Entry fee to Thailand's Phi Phi Islands mulled

[Bangkok Barry]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

That's fine, if all visitors to the beaches in Australia or Spain or Greece etc etc etc have to pay, while citizens of those countries get free access. After all, it's their beaches.

Yet another inane TV commentator.

[Incobart]

for 5 years now they collect 20 B for every tourist arriving the island. 10.000 visitors a day = 200.000 B a day, or 5 year later 360 mil B !

The only thing I see is that the island looks 5 x more dirty then 5 year ago, with places that have dirt in the street not cleaned for at least a half year. So please don't ask for an extra fee ! just show where that money go to.

[JoeLing]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

How about every other country in the world starts charging Thais more money than the locales because it's "their country?"

I've always said, if I ever move back to the US and start a business, I'm going to make sure to charge Thais more than anyone else.

In Laos or Indonesia, Thai people pay more than local people too, not just westerners.

In Switzerland, local people get reduction for local transport, swimming pools, museums with their ID card.

Lichtenstein offers free public transport for it's citizens whilst the rest has to pay.

In the UK, people pay a fee to enter Clovelly if they are not locals and the government was even

contemplating a yearly surcharge for non EU foreigners living in Briton of 200 GBP to access the NHS

etc......

So, this "double pricing" is not unique to Thailand.

Edited March 25, 2015 by JoeLing

[cekipa]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

when you consider that thais are extremely prone to littering you may understand, it may be their country but a lot simply dont care or do you walk around with your eyes closed. Who do you think throws all the crap onto the streets in the local areas, certainly not tourists.

The funny side is that those who are supposed to check and ban all the littering (thai guides and boat crew) are those who care less than tourists themselves. How many times you can see guides throwing bananas and bottled drinks (east) to monkeys and cigarettes into the sea. BTW, park fees are already in use and the money collected by the officer in maya bay should be spent to clean all PP national park. Places like Yong Kaserm bay are littered by so many plastic bottles. Park rangers should start to move their butts by cleaning not by staring at the horizon.

[Godders]

Soon to come...

Entry fee to Thailand...

Mulled to increase the numbers of quality tourists by 2016... TAT Announcement and final price are currently in the making and been discussed...

The way things are going, they are soon going to have to bribe people to come here.

[Godders]

I understand your point but the vast majority of visitors would be foreigners so that's where the main environmental impact would come from. If charging a fee to foreigners reduced overall numbers visiting then that would be a positive move.

The way things are going, they will end up having to bribe tourists to come here.

[Prbkk]

I understand your point but the vast majority of visitors would be foreigners so that's where the main environmental impact would come from. If charging a fee to foreigners reduced overall numbers visiting then that would be a positive move.

The way things are going, they will end up having to bribe tourists to come here.

Indeed. Pay me a fee of 30,000 and I would consider a visit. Otherwise not in this lifetime.

[richard_smith237]

Entry fee to Phi Phi Islands mulled

Koh Phi Phi - Nopparathara National Park Chief Chaithat Boonphupantanti said on Tuesday that the a fee may be imposed as a way to control the limitless growth in the number of visitors to the southern islands.

He said that the proposal would be raised at the meeting of all national parks during March 26-27, along with other approaches to help preserve marine lives. Recently, bouys were placed near Maya Beach, forcing boats to drop visitors there and leave. Littering rules are also strictly enforced: any visitor littering will be fined Bt500 at the spot.

Not elaborating on the fee rates, he said a private company should be selected to handle the collection.

Source: http://www.nationmul...d-30256645.html

It is the apparent belief that the blame is with the foreigners which disappoints when reading such headline articles.

As I'm sure we are all well aware, the damage is done by anyone... For the most part we can guess that the majority of littering is by the locals, for those of us who have spent any length of time in Thailand we have witnessed the lack of care many Thai's have for the immediate environment.

It is also apparent that the blame is being placed with the foreigners for 'coming', when the alternative is 'nothing', i.e. no visitors, no income... though that boat has already sailed.

Is there a solution? I suspect there is, it starts with the education and enforcement of 'non-littering ethics' to those living in these areas. They can then enforce these same 'non-littering ethics' to the Tourists / Visitors where needed.

