"Double" charging of foreign tourists is killing our business, say Krabi long tail boat operators

[webfact]

"Double" charging of foreign tourists is killing our business, say Krabi long tail boat operators

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

KRABI: -- Boat operators in the south of Thailand have said that charging foreign tourists ten times more than Thais at marine national parks is killing their business.

 

The long tail boatmen working at Ao Nang say that ever since the park insisted on charging foreigners 400 baht to visit, their trade has plummeted by as much as 60%, reported Manager Online.

 

Foreign adults pay 400 baht and foreign children 200.But Thais pay just 40 baht and 20 respectively.

 

Yesterday the Kamnan of Ao Nang and representatives of the long tail operators went to the park office in Krabi town to request the fees for foreign tourists be lowered.

 

They think that reducing the fees to 200 for adults and 100 for children would be reasonable and would lead to the return of the tourists.

 

A spokesman for the Had Noparat Thara - Koh Phi Phi park said that the complaint had been received. Fees could not be adjusted at a local level but they would pass on the request to head office for consideration.

 

The complainants also said that speedboats in the area were also feeling the pinch as foreigners decided that $11-12 was too much to pay. And there was resentment when foreigners realized that locals were paying only a fraction of this fee themselves.

 

Source: Manager Online

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-02-10

 

[PatOngo]

Fortunately they've made enough already to pay for their own funeral! Rest in Shame!

[manarak]

Smile!

It is a victory for green environmentalists!

They do that everywhere in the world: pass some law to blow up the costs immensely, and then frustrated people stay away while business owners can only sit and cry.

[Suttisan]

Was always annoying the dual pricing living in Thailand. As a holiday maker now I'll give Krabi a miss along with Koh Tao for obvious reasons. Had an argument with her when I had to pay 200 thb for Samet, she didn't understand it's the principle and not the cost. 

[ourmanflint]

what is the charge actually for? 

[Redvic]

Som num na ??

[taichiplanet]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Foreign adults pay 400 baht and foreign children 200.But Thais pay just 40 baht and 20 respectively.

 

They think that reducing the fees to 200 for adults and 100 for children would be reasonable

love it! They still think it is reasonable to charge foreigners only 5 times more instead of 10 times more. Personally i rarely go into anything if they charge me more than a Thai, especially if they try to be tricky and write the Thai price in Thai script.

Edited February 10, 2017 by taichiplanet

[scubachild]

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

[limbos]

9 minutes ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

The filthy rich Thais in their Benz pay also the same rate as the 'poor' Thai, how does that make sense?
Thai middle class is on the rise, dual pricing doesn't make sense, but it seems state sponsored in Thailand. When will they wake up and smell the coffee?

[johng]

well it seems some Thais have started to "smell the coffee" lets hope its a growing trend.

[MadDog2020]

15 minutes ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

So what if they choose not to travel.  You are condoning a dual pricing schema which once people truly understand it many choose to vote with their feet as these boat operators are experiencing. 

 

Good job to all who refuse to accept the blatant form of discrimination. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by MadDog2020

[Sphere]

I really don't mind if my 400 baht is spent on Burberry uniforms for park officials.....

[heybuz]

2 hours ago, Suttisan said:

Was always annoying the dual pricing living in Thailand. As a holiday maker now I'll give Krabi a miss along with Koh Tao for obvious reasons. Had an argument with her when I had to pay 200 thb for Samet, she didn't understand it's the principle and not the cost. 

Had the same problem in pattaya years ago, the cost did not bother me but when they charged my then wife 50 bht and me 200 i said no on principal.

[Caps]

I hope all the businesses collapse, serves them right for being greedy

[chrissables]

30 minutes ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

Strange way of thinking. Thai people don't travel, so we must pay a little more? 10 times is not a little. 1 time is too much.

[jackh]

The Thai's may soon realize that ripping off the hand that feeds you will result in you demise in the long run. 

I will not pay for anything more than what is the Thai price. They can do what they want, but I will never fall prey to this double pricing.

I actually live in CHina where they do the same thing. In many cases it is even worse than Thailand. If you even want to go into a village there is usually a group of villagers that require a fee just to go through their village! It's nothing to do with the money. I can well afford to pay their fee. However I will bypass their village and spend 1 RMB eating, shopping, whatever in the village. Who loses? Take a guess.

