Thai man massively overcharged at national park because he looks like a farang

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Thai man massively overcharged at national park because he looks like a farang


Image: Mr Grittapohn Chattreesagoon

KRABI: A Thai man has revealed his disappointment at being told he would have to pay ten times the regular ticket price in order to visit a popular tourist attraction in Krabi - all because he looks like a westerner.

On Saturday, Mr Grittapohn Chattreesagoon, who is from Phuket, tried to enter the Emerald Pool in Krabi when a park attendant told him he would have to pay an entrance fee of 200 Baht, rather than 20 Baht, as advertised for Thai nationals.

However, despite Mr Grittapohn, who has a Thai ID card, explaining to the attendant he was in fact Thai the attendant insisted on him paying the 200 Baht.

According to Sanook.com, Mr Grittapohn, who has a combined total of more than 5,000 friends and followers on Facebook, took to the social network to express his anger at the situation and the unfairness of the dual pricing policy.

Within hours, Mr Grittapohn’s post had gone viral and at the time of writing, has now been ‘liked’ by more than 34,000 people and shared over 3,500 times.

Similar controversial dual pricing policies are in place at many popular tourist attractions throughout Thailand and often result in foreign visitors being forced to pay considerably more than their Thai counterparts.

In 2012, Thailand based travel blogger Richard Barrow made national headlines after he was blocked from posting on the Facebook page of the Asiatique shopping complex after he questioned why foreigners were charged 250 Baht to go on its ferris wheel, when Thai nationals only had to pay 200 Baht.

Earlier this year, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, announced that entrance fees for foreign visitors to many of Thailand’s national parks would increase further from February 1st 2015.

Foreign visitors wishing to visit the national parks at Similan and Ko Surin are forced to pay the highest entrance fee of 500 Baht, whereas Thai visitors need only pay 100 Baht.

First time foreign visitors to attractions which operate a dual pricing policy often do not realise that such policy is in place as the operators of many attractions often only provide information of entrance fees in Thai script.

-- 2015-10-05

[Stradavarius37]

Same sh%t different day.

[bamnutsak]

Luk Krung, charge him 5X.

[trogers]

The Thai government should either agree or disagree with this dual pricing policy.

Announce this fact to the world should they agree and let foreigners decide.

Deception by using Thai numerals would not work in this age of social media.

[NCC1701A]

good on you farang lookin' Thai man and welcome to the club.

Keep gettin' the word out on social media. Together we can shut down the entire Thai tourist industry.

This guy must be popular with the Thai ladies.

Can we get this story translated to Chinese?

Edited October 5, 2015 by NCC1701A

[kotsak]

Well, he does look like a foreigner

Joking aside, the article didn't mention if he did show the ID card or not..

[kotsak]

The Thai government should either agree or disagree with this dual pricing policy.

Announce this fact to the world should they agree and let foreigners decide.

Deception by using Thai numerals would not work in this age of social media.

That's why they always use the word "lure" when they are talking about attracting tourists.. Decepticons.. :>

[FloridaExport]

No Thai person should ever have to deal with this... the horror.

[Thian]

good on you farang lookin' Thai man and welcome to the club.

Keep gettin' the word out on social media. Together we can shut down the entire Thai tourist industry.

This guy must be popular with the Thai ladies.

Can we get this story translated to Chinese?

Do chinese also have to pay the farang-price?

[ianf]

<deleted> Racism here. I am absolutely sick of it. Applies in every corner of this land. I refuse to pay the additional and if they insist I walk away.

[MartinL]

No Thai person I know would pay the foreigner price, even though the vast majority could easily afford to, for some of the third rate 'attractions' in Thailand - I won't either.

Unfortunately it sometimes appears that to qualify for Thai price nowadays you not only have to have a Thai ID card/pp but must also, more importantly, be of Thai or Thai-Chinese ethnicity - I've seen posts before on TV from naturalised Thais who've also had to pay the increased charge.

Edited October 5, 2015 by MartinL

[Thian]

In Europe they all know this allready, that's why nobody comes to Thailand. Did you read that mrs. Khobkarn-krab?

[bendejo]

Yo brother, welcome to the other side!

Maybe the hair on the arms freaked out the attendant.

Edited October 5, 2015 by bendejo

[elviajero]

Publicity seeker! Having 5,000 "friends' tells us that!!

He does look farang and if he didn't (unknown) show his ID card to prove otherwise the attendant had every right to charge him the going rate.

I've visited many parks in this country and if I show my Thai drivers licence I get in for the Thai price!

And whats the problem with dual pricing anyway. Western tourists can afford to pay more. Would the foreigner still visit if Thais were made to pay the same? It's 200 baht, take it or leave it.

[bendejo]

Thai man massively overcharged at national park because he looks like a farang

So, by this, TV is declaring the difference between the cost of admission in the 2-tiered system to be massive.

[howsthat]

F@@@###ing Racism here. I am absolutely sick of it. Applies in every corner of this land. I refuse to pay the additional and if they insist I walk away.

Me too, If they wont accept my Thai driving license then I tel the to **** Off.

Please everyone if you get charged more than a Thai to enter somewhere then walk away, if enough people do it then they will have no choice but to stop it.