Yes, of course, Fine littering Tourist's... but it would be hypocritical and disgusting to stop there... Fine anyone with equal measure including locals when caught littering, but of course, we can't police everyone, so who distributes these Fines?... the idea is already flawed and we are back to simply getting everyone, including locals, to understand the value in not littering and preserving their immediate environment.

Edited March 25, 2015 by richard_smith237

[thaibeachlovers]

I'm for it if it keeps the gap year pissheads away. They have done most to ruin the place.

Let's keep them all on Hat Rin. That place is so ruined it will never be OK again, while P P might come back from the dead if those responsible are kept away.

There was "Gap Year" tourists on Phi Phi ages before the Tsunami and Phi Phi was still OK.

After the Tsunami, when most inhabitants on the island lost everything and even before the last victims were identified, the vultures descended on the island. With nothing left but their lives, many started to sell out their places for peanuts and the island has changed dramatically in the 10 years.

It's Thailand's greed, selfish and short shortsightedness who destroyed that once paradise, not the tourists going there.

Koh Lipe will be [is] the next victim of that selfish greed and I recon, in due time, one national park after the other will open up and be exploited. Off course, all blame will lie on those "stupid Chinese, rude Russians or other piss head Farang".

I first went to P P in 96 and not a gap year pisshead in sight- it was brilliant.

Went back a few years later and the gap year crowd had invaded- the rot had set in and it was no longer a great place to stay.

Went after the tsunami, and there were packpacker volunteers helping rebuild the same crappy bars as had been there before which ruined it.

Haven't been since as I was too disappointed with the same garbage being built as pre tsunami.

However, the biggest ruination of P P had to be the out of control numbers of unmuffled longtails driving up and down the beaches ruining the ambience. Plus the large numbers parked on the beach on the west side.

I agree that it is the Thais that have ruined the place with greed, but they wouldn't have built all those crappy little bungalows all over the place if the demand wasn't there, and that demand is mainly gap year backpackers, as I see it, just like Hat Rin and all the other once nice beaches over run with party bars and other such excrecences.

[thaibeachlovers]

Will a fee put off the hordes of Chinese tourists who invade the islands every day? Probably not. They pay for their tour up-front and don't even know the real cost. An extra few hundred baht won't even be noticeable.

Phi Phi Don is beyond repair, well at least Tonsai is.

The only way to control Maya Bay is to limit the number of speedboats and longtails allowed to moor at any one time. The roped off swimming area is ridiculous now and should be reversed: boats should be allocated about the amount of space currently allowed to swimmers, allowing the rest of the beach to be occupied by tourists.

It seems to me that the boats all follow exactly the same route, with the speedboats all at Maya Bay during the morning and all congregating at the now-horrendous Khai Island in the afternoon, with the mandatory lunch-stop on Phi Phi Don after a snorkelling session. Is there no way that they can stagger this so groups of boats can arrive at these places at different times, thereby not having up to 100 boats in the same place at the same time?

That would require thought and consideration for the environment. The only factor at work is how to make as much money as possible before the place becomes so disgusting no one wants to go there any more.

The list of once nice Thai beaches ruined by THAI moneymen is a very long one.

[thaibeachlovers]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

when you consider that thais are extremely prone to littering you may understand, it may be their country but a lot simply dont care or do you walk around with your eyes closed. Who do you think throws all the crap onto the streets in the local areas, certainly not tourists.

The funny side is that those who are supposed to check and ban all the littering (thai guides and boat crew) are those who care less than tourists themselves. How many times you can see guides throwing bananas and bottled drinks (east) to monkeys and cigarettes into the sea. BTW, park fees are already in use and the money collected by the officer in maya bay should be spent to clean all PP national park. Places like Yong Kaserm bay are littered by so many plastic bottles. Park rangers should start to move their butts by cleaning not by staring at the horizon.

Park rangers should start to move their butts by cleaning not by staring at the horizon.

Pigs will fly first.

Samet was a rubbish tip end to end, and I still had to pay the NP fee.

[JoeLing]

I'm for it if it keeps the gap year pissheads away. They have done most to ruin the place.

