'Maintenance Fee' for All Foreign Tourists Proposed by Tourism Governor

[webfact]

'Maintenance Fee' for All Foreign Tourists Proposed by Tourism Governor
By Teeranai Charuvastra
Staff Reporter


Visitors and residents celebrate Songkran in Phuket in an April 2015 file photo.

BANGKOK — A plan to charge foreign tourists 360 baht each time they enter the kingdom as a fee to maintain and improve tourist attractions has been proposed by the head of the tourism authority.

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, suggested in an interview that money collected from the fees could be reinvested in the tourism throughout the kingdom, but almost as soon as the idea was suggested, it was played down by his own organization.

In an interview with Voice TV, Yuthasak said foreign tourists would be charged USD$10 (360 baht) each time they enter Thailand, whether by air, land or sea. Among its uses, he said, would be enhancing security measures.

“It will be collected under the name of a tourist attraction administration fee,” Yuthasak said. “We will use the money to maintain and improve security systems of tourist attractions across the country, in order to support the tourism sector, which has been growing steadily.”

He also did the math for its potential windfall.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1453434960


-- Khaosod English 2016-01-22

[tonray]

I thought that was what the entry/visa fee was for ?

[nikmar]

The Chinese are going to love that!

[trogers]

I thought that was what the entry/visa fee was for ?

That money did not go into the pockets of TAT...

[colinneil]

How much will actually go into tourist projects and how much in the envelopes?????

[ratcatcher]

'You may say I'm a dreamer'.

[Thian]

They really try every way to get the money out of our pockets.

So now we don't visit their national parks because the 10foulded fee's they will just collect the money at the front door.

[DM07]

What the <deleted>?!

Are they serious?

Unfortunately, I guess the answer is "yes"!

[worgeordie]

Why not just mug the tourists as the leave the airport,this plus increase in Visa on arrival,

they are slowly killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

regards Worgeordie

[amerasianex]

So they want to start stealing from us before we even enter now. That's smart. Because you have no tourist attractions. Some filthy beaches littered with trash and locals who make you feel unwelcome unless you fork out cash for the use of their beach and restroom. And parking and the list is endless. I guess the visa fees we all pay is stolen then...

[jacky54]

To improve the attractions they will then charge them many times the local rate to enjoy. Will this extortion apply to us with non immigrant o visa'a as well? I am not interested in their so called attractions, they are few and far between. They will not even be cleaning up the beaches.

Edited January 22, 2016 by jacky54

[Gsxrnz]

Let's see. 25,000,000 tourists at 360B = 9,000,000,000 baht.

So after all the commissions, fees, overcharging, backhanders, bribes, inflated over pricing, that 9 Billion baht will end up as another 2,000 Baht plastic statue at Swampy departure lounge.

Sorted.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Gsxrnz

[harada]

Another win for Vietnamese tourism.

[lovelomsak]

This will probably finance a few nice new private resorts in Phuket.

Edited January 22, 2016 by lovelomsak

[Thian]

Let's face it, what tourist attractions does Thailand have except the beaches and islands? Many of them are national parks allready and charge the 10foulded prices.

Do they call the floating markets tourist attractions?

[Squeegee]

More good news. Hopefully it will be implemented and add to everything else that causes foreigners to go elsewhere.

[Tywais]

Let's see now: They just recently added a 'security fee' to airline tickets. They increased entry to tourist attractions/parks to 10x what Thais pay. They want to increase Visa on arrival entry from 1000 to 2000 Baht. Now this, what's the word I'm thinking of - oh yeah, greed. What's next, charge for air?

Edited January 22, 2016 by Tywais
Corrected from Visa exempt to VOA

[Eddy B]

These guys and gals at the TAT are F*&king muppets and need herding up and shot on sight! The visa fees are already enough, plus the over pricing to enter supposed tourist attractions. Maybe if they actually did their job and kept the upkeep of their attractions they would not be in such dis-repair. This is a 100% brown envelope job and someone plans to make a killing while killings continue to happen here in the LOS. &lt;deleted&gt;!!

