to Disneyland entitled you to a complementary rape and your head staved in with a hoe by Donald Duck

it is called irony my lesser witted friend. look it up i r o n y!!!!!!

oh my Jones my dear boy I would stick to baking if I was you as it would appear you are unable to spot irony, sarcasm, dryness, or satire either...

let me guess from the other side of the pond and teaching English ?

[Thanet]

From a bungling bunch of old soldiers trying to be politicians, what more can we expect?

[rethaier]

Oh yeah a fee to visit that will get them flocking to the island but not to KT.

[canuckamuck]

The tax is a bit like paying a fox to watch your hens.

[davidstipek]

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

B.S.....

What province is Kao Tao in....?

Police and security are paid for from the budgets of both the Elected Governor and the Provincial Governor! Bet people didn't know that every Provice here in Thailand has both positions (Two Governors) and both have a fully staffed Department! This is why Povinces don't have the funds to do things correctly.

This is one of the reasons there is no middle class! Only the Poor and the High-so... (No Middle Class or Upper Class!) Thailand's household debt reaches 10 trillion baht for Q2 2014

Mark my words if this is enacted... You will not see any increase insecurity...Period!!! It will go into somones Pocket. When questioned about they will say Oh... Fund is here! look in legers... (always has been but being pocketed! Now they will weigh which is more lucicive and pocket it!)

Best way to unfold this Scam is to for 6 months... "Not go to Koh Tao" Stop this income scam and let the locals string up the real thieves!!!

Pass the word... They want to play games... We can close the Playground!!

Edited October 2, 2014 by davidstipek

[jonesthebaker]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

I didn't realize paying to visit to Disneyland entitled you to a complementary rape and your head staved in with a hoe by Donald Duck

it is called irony my lesser witted friend. look it up i r o n y!!!!!!

I think he understands irony,it appears you don't

obviously you don't. how on earth could he understand irony according to his statement - and yours. my statement re. disney world was simply being ironic. which is obvious to any half witted person. although not to a lesser witted bio robot!

[Nemesis7]

pay fee for what? The famous place where tourist got raped and brutally murdered?

Bloody hell.

Whats the idea to stop back packers to come to the island? as if 500 Bhat will stop any one wants to come if they wanted to visit.

Who comes up with such shitty ideas, i wonder???

[Minnehaha]

Rent your own bodyguard at the airport

that is actually a pretty good idea

could spin the service into a package tour guide, driver, and body guard. I think some big spending tourists would go for that, or group tours, or even a gaggle of backpackers, who pool their resources. particularly females

[transam]

pay fee for what? The famous place where tourist got raped and brutally murdered?

Bloody hell.

Whats the idea to stop back packers to come to the island? as if 500 Bhat will stop any one wants to come if they wanted to visit.

Who comes up with such shitty ideas, i wonder???

Fink someone with a new Mercedes Benz brochure..........

[ikke]

"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"

Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to why tourism operators and local residents are making decisions like this?

That's what governments are for, else everyone will be charging for everything everywhere......................

Scrots shouldn't have the authority to do this, and the media shouldn't be publishing said rubbish.

IMHO of course.

I would love to know the average IQ of the assembled mass of humanity at this meeting.

Probably lower than the average IQ of the local kindergarten.

[aspenninja]

And what happens if they do start charging a fee and the rapes and murders happen anyway? Admit it was a scam? Thinness wouldn't allow that. I bet they would say they need to charge more!

[hobz]

What a bunch ...

[herb59]

Rent your own bodyguard at the airport

maybe a Thai/russian?

[davidstipek]

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

Well people have to pay to enter Disney land so why not Thailand

We already pay... "Any Visa that is for a period over 30 days!" Pays a fee to enter and stay for selected periods in Thailand!! Then if you get multiple entry stamp... You pay again (2nd time), up front to stay here!

Edited October 2, 2014 by davidstipek

[Oziex1]

Bad idea, will it guarantee your safety?

If you arrived without paying would it guarantee a problem?

[lavender19]

And they really do wonder why tourists are now sick and tired of this place.

I suppose Thai tourists will be free or 10 bht and foreign tourist will be 400 bht as per the usual racist system.

[soalbundy]

obviously you don't. how on earth could he understand irony according to his statement - and yours. my statement re. disney world was simply being ironic. which is obvious to any half witted person. although not to a lesser witted bio robot!

Jones my dear boy give up, save the theory for your English classes, those who can do, those who cant teacher and it seems you cant,

when it comes to posting Ironic, sarcastic, dry, biting, mocking, posts you playing well out of your league old chap...

look at his name, he must be welsh, i thought there was something wrong with him

[Roger Lee]

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?

[ParadiseLost]

These press releases are becoming so unbelievable that I am starting to wonder if the authorities are trying to 'bait' social media posters.

With all the outrage and negativity towards authority (by foreign and Thai), they may well be able to justify (to themselves) the banning, or censorship of these sites - looking to China and Vietnam for guidance.

If these releases are real and approved by the authorities then this is really shitcreek and I need a paddle...

[Yann55]

They've been charging an outraaaageous fee for entering Koh Samet for ages and surprise, surprise, it didn't stop a poor Western girl from getting raped and murdered a few years ago (yes, by a Thai guy).

Ah, but wait, on Koh Samet they charge you because it's a National Park, not because you need protection, so you're welcome to enjoy the trees, beaches and all manners of National + Local Pollution exactly like on the other islands, but you shoudln't expect security because you're not paying for it. There you go.

Let's face it, these islands are ALL hubs of corruption, scamming, violence, lawlesness, and it's something most tourists don't ever realize unless they clash with it somehow. Thing is, clashes seem more and more frequent of late. Sometimes they turn into full blown tragedies, which the local police are adept at turning into full-blown farce, since their job is primarily to protect the locals. For a fee.

Pathetic.

[animatic]

And the voting on this policy is not slightly ambiguous.