If driving down the highway, you stop to take a photo, someone pops out of the woodwork demanding a parking fee! I tell them to <deleted> off while I observe the Chinese tourist even paying their fee.  I will never support this BS. It's bad enough I have to pay just to go into a dirty stinking public toilet here. But that's as far as I go.

[PatOngo]

22 minutes ago, limbos said:

The filthy rich Thais in their Benz pay also the same rate as the 'poor' Thai, how does that make sense?
Thai middle class is on the rise, dual pricing doesn't make sense, but it seems state sponsored in Thailand. When will they wake up and smell the coffee?

How long is a piece of string?

[Crash999]

10 minutes ago, Caps said:

I hope all the businesses collapse, serves them right for being greedy

It's not the long tail boat owners that make high level decisions like that. If anything they'd like it to be free so a lot more tourists came in. 

[PatOngo]

"Double" charging?

40 (local) doubled equals 400 (farang)?

Maths on par with their ethics! 

[tonywillo]

If the money went to cleaning the environment and improving facilities like toilets then wouldn't be so bad but when I was on phi phi and maya last week all you see is guards ready to take the money and sub standard toilets rubbish on the beach etc. Doing the maths on arrivals even at 200b per person you could employ an army of workers to clean up and improve facilities. For my money railay beach near ao Nang is just as good as these islands without the 400b fee.

I don't know about a slow down? Last week and 3 months ago when I went to maya Bay it was packed with tourists but it is the high season. 

[Crash999]

2 hours ago, ourmanflint said:

what is the charge actually for? 

Maintenance of the parks. Thais pay for it out of tax. Other countries do the same for out of state or out of country visitors, though not normally 10x more. 

[malcoml]

52 minutes ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

Not true...

Edited February 10, 2017 by malcoml

[IamNoone88]

Dummies.

[malcoml]

I went on a boat tour and got suckered into paying 400 baht for an hours snorkeling which was pretty average.

Then on arriving to Phi Phi island there were a couple guys there screaming for more money.

Funny how the tax man turns up in a little dingy with a smile on his face.

[Titan1962]

I totally agree with the all the other comments. I can't remember seeing any of this shit in my home country. Theme parks did not charge extra if you are a tourist. Restaurants never had dual prices.Taxis are all on the meter and you all pay the same.

its just a money grab and it sucks. I can understand if you are in a night market or street stall. A bit of haggling and barter can be fun. But in a fully set up business like hotels, restaurants,tourists attractions ect. One price for all,

I also agree that there are a lot of wealthy Thais now,driving cars and living in homes I wish I could afford. 

But in the end it's thailand,so you have the choice to not pay. Vote with your wallet.

its a principle thing.

My GF tries to make a few extra baht selling shit on line. I tell her all the time, better to make 80 baht and sell more. Than trying to make 200 baht and sell nothing. It took awhile but now she understands.

[Mordacai]

Why is it dirt poor Mexico can open all it's tourist sites and museums for free on Sunday's to locals and tourist alike but Thailand cannot?

[recom273]

No one should mind paying a park fee, if it's being used to improve the park, however inflated it is.

 

l would suggest in the case of these guys, tourists have just been to Ko Rok for a day and have been grabbed when stepping on the beach for lunch, then they  did a 4 island tour and got stung 400B at the emerald cave, then this national park - 400B - maybe they go to Lipe, which isn't a national park, but is is within national park boundaries ( so I'm informed ) - another 100B or something - then Khao Sok for the day - 400B maybe Ratchapapa dam the next day - 400B - fly to Chiang Mai and pay 300B to drive up a road to Doi Inthanon and scratch their heads as they pay another 40B to enter the pagodas. 

 

In all honesty, for what?? So the mafia families that are park rangers can skim as much as possible, for the national parks management to get fat in the pretense they are doing something important for nature the environment as, let's not forget, the person who created them intended.

 

What a monster they have become? Nothing more than a tourist tax.

[SoFarAndNear]

1 hour ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

I would agree if this only applies to tourists. But to visits nationals with your family while living here for years and then have to pay even 5x times more then others is simply a spit in the face. 

[Fairynuff]

1 hour ago, scubachild said:

 I know that is against our western sensibilities to pay more but a little bit more wouldn't be unreasonable   Let's not forget Thai people rarely have the chance to travel overseas as us westerners do. 

Haven't you been to Sydney, SF, LA, London, Paris, Florence........ Thais travel......believe me

[BlindMagician]

This has been done to death. News?

But they do need to check their maths. "Double"...X10