[stickylies]

[Thian]

Let's see now: They just recently added a 'security fee' to airline tickets. They increased entry to tourist attractions/parks to 10x what Thais pay. They want to increase Visa exempt entry from 1000 to 2000 Baht. Now this, what's the word I'm thinking of - oh yeah, greed. What's next, charge for air?

And the ATM-fee of 180 baht for EVERY transaction of 10.000 baht.

And the airport fee of 700 baht which is allready included in the airticket.

Then the very low exchange-rate for the euro.

The visa of xxx euro plus the costs of going to their embassy 2-3 times/lost workingtime.

[anon467848]

With a minimum of 2 million arrivals each month that's $20 Million , KERCHING That will take care of all the mortgage and car payments for quite a number of Govt. officials..

Edited January 22, 2016 by merlin2002

[GeorgesAbitbol]

So they will remove the double price, right?.......

[Thian]

So they will remove the double price, right?.......

What double price? You mean the price on the streets/shops if you want to buy something or use a taxi?

[Pib]

“It will be collected under the name of a tourist attraction administration fee,” Yuthasak said. “We will use the money to maintain and improve security systems of tourist attractions across the country, in order to support the tourism sector, which has been growing steadily.”

BS!!!...it's just to increase tax revenue. Seems this govt has been trying to increase tax revenue in so many different ways. If they do start collecting the fee it will probably just go into the general revenue pot or the govt will cut the budget to the tourism agencies since they are now collecting this tourist maintenance fee to offset the budget decrease. When the dust settles the tourism industry still has the same budget but the govt gained tax revenue due to more money being taken from tourists. Maybe the govt has been taking guidance from Thai banksters on how to gouge predominately tourists....like recently raising the foreign card ATM withdrawal fee from Bt180 to Bt200.

[anon467848]

Let's see now: They just recently added a 'security fee' to airline tickets. They increased entry to tourist attractions/parks to 10x what Thais pay. They want to increase Visa exempt entry from 1000 to 2000 Baht. Now this, what's the word I'm thinking of - oh yeah, greed. What's next, charge for air?

"What's next, charge for air?" That would go down really well for folks living in Chiang Mai who get poisoned for 2 months every year..

[tomacht8]

It would be much more interesting to see where the current tourist funds and tourist fees go.
I can say that I have so far no seen or found improvements.
Although ever more money is required, the thai tourism lives mainly from its substance.

Where is all the current money?

Where is then in the tourist areas,
a functioning public transport system?
a functioning waste disposal system?
a functioning sanitation waste water system?

They may like to charge fees, but for the money nothing will be delivered!
Alibi for the personal enrichment of a few.

[GeorgesAbitbol]

So they will remove the double price, right?.......

What double price? You mean the price on the streets/shops if you want to buy something or use a taxi?

Nope the one at the Kao Yai park and other "touristic places"...of course it won't happen

[PatOngo]

Let's see now: They just recently added a 'security fee' to airline tickets. They increased entry to tourist attractions/parks to 10x what Thais pay. They want to increase Visa exempt entry from 1000 to 2000 Baht. Now this, what's the word I'm thinking of - oh yeah, greed. What's next, charge for air?

"What's next, charge for air?" That would go down really well for folks living in Chiang Mai who get poisoned for 2 months every year..

Breathe meters are under development right now at Mahidol University...........another world first!

[scorecard]

...for security...

Here we go again, security should be under the control / should be the responsibility of an appropriate agency who are experts at the subject.

Not everybody and their friend trying to play with security.

The TAT is not a security expert, owners of various attractions are not security experts.

This lack of focus / lack of coordination / lack of clear boundaries also happens within many government agencies. Ed is a good example, it's split into various agencies but they are all playing with things that are not their purpose in life.

[craigt3365]

How about they remove the corruption and make sure what's already paid actually goes into maintaining these parks, instead of going into the local officials pockets. I was at a few national parks last year and the maintenance was terrible. Not worth the money to enter the park.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/850757-phi-phi-park-chief-moved-amid-b30mn-national-park-fee-fraud-probe/

Phi Phi park chief moved amid B30mn national park fee fraud probe