Thai National Parks ordered to charge foreigners tenfold

[Time Traveller]

They don't understand why so few foreigners visit Thai nationals parks. Maybe it's because they are such ordinary run down dirty places compared with National Parks in other countries.

My last experience at a Thai national park about 5 years ago was this.

Thai Adult 20 baht, children free. Farang 200 baht.

The parks waterfall barely had any more water than a bathroom shower head. Maybe 300 thais were sitting at the foot of the waterfall in a stream not much bigger than an average home swimming pool.

Loud music being played in the forest campground by drunken thai pickup truck owners, litter everywhere and children begging for money from my wife.

Unless they make their national parks cleaner and kept out the dregs of thai soceity by increasing the Thai price to be the same as the farang price, then that was the last time I'll ever visit a Thai national park. Never again even if they cut the price to zero..

Edited February 3, 2015 by Time Traveller

[Bluespunk]

"Additionally, Suwan predicted the increase would not affect the number of tourists who visit the park as fewer than 100 foreigners visited the park last year."

Yes, because it's profits that matter.

Never mind the xenophobia that lies behind such policies.

"We can discriminate because it won't lose us much money."

Such profound wisdom.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Bluespunk

[KhunBENQ]

The "Coconuts" article is a total distortion of the original Bangkok Post article upon which it's supposedly based.

There's no mention of "tenfold" in the Bangkok Post. It simply says that the price should be the same across all national parks, i.e. 400 Baht.

As 400 by 40 makes 10 I suppose this to be freedom of journalistic expression

And "admission fees ... brought in line" is a brilliant piece by the BKK post.

Edited February 3, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[h90]

Problem is that most Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, Laotians, Burmese, Cambodians, Chinese and even Japanese and Koreans among other generic Asians get the local price too if they shut their mouths and smile.

not a Chinese group tour.....impossible.....

[chainarong]

Not surprised I refuse to go near any parks that charge a higher fee for the past decade , bet the tourists when they roll up in a bus up don't get told of the charges, who cares.

[lildragon]

Does this happen anywhere else in the world? It begs belief.

[rainman333]

it is bad news for expats, but for the 2 week tourist, i doubt they are going to change their plans based on an increase of entry fees

[mango66]

The increase there and at other parks was made in response to an announcement from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department that admission fees for foreigners should be made consistent throughout the country as of Sunday.. should read as.. admission fees for people should be made consistent throughout the country. Seriously is there any other country in the world where foreigners are required to pay more to visit an attraction than residents ??

yes !

china and other post communist countries,

and maybee in tschibuti !!

AND THAILAND

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Hope the rest of the world treat the Thais the same way.

[phuketrichard]

The increase there and at other parks was made in response to an announcement from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department that admission fees for foreigners should be made consistent throughout the country as of Sunday.. should read as.. admission fees for people should be made consistent throughout the country. Seriously is there any other country in the world where foreigners are required to pay more to visit an attraction than residents ??

YEP

Angkor Wat tourist $20/day

Cambodians FREE

Bagan Tourist $10

Burmese FREE

Taj Mahal Tourist 750 INR ( apx $17 )

Indians; INR 50 for Indians, Nepalese and Bhutanese (apx $2.20)

Need i go on?

[Ricardo]

Park officials moved Sunday to insure foreign guests fairly and consistently pay 10 times the amount of Thai nationals to enter the kingdom’s national parks.

" fairly " ?

This must be a new Thai meaning, of the word.

Speaking for myself, since I don't consider myself equal to 10 Thais, I shall register my disapproval by steering clear of these rip-off joints for the time being, the National Parks ought to be free for all , wherever they happened to have been born. Purely in the interests of fairness & equality.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Ricardo

[Rumble]

Welcome to Thailand, the land of smiles, enjoy your holiday. the reason why you have to pay 10x the price for everything is that we want your money and not you. now go home.

[comeondoit]

If they would be clever they would offer at every tourist entering the country a entry pass giving them the right to enter every national park for e.g, one moth asking may be 1000 BHT, or 2000BHT and the pass should include all family members. That would boost the number of visitors and in the end the income of the ministry. This is what other countries do (i can buy a national park pass in the states, before starting my travel)

Now with that fee a family with 2 children will have to pay 1200BHT for one entry.......incredible. they do not want the foreigners visiting their parks!!!!! What a shame for the country. And again most foreigners do not konow that the entrance fee is valuable for one day for all parks visited.

And the worst of that official practice is that Thai people think they are absolutely right to charge foreigners ten times what Thais have to pay for every service.

[Suradit69]

This is a really great idea.

It works hand in hand with Thailand attracting quality tourists, the kind who would like to visit these parks, and enjoy Thailand's natural scenery.

It also helps foreigners wishing to come here, in the sense that they will know that their trip will be vastly more expensive than it ever was.

Great work everyone!

Now, what's next?

I know, I know!

