Dual-pricing in Thailand: Is it time to do away with the ‘farang tax’?

[KamalaRider]

Please let me know if I am mistaken, aside from Tourists, but regarding Foreigners who live here, do you not pay the Thai price if you show a Thai driving license or yellow book?

You are mistaken I'm afraid.

ALL non thais has to pay the extra 'tax'.

It's clearly stated by the department of parks, forests but they have taken down the page with the differentiated prices.

In some parks and other attractions, some Thai people are still somewhat lenient if we have our WP, Thai DL, but it's not guaranteed.

[Soutpeel]

Easy solution to this....stop the dual pricing, just increase the cost of the visa's and extension and take that money and put it into the upkeep of the parks

[Rimmer]

A baiting and name calling post has been removed

[Tony125]

I really don't care about it as I figure I make far more than the average Thai and my higher price will keep things low for poorer Thai to be able to visit the places. I lived in Boston MA USA and we have many Historical sites and although you won't be charged a different rate you will pay higher for many things. We hyave the Freedom Trail you walk to see many sites.

If a tourist buys a shirt say Boston Celtics (basket ball) or New England Patriots (football) along these routes they will probably pay $20.Those of us who live there know we can walk to shops neaby and pay only $10 for same shirts same for products sold in Fanuel Hall and restaurants there we call them tourist rip off places and know where to buy cheaper.

[Doc46]

Please let me know if I am mistaken, aside from Tourists, but regarding Foreigners who live here, do you not pay the Thai price if you show a Thai driving license or yellow book

I live here and I don't pay Farang price,,,,My GF ask them Thai price and Farang price if not the same price we say thank you and go elsewhere I don't care about them,they don't care about us,,even steven

[Cabra]

If ever there was a topic done to death, regurgitated again and again, this is it.

Looks like we have Another One..... "<deleted> you Jack I"m Alright".......

[chickenrunCM]

It would be a good start. I know alot of friends who wont come back ever because they felt cheated and discriminated against. Nothing right about it and it sets the stage for nations rip of the visitor day....

Serious? What, did the 200 baht national park fee break their budget?

Hope they didn't go to Malaysia, Leos, Cambodia . . .

Never bothered me, more to worry about than a few dollars; as per post above, look at it as a discount to the Thai people

do you ever think about what you posting? seems that not!

its not about somebody has the money or not, its about you buy a service or a product and

charging different price is discrimination! That´s all! If you so rich then come to my restaurant that I can charge you

5 times or 10 times more for your meal and drinks then my other guests.

I want to see your reaction then. Easy talking about other peoples money, for 1 week all foreign owned and managed hotels, restaurants and companies should charge the Thais 10 time the price as usual, so they know how is the feeling. Nowhere in Europe a foreigner get legal charged more in a national park, museum, restaurant aso

[Fossil]

Sorry, yes you are mistaken.

[chickenrunCM]

If we pay more we should get more that mean translate all signage and explanations in English otherwise what are we paying extra for. Especially farangs with work permits already pay taxes in Thailand.

its not about paying taxes, btw 70% thai never payed any more taxes than a foreigner.

you buy a service or product that should have one price for all. The national parks are not made for foreigners, they are made for thais, and how can somebody say the foreigner is more rich than a thai,

families who flying to thailand for vacation pay a lot for plan and hotel, and then get ripped off by different prices,

we not talking about 10 - 20% difference, we talking about 1000 % difference!!!

This is in every developed, democratic country a crime and would be fined by court heavely

[JoopJoop]

The thing that is wrong about the pricing is that... none of it actually goes to any protection of the resource they are charging for. If you tell me I need to pay to upkeep the park then I expect to go into the islands and not see garbage and illegal dumping or fishing. I have an expectation of not seeing recent stumps from illegal logging. So you charge me ten times the amount to go in the coffers of the corrupt who do not do what they say with the money. I am sure many people would change their minds about this policy of pricing if it wasn't such a farce. Perhaps some transparency of where this money goes and the progress that it achieves would go a long ways towards good will to paying the fees.