Let's keep them all on Hat Rin. That place is so ruined it will never be OK again, while P P might come back from the dead if those responsible are kept away.

There was "Gap Year" tourists on Phi Phi ages before the Tsunami and Phi Phi was still OK.

After the Tsunami, when most inhabitants on the island lost everything and even before the last victims were identified, the vultures descended on the island. With nothing left but their lives, many started to sell out their places for peanuts and the island has changed dramatically in the 10 years.

It's Thailand's greed, selfish and short shortsightedness who destroyed that once paradise, not the tourists going there.

Koh Lipe will be [is] the next victim of that selfish greed and I recon, in due time, one national park after the other will open up and be exploited. Off course, all blame will lie on those "stupid Chinese, rude Russians or other piss head Farang".

I first went to P P in 96 and not a gap year pisshead in sight- it was brilliant.

Went back a few years later and the gap year crowd had invaded- the rot had set in and it was no longer a great place to stay.

Went after the tsunami, and there were packpacker volunteers helping rebuild the same crappy bars as had been there before which ruined it.

Haven't been since as I was too disappointed with the same garbage being built as pre tsunami.

However, the biggest ruination of P P had to be the out of control numbers of unmuffled longtails driving up and down the beaches ruining the ambience. Plus the large numbers parked on the beach on the west side.

I agree that it is the Thais that have ruined the place with greed, but they wouldn't have built all those crappy little bungalows all over the place if the demand wasn't there, and that demand is mainly gap year backpackers, as I see it, just like Hat Rin and all the other once nice beaches over run with party bars and other such excrecences.

I meet "Gappies" in the 80's and I meet "Gappies" in 2012 when I was last time in Koh Poo Poo.

They have been going to there since decades. Possibly people back in time did rather travel

and experience different cultures whilst today's tourist give a s**t about culture and just travel

wherever the weather is nice and booze is cheap.

Now looking at 1987 photos and compare them to 2012 photographs, I can't see a single bar

that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

[thaibeachlovers]

I'm for it if it keeps the gap year pissheads away. They have done most to ruin the place.

Let's keep them all on Hat Rin. That place is so ruined it will never be OK again, while P P might come back from the dead if those responsible are kept away.

There was "Gap Year" tourists on Phi Phi ages before the Tsunami and Phi Phi was still OK.

After the Tsunami, when most inhabitants on the island lost everything and even before the last victims were identified, the vultures descended on the island. With nothing left but their lives, many started to sell out their places for peanuts and the island has changed dramatically in the 10 years.

It's Thailand's greed, selfish and short shortsightedness who destroyed that once paradise, not the tourists going there.

Koh Lipe will be [is] the next victim of that selfish greed and I recon, in due time, one national park after the other will open up and be exploited. Off course, all blame will lie on those "stupid Chinese, rude Russians or other piss head Farang".

I first went to P P in 96 and not a gap year pisshead in sight- it was brilliant.

Went back a few years later and the gap year crowd had invaded- the rot had set in and it was no longer a great place to stay.

Went after the tsunami, and there were packpacker volunteers helping rebuild the same crappy bars as had been there before which ruined it.

Haven't been since as I was too disappointed with the same garbage being built as pre tsunami.

However, the biggest ruination of P P had to be the out of control numbers of unmuffled longtails driving up and down the beaches ruining the ambience. Plus the large numbers parked on the beach on the west side.

I agree that it is the Thais that have ruined the place with greed, but they wouldn't have built all those crappy little bungalows all over the place if the demand wasn't there, and that demand is mainly gap year backpackers, as I see it, just like Hat Rin and all the other once nice beaches over run with party bars and other such excrecences.

I meet "Gappies" in the 80's and I meet "Gappies" in 2012 when I was last time in Koh Poo Poo.

They have been going to there since decades. Possibly people back in time did rather travel

and experience different cultures whilst today's tourist give a s**t about culture and just travel

wherever the weather is nice and booze is cheap.

Now looking at 1987 photos and compare them to 2012 photographs, I can't see a single bar

that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

phi-phi-then-1.jpg

I can't see a single bar that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

You must have an amazing eyesight to see any bar on either of those photos!