[mca]

If I were the gent in question my choice us of vernacular in pointing out the attendant's error would convince even the biggest jobsworth dullard of my Thai credentials.

[Aachen]

Well, he does look like a foreigner

Joking aside, the article didn't mention if he did show the ID card or not..

Just try to read the article again, slowly.

However, despite Mr Grittapohn, who has a Thai ID card, explaining to the attendant he was in fact Thai the attendant insisted on him paying the 200 Baht.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Aachen

[elviajero]

Well, he does look like a foreigner

Joking aside, the article didn't mention if he did show the ID card or not..

Just try to read the article again, slowly.

Same advice to you.

It says he has an ID card. It doesn't say he showed the attendant his ID card.

[ezzra]

Thais have a saying for such thing... Som Nam Na.....

[Thian]

Publicity seeker! Having 5,000 "friends' tells us that!!

He does look farang and if he didn't (unknown) show his ID card to prove otherwise the attendant had every right to charge him the going rate.

I've visited many parks in this country and if I show my Thai drivers licence I get in for the Thai price!

And whats the problem with dual pricing anyway. Western tourists can afford to pay more. Would the foreigner still visit if Thais were made to pay the same? It's 200 baht, take it or leave it.

Rich Thai who g to Paris can also afford a 10-folded price, let's do the same to them!

[elviajero]

Publicity seeker! Having 5,000 "friends' tells us that!!

He does look farang and if he didn't (unknown) show his ID card to prove otherwise the attendant had every right to charge him the going rate.

I've visited many parks in this country and if I show my Thai drivers licence I get in for the Thai price!

And whats the problem with dual pricing anyway. Western tourists can afford to pay more. Would the foreigner still visit if Thais were made to pay the same? It's 200 baht, take it or leave it.

Rich Thai who g to Paris can also afford a 10-folded price, let's do the same to them!

Ok as long as you're prepared to let the poor Thai visiting Paris have a discount!

Dual pricing happens in many countries. In the UK adults pay more than OAP's and kids to enter many places. And sometimes locals get discounts.

[slipperylobster]

Must of been a farang in the ancestoral woodpile someplace.

This guy fooled me.

Anyways...wear that face with pride, and just hope the thai genes don't gang up on the farang genes. Reverse discrimination rears it's ugly head. There are just a few countries...that figure you just got to look the part, or you are an outsider. Western countries are just big bowls of alphabet soup.

I wonder if he ever tried rented a jet ski?

Edited October 5, 2015 by slipperylobster

[Squeegee]

Ok as long as you're prepared to let the poor Thai visiting Paris have a discount!

Dual pricing happens in many countries. In the UK adults pay more than OAP's and kids to enter many places. And sometimes locals get discounts.

None of which is based on third world racism.

Showing some decency to the young and old in the West is no justification for supporting racist behaviour in developing countries.

How about encouraging them to... develop?

[elviajero]

Ok as long as you're prepared to let the poor Thai visiting Paris have a discount!

Dual pricing happens in many countries. In the UK adults pay more than OAP's and kids to enter many places. And sometimes locals get discounts.

None of which is based on third world racism.

Showing some decency to the young and old in the West is no justification for supporting racist behaviour in developing countries.

How about encouraging them to... develop?

Only a racist could consider this racism!

[Squeegee]

Ok as long as you're prepared to let the poor Thai visiting Paris have a discount!

Dual pricing happens in many countries. In the UK adults pay more than OAP's and kids to enter many places. And sometimes locals get discounts.

None of which is based on third world racism.

Showing some decency to the young and old in the West is no justification for supporting racist behaviour in developing countries.

How about encouraging them to... develop?

Only a racist could consider this racism!

"No, you are... not me, you are..."

Get back to me when you graduate from the playground and have a real response.

[MartinL]

And sometimes locals get discounts.

What is a local?

It's somebody who lives in a particular vicinity, NOT somebody who lives in a particular vicinity and matches the personal prejudices of some goon in a ticket booth.

[uptheos]

Maybe his Thai language was too good for the attendant to understand?

[toybits]

The only way to solve this is to treat Thais exactly the same way they treat foreigners. When Thais go abroad, they should be ready to fork out a hell of a lot more than locals. Then they will understand how foreigners feel when they are charged 10X the local entrance fee. I call this parity in policy.

[bodymassagemyfriend]

Publicity seeker! Having 5,000 "friends' tells us that!!

He does look farang and if he didn't (unknown) show his ID card to prove otherwise the attendant had every right to charge him the going rate.

I've visited many parks in this country and if I show my Thai drivers licence I get in for the Thai price!

And whats the problem with dual pricing anyway. Western tourists can afford to pay more. Would the foreigner still visit if Thais were made to pay the same? It's 200 baht, take it or leave it.

You logic is inconsistent. You partly implement a system where people would get a product based on how much they can pay.

This system then should not consider the nationality , but the yearly income ; many Thais are rich why dont thay pay even more then?

Its just materializes racism , and every one who accepts this sends a message "Yes, we foreigner are second class humans ".

Also we dont apply dual pricing to Thais in our country so its asymetric.

You could sell differ prices for tickets whith different quality of service, that would be ok. 100 bath : stay 30 minutes, 200 bhat stay 1 hours , ...

The rich can buy more service , that is what happens in 99% of the world