Many parks in the USA have people who give well above the normal fees willingly to help conserve parks. You get the feeling if you give money to a natural area in Asia they would use the proceeds to build a hydro plant or widen the road to make it easier to extract whatever resource that particular park has.

Every Park is ridiculously overstaffed with security guards, maybe the cash pays for them...

Even the free parks in bkk are overloaded with uniforms like an army base

Probably they don't get paid a lot but it seems like they could cut back by about 75% and there would still be law and order in the park...

All I've ever seen them do is maybe ask someone to put out a cigarette or don't bring alcohol in

Basically, tasks that could be carried out by a signpost and most people would obey the rules...

Security was increased in BKK parks earlier in the year because the General was informed too many younger ones are shagging there. For Thai ideology, this is shameful. However, one may extort, cover up and lie without recourse.

[Fairynuff]

Yes this topic is done to death and until the practise stops, it always will be. The argument is simple, it's MORALLY wrong to discriminate. It is NEVER about the money which maybe as little as a few baht. Those who say they don't care, in my opinion have no self respect. I will never knowingly allow myself to be overcharged, not one baht, not a thousand baht. It isn't a discount for Thai people, it's an overcharge to non Thai people on a grand scale.

It's not about rich foreigners and poor Thais, most of my Thai friends have considerably more money than me yet would never pay more than me for a park or attraction.

It's very simple really, there is no moral or economic justification for overcharging. You ARE being cheated and ripped off and you're happy with that then the n my opinion you're a fool.

This argument is even simpler than you are suggesting, if you think the price is too high, don't pay it. If you are worried over 10 baht, you are indeed a worried man, life is too short to get upset over such trivial matters.

Like I said, a fool just doesn't get it. It's never about the 10 baht. Duh!!

Because someone sees things different to you, you insult them by calling them fools! Some people might say you are a miserly skinflint with no feelings for his fellow man.

And that person would have no idea of who I am. I say again, if you think it's ok to be ripped off, then yes, you ARE a fool. And again, try to grasp the simple concept that it's never about the money...just try...it's really not difficult!

[vogie]

Yes this topic is done to death and until the practise stops, it always will be. The argument is simple, it's MORALLY wrong to discriminate. It is NEVER about the money which maybe as little as a few baht. Those who say they don't care, in my opinion have no self respect. I will never knowingly allow myself to be overcharged, not one baht, not a thousand baht. It isn't a discount for Thai people, it's an overcharge to non Thai people on a grand scale.

It's not about rich foreigners and poor Thais, most of my Thai friends have considerably more money than me yet would never pay more than me for a park or attraction.

It's very simple really, there is no moral or economic justification for overcharging. You ARE being cheated and ripped off and you're happy with that then the n my opinion you're a fool.

This argument is even simpler than you are suggesting, if you think the price is too high, don't pay it. If you are worried over 10 baht, you are indeed a worried man, life is too short to get upset over such trivial matters.

Like I said, a fool just doesn't get it. It's never about the 10 baht. Duh!!

Because someone sees things different to you, you insult them by calling them fools! Some people might say you are a miserly skinflint with no feelings for his fellow man.

And that person would have no idea of who I am. I say again, if you think it's ok to be ripped off, then yes, you ARE a fool. And again, try to grasp the simple concept that it's never about the money...just try...it's really not difficult!

Do you really know how patronising and condesending you are, you are using the words "ripped off" not me, and no I don't think I am being ripped off. You must really have a sad and pathetic life if you worry about somebody 'ripping you off' to the sum of 10 baht. Some people would say you need to get a life and stop insulting people who share different views to you. Duh.

[daveAustin]

Emirates BKK-BHX business class ticket return 147000 baht

Emirates BHX-BKK return business class 110000

Pls go call Emirates and ask them why the Thai price is 37000 more??

Same planes same flight times you just go back on the same plane Johnny English arrived on

This is not discrimination but all about the airline(s) being better able to sell seats uk-thai return than other way around.