Especially the old one, given you can only see coconut trees where the most bars were built pre 2004.

I doubt that many gap years went to P P in the 80s as they wouldn't have had enough money. Certainly none visible in 96, though they may have been on the farther away cheap beaches.

[JoeLing]

I meet "Gappies" in the 80's and I meet "Gappies" in 2012 when I was last time in Koh Poo Poo.

They have been going to there since decades. Possibly people back in time did rather travel

and experience different cultures whilst today's tourist give a s**t about culture and just travel

wherever the weather is nice and booze is cheap.

Now looking at 1987 photos and compare them to 2012 photographs, I can't see a single bar

that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

phi-phi-then-1.jpg

I can't see a single bar that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

You must have an amazing eyesight to see any bar on either of those photos!

Especially the old one, given you can only see coconut trees where the most bars were built pre 2004.

I doubt that many gap years went to P P in the 80s as they wouldn't have had enough money. Certainly none visible in 96, though they may have been on the farther away cheap beaches.

Well, I'm sure you do have pictures to justify your claim that the same bars have been build up again?

As for "Gappies" not being able to afford traveling in the 80's dream on,

Thailand was considerate cheaper to travel in the 70's and 80's then it's today.

Most student's back then had their student fees paid by the governments and

not like today, ending up with 1000$ to pay back in Student loans.

Most backpackers then, traveled to see the world, today I hardly see "backpackers",

most of them turned in to "Gheto-Packers" traveling from one tourist gheto to an other

in order to get drunk (Well, applies mostly to Australian and British Gappies - other

countries do not have that binge drinking mentality)

Edited March 26, 2015 by JoeLing

[thaibeachlovers]

I meet "Gappies" in the 80's and I meet "Gappies" in 2012 when I was last time in Koh Poo Poo.

They have been going to there since decades. Possibly people back in time did rather travel

and experience different cultures whilst today's tourist give a s**t about culture and just travel

wherever the weather is nice and booze is cheap.

Now looking at 1987 photos and compare them to 2012 photographs, I can't see a single bar

that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

phi-phi-then-1.jpg

I can't see a single bar that is even close to anything that was there nearly 30 years ago.

You must have an amazing eyesight to see any bar on either of those photos!

Especially the old one, given you can only see coconut trees where the most bars were built pre 2004.

I doubt that many gap years went to P P in the 80s as they wouldn't have had enough money. Certainly none visible in 96, though they may have been on the farther away cheap beaches.

Well, I'm sure you do have pictures to justify your claim that the same bars have been build up again?

As for "Gappies" not being able to afford traveling in the 80's dream on,

Thailand was considerate cheaper to travel in the 70's and 80's then it's today.

Most student's back then had their student fees paid by the governments and

not like today, ending up with 1000$ to pay back in Student loans.

Most backpackers then, traveled to see the world, today I hardly see "backpackers",

most of them turned in to "Gheto-Packers" traveling from one tourist gheto to an other

in order to get drunk (Well, applies mostly to Australian and British Gappies - other

countries do not have that binge drinking mentality)

No, I don't have pictures. Believe me or not, hup to you.

I'm not denying your claim of gap year bagpackers back in 96, just that I didn't see any and I stayed by the village for a couple of weeks back then. Think it was at PP Pavilion. Whatever it was got destroyed by the tsunami.

[berybert]

Soon to come...

Entry fee to Thailand...

Mulled to increase the numbers of quality tourists by 2016... TAT Announcement and final price are currently in the making and been discussed...

This is a great idea and I think it would work. Have a 10,000 pound entrance fee to Thailand and it will keep the poor and not so well off people away. In turn this would lead to the people of wealth only coming to Thailand. And once the rich people hear it is only their sort that holiday here there will be an influx.

Just imagine 30 or 40 million multi millionaires visiting Thailand each year.

TAT will explode with joy.

[maidee]

ah those nice fees

20 baht for thais and 500 for farang, something like that ?

or 50 baht for thais and 1500 for farang, even more fair, right

as thais don't litter or do other bad things

[givenall]

littering should be 5000 Baht

When will Thailand learn there are other places in Asia that would love to have the tourists money Thailand is throwing away

[StefanBBK]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

Here we go again.