How about a beach entrance fee? Say 200THB per kid and 400THB per adult?

Blanket rule across Thailand's beaches.

Oh - and don't forget to inflate the cost of temple admissions too - tenfold would be best.

It's important to make the distinction between foreign visitors and Thai visitors as wide as possible - as this fosters a good feeling, and also will go a long way to ensure that Thais selling any other product and service don't inflate their prices too, using these new measures as a starting block.

More sterling economic advice from people whose home country economies are collapsing or struggling to emerge from recession and whose currencies are plummeting and whose sovereign debt is rated "junk."

I know, I know. I bought a house and have a $250,000 mortgage even though the market value of the house is half that and my salary from McDonald's doesn't even cover my interest payments. But I'm clever and will sell it for $100,000.

I know, I know, Let's wage a war that costs several trillion dollars without funding it.

I know I know. Let's give everyone generous pensions, short work weeks, free medical care and we'll pay for it all by selling bonds and then default on them.

I know I know, we'll unite Europe in a single economic and currency zone. What could go wrong? We'll be the biggest and "bestest" in all the world.

I know, I know. Let's share all our economic wisdom with "developing" economies so they can be just like those in Farang Land.

[thesetat2013]

Instead of whining on Thai Visa. Send your rant to the Department of National Parks.

What's the point? He won't read them and probably would not understand half if he tried to read them. Besides, money is the only thing to make them understand. Or lack of money coming in.

[phuketrichard]

funny i posted this on the Cambodian forum k440 and EVERYONE agreed it is fair.

what with the expats in Thailand?

Why shouldn't visitors pay more?

after all its the thai national parks

few more;

Auckland War Memorial Museum - $25 for foreigners, free for Aucklanders

Maasai Mara National Park

NON RESIDENTS
Non Resident Adults Inside the park – US$ 70/day
Non Resident Children inside the park – US$ 40

EAST AFRICAN CITIZEN (Ksh)
Citizen Adults – Ksh. 1000 ($10)
Citizen Children – Ksh. 200 ($2)

Serengeti National Park

US$ 25 per person per day and US$ 30 per vehicle per day.
locals free

[leggo]

Show your work permit, residence card etc etc and you'll pay local prices - I even showed my passport at the Rayong Aquarium and they not only gave me local prices but senor citizen local prices!

[Tatsujin]

Yay! That'll really up those tourist numbers ... what a bunch of morons in charge of running this country and projecting the right image to rest of the world.

[bushmill]

All are good new to boost tourism:

Gov’t working to boost tourism, Thai PM says

http://www.pattayamail.com/news/gov-t-working-to-boost-tourism-thai-pm-says-44551

Martial law to be strictly enforced

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/martial-law-strictly-enforced

Is it possible that the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing ?

Edited February 3, 2015 by bushmill

[lonewolf99]

Firstly, it has to be pointed out that Thailand does not know what a National Park or Game reserve is.

There are hardly any wild animals in any of these "parks". Which I have to also point out that they do not know what a Park is. Not one in Pattaya.

i.e. a large open green place where people find fresh air and peace and quiet...!!!!!

Most of the water falls are fake. Water is pumped up the standard blue plastic pipes and dribbles down over the "rocks". The worst example I saw of this was near Kanchanaburi. The rocks were made of fibreglass...and bus loads of Russian (they have gone now) stood under these showers and got their photo taken.

Doi Intanon the highest mountain in Thailand has a military base slap bang on the top with what looks like an early warning radar station that is very old. Who in the name of Buddha is going to launch an aerial bombardment on Thailand..? <deleted>. The last time they were invaded the Japs drove ashore in landing craft and the locals gave up in 7 days and did a deal with the devil. I think they might have just done that again with China on a high speed rail link.

I for one have given up on Thailand and "tourist" spots. Not one red sattang will I spend going into a shopping mall (floating market, Mimosa etc) rumble of stones covered in weeds (temple), burst pipe (waterfall) or hardwood plantations (National Parks).

Like many on this thread I vote with my feet and walk the other way with my wallet firmly tucked into my pocket.

[Suradit69]

Arrogance of a third world country is astounding.

Arrogance has never been the issue. It is stupidity and greed.

"It is stupidity and greed."

Interesting comment on a forum visited by economic refugees many of whom can't afford to live in their own countries because they didn't plan well for their retirement or who are unqualified and/or unable to find employment in those same countries that are collapsing under debt used to pay for things they were unwilling or unable to fund out of pocket.

If something is priced too high for you, don't use it or buy it. Time for some of the economic refugees from Farang Utopia to move on or stay away ... one more reason to raise prices.

As far as arrogance is concerned, there's plenty of that in Farang Land. Why anyone should expect "third world" counties to bend over and spread their legs to cater to Khun Farang being an excellent example of the vestiges of colonial arrogant mentality.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Suradit69

[WhizBang]

Good way to boost tourism. I wonder what the forthcoming TAT slogan will be?