[daveAustin]

Never bothered me, more to worry about than a few dollars; as per post above, look at it as a discount to the Thai people

Then more fool you, Mr mango. If you don't care about money in that regard you are seen as senseless and ripe for the picking (read: not generous and conscientious) in the eyes of the Thai people with half a brain. But whatever floats yer boat. [emoji6]

[Najinsky]

Simple solution to this. Build a 'luck temple' where the resident guru guarantees to give them the winning lottery number.

Charge Falang 10bt but Thais 10,000,000bt.

For the few Thais that pay up, when the given numbers prove to be wrong, tell them they shouldn't be so stupid with their money and take it up with their non existent consumer rights groups.

There can be no sympathy without empathy, and Thais can't empathise for a world they know nothing about, let alone understand.

[pbonline]

Whatever I pay, I still think its cheap, try comparing to prices back home. If the UK government started to charge foreigners more than the its own citisens, would we complain?

It´s stupidity like this that destroys for all of us, stop comparing the prices with your homecountry, this i Thailand and here is thai price.

Baht it´s a currency and you should not convert it to GBP before you decide if it´s cheap or not.

One baht is one baht as the same as one pound is one pound

Ex tip is not in thai culture and 30 y ago tip did not exist here, it´s stupid tourist who brought this to thailand and ofcourse thais take advantage of it.

The culture in Thai is to bargain for almost everything not give tip.

Do you want Thailand to have the same prices as you have in UK?

With your behavior this will happen soon.

[bermannor]

chickenrunCM, please facts and proof for 1000x overcharge.

[tlcwaterfall]

If ever there was a topic done to death, regurgitated again and again, this is it.

Agreed. But judging by the responses there will be many more.

Like many others I will no longer accept dual pricing.

[bermannor]

pbonline, why not same prices, would keep out cheap charlies.

By the way, Halloween was also unkown 10 years ago in Europe.

[bermannor]

tlcwaterfall, they will miss you dearly and will feel it in their coffersYou think anybody gives a shit if you accept dual pricing or not?

Watch tourist growth numbers.

[bermannor]

Soutpeel, taxing on the source is far more fair.

Then you can accept or leave it.

[bermannor]

selftaopad, hell anybody can get a green card or visa for the USA. Anybody can stay as long as he/she wants in the States.

By the way, fly to Southamerica via USA, that means only transit, you need a visa when you really want to enter USA.

That I call country of the free.

[bermannor]

sorry

.... as if you want to enter USA

[bermannor]

MEsmith,

"It's not a subsidy. Back in 1999 it cost 20 baht for everyone to enter national parks. Then the 400 bt fee for foreigners was introduced."

Utter nonsense, why can not?

[bermannor]

Scarletibis1,

"Using your logic if I live in Chiang Mai province then I should get the Thai rate which I do not."

Why should you get it, simply because you life there?

You are there because you enjoy the low living costs.

Not the territory principle counts.

Your logic is also a logic.

[bermannor]

^{mumjokmok, when will you leave?}

[anon4546543]

Having returned to Australia and gone to a National Park here, I retract my former post. I paid $50 per car for a few hours visit to the beautiful Jarrah provinces of south West Australia. 200 baht is a doddle and I will no longer complain. I suppose that cheap prices for Thais may encourage them to visit more parks and historical sites. And we westerners subsidise that. Having thought about it, I will no longer complain. So in future I will visit sites and parks and not quibble about the $4 charge, the friendly staff and the free bottled water. And the wonderful viewing, the wild water rafting, and ancient historical remnants

[bermannor]

fitnesspm, I recommend for you Norway or Japan, then you would tell us, how cheap booze in Thailand is.

Booze all over Africa, not of course the home brew, is really expensive compared to the income.

[bermannor]

chickenrun CM,

"This is in every developed, democratic country a crime and would be fined by court heavely"

utter nonsense, read all the posts and read example where it is the case.

These are the facts, yours are wishful thinking.

[luudee]

It's not about the money. It's about being discriminated against.

I do not visit any of the local attractions that have dual pricing. Period.

So if you have never been to Thailand, what's the problem for you?

I've been living here 21 years. Where do you get that I have never been to Thailand ?