[PaPiPuPePo]

I was there once in '89, the bay where you dock was full of multi-colored coral of all types. I had a memorable slow glide 1m over a banded sea snake not far from the dock. I heard it's all bleached out or completely gone by now.

We go into pristine environments like this that have become delights to the eye and ear over centuries or millennia and within a decade or so we turn them into trash heaps by comparison. Then more hordes of mostly poorly-dressed, out-of-shape, poorly-behaving, almost exclusively low-to-middle-brow people with little sense of beauty and no sense of ugliness swarm around taking selfies of their selfish selves like they deserve to be where they are because they paid someone to take them there.

For evey baht in tourist revenues Thailand has made since the '80s, how many baht worth of natural beauty has disappeared forever (or at least until humans grow up or go extinct so it can recover)?

[JoeLing]

I was there once in '89, the bay where you dock was full of multi-colored coral of all types. I had a memorable slow glide 1m over a banded sea snake not far from the dock. I heard it's all bleached out or completely gone by now.

We go into pristine environments like this that have become delights to the eye and ear over centuries or millennia and within a decade or so we turn them into trash heaps by comparison. Then more hordes of mostly poorly-dressed, out-of-shape, poorly-behaving, almost exclusively low-to-middle-brow people with little sense of beauty and no sense of ugliness swarm around taking selfies of their selfish selves like they deserve to be where they are because they paid someone to take them there.

For evey baht in tourist revenues Thailand has made since the '80s, how many baht worth of natural beauty has disappeared forever (or at least until humans grow up or go extinct so it can recover)?

Fully agree but do not blame only the tourists, Asians in general do have a bit of a problem with tidiness apart from Singaporeans (at least when they are in Singapore).

I would say, if the owner of the house can't keep his home tidy, don't expect his visitors to take care too much either.

But who am I to tell Thai people how to keep their places clean, it's their land, their island, their home and I'm just a guest and if I don't like it, I can leave. Well at least that would be the advice I would get from half the posters on this forum.

[JoeLing]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

So you assume, Thailand belongs to the Thais?

Well the 10 top Landowners in Thailand own about 1 Million rai, approx. 2'000 km² of the available 513,120 km²

Just as in many other countries, the majority of Thais probably don't own anything, definitely not on Koh Poo Poo.

Now I'm absolute convinced, if one doesn't own the car he's driving in, the house he's living in, or the land he's coming from, he will give a s**t about the state of those things.

Never mind. Let's assume Thailand belongs to all Thais. As a host, wouldn't it be more appropriate to welcome people in to a clean "house" rather then blame them and make them pay for your own mess?

In fact, thinking down your line of: "Thailand belonging to all Thais".

If Koh Poo Poo belongs to Thais, I'm a global citizen and Thailand belongs to me as much as to the rest of the world. I'm very much aware Thai's do not consider themselves as part of the global community and everyone not Thai is an alien, nevertheless, Thailand does contributes to our global pollution and so should pay for the negative environmental impact they and their visitors allow to cause to my global home.

[ScottMallon]

Why should Thais pay the same as farangs? It's their island. There should be a fee for farangs and no fee for Thais.

How about every other country in the world starts charging Thais more money than the locales because it's "their country?"

I've always said, if I ever move back to the US and start a business, I'm going to make sure to charge Thais more than anyone else.

In Laos or Indonesia, Thai people pay more than local people too, not just westerners.

In Switzerland, local people get reduction for local transport, swimming pools, museums with their ID card.

Lichtenstein offers free public transport for it's citizens whilst the rest has to pay.

In the UK, people pay a fee to enter Clovelly if they are not locals and the government was even

contemplating a yearly surcharge for non EU foreigners living in Briton of 200 GBP to access the NHS

etc......

So, this "double pricing" is not unique to Thailand.

Understood, however two wrongs don't make a right.

[alex88]

The point is that phi phi is in a national park so technically doesn't legally belong to any private owner and is actually owned by the Thais as a right of citizenship. What they do with it is up to them but either way it's theirs.