Anyway, no more parks for me then.

[falangjim]

I earn over 6 times the average Thai in our respective position. How embarrassing it must be for your average Thai schooled here, but not really educated, that he can't earn as much as a falang. It's not the students' fault. The government has been keeping Thais in the modern dark ages. So go ahead, charge me 10 fold for parks I won't visit. I walk the streets knowing I earn more than most of the population here.

[uptheos]

I can't think of anything in Thailand worth paying 10 times the going rate for.

[retoohs]

I am totally O.K. with the inflated prices for foreigners. Just as long as it keeps the Chinese tourist out of the parks.

a fee on Chinese for rental cars would be better to keep them off the roads

[eeworldwide]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is a really great idea.

It works hand in hand with Thailand attracting quality tourists, the kind who would like to visit these parks, and enjoy Thailand's natural scenery.

It also helps foreigners wishing to come here, in the sense that they will know that their trip will be vastly more expensive than it ever was.

Great work everyone!

Now, what's next?

I know, I know!

How about a beach entrance fee? Say 200THB per kid and 400THB per adult?

Blanket rule across Thailand's beaches.

Oh - and don't forget to inflate the cost of temple admissions too - tenfold would be best.

It's important to make the distinction between foreign visitors and Thai visitors as wide as possible - as this fosters a good feeling, and also will go a long way to ensure that Thais selling any other product and service don't inflate their prices too, using these new measures as a starting block.

More sterling economic advice from people whose home country economies are collapsing or struggling to emerge from recession and whose currencies are plummeting and whose sovereign debt is rated "junk."

I know, I know. I bought a house and have a $250,000 mortgage even though the market value of the house is half that and my salary from McDonald's doesn't even cover my interest payments. But I'm clever and will sell it for $100,000.

I know, I know, Let's wage a war that costs several trillion dollars without funding it.

I know I know. Let's give everyone generous pensions, short work weeks, free medical care and we'll pay for it all by selling bonds and then default on them.

I know I know, we'll unite Europe in a single economic and currency zone. What could go wrong? We'll be the biggest and "bestest" in all the world.

I know, I know. Let's share all our economic wisdom with "developing" economies so they can be just like those in Farang Land.

Im terribly sorry, what was your point?

[acerhodes]

I don't understand this. Do the increased fees apply to all national parks? I am a birdwatcher and on a regular basis pay 200 bahtfor entrance to many superb national parks.I do not resent paying more than local Thais.

However it would be a blow if I've now got to pay 400 Baht In the original article there is a referenceto only 100 visitors in one particular park but then it goes on to say that this will be applied throughout . Does anybody know what's going on?

[Pattaya28]

So on this basis. if a Thai visits London, for example, and the cost to enter Madam Tassauds is £10 a Brit, should a Thai be charged £100 entry fee ?

[smotherb]

What a bunch of crying cheapskates. If you don't want to pay the price, don't go. It is common practice in the Western world to charge less for locals than for imports--even Disney does it.

[kaorop]

This is a really great idea.

It works hand in hand with Thailand attracting quality tourists, the kind who would like to visit these parks, and enjoy Thailand's natural scenery.

It also helps foreigners wishing to come here, in the sense that they will know that their trip will be vastly more expensive than it ever was.

Great work everyone!

Now, what's next?

I know, I know!

How about a beach entrance fee? Say 200THB per kid and 400THB per adult?

Blanket rule across Thailand's beaches.

Oh - and don't forget to inflate the cost of temple admissions too - tenfold would be best.

It's important to make the distinction between foreign visitors and Thai visitors as wide as possible - as this fosters a good feeling, and also will go a long way to ensure that Thais selling any other product and service don't inflate their prices too, using these new measures as a starting block.

More sterling economic advice from people whose home country economies are collapsing or struggling to emerge from recession and whose currencies are plummeting and whose sovereign debt is rated "junk."

I know, I know. I bought a house and have a $250,000 mortgage even though the market value of the house is half that and my salary from McDonald's doesn't even cover my interest payments. But I'm clever and will sell it for $100,000.

I know, I know, Let's wage a war that costs several trillion dollars without funding it.

I know I know. Let's give everyone generous pensions, short work weeks, free medical care and we'll pay for it all by selling bonds and then default on them.

I know I know, we'll unite Europe in a single economic and currency zone. What could go wrong? We'll be the biggest and "bestest" in all the world.

I know, I know. Let's share all our economic wisdom with "developing" economies so they can be just like those in Farang Land.

one can only imagine your face when the 'tiger of sea' faces its inevitable "bust",

you can but only hope it wont be on the scale of the last one.

oh you think it wont happen or you are immune?

it will and about immune as you are from birdflu......

oh my, did i get dragged so off topic by this parochial nutloop, sorry

okay back on topic

i/we (thai nationals too) go into national parks by the back roads on dirtbikes and pay nothing.

Edited February 3, 2015 by kaorop