National Park in Krabi refuses to stop fleecing tourists - authorities preparing for "double pricing" showdown today

[AlexRich]

9 hours ago, samjaidee said:

I'm not saying double pricing is right but really if you think about it, approximately 10 pounds, euros or dollars will not be considered an outrageous amount by a tourist to visit a marine park. Why should they spoil their holiday by missing out on the trip just to make a political point in a country where their voice will not be heard?

There are plenty of other places to go - these places are seldom what they are cracked up to be. If tourists and long-termers refuse to go you will put a stop to it. I've enjoyed my time travelling in Thailand, not going to those places has had no impact whatsoever on that enjoyment.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[ubonjoe]

43 minutes ago, metisdead said:

An inflammatory post has been removed.

Plus some more.

[FarangJon]

Another Thai Bullshit. This country would be nothing without the huge amoung of tourists.

Edited February 22, 2017 by FarangJon

[chickenrunCM]

10 hours ago, Abilene said:

400 baht might be a good price if the attraction compares favourably with what tourists are used to in their home country.  It would be a good idea for an expat to visit them all and rate them.   I see the Thai rate more as a discount reflecting comparable wages.

it is not a discount, it is discrimination, because it is done by race and nationality, nobody shows their income or tax return, the european student and the family with 3 kids who save for years to make this journey have to pay 10 times more than the Thai doctor who earns much more than this family or student. 

What would be the reaction if thais would have to pay 10 times more for entrance in a atraction if they travel than other people?

Nowhere in a civilist country you have to pay more because you are european or black or asian,

you buying a product and the price has to be the same for everybody and it is not the dutty for a tourist to finance the Thai national parks. As by the name it is a national park so the Nation has to finance it, it is their heritage!!!!

 

[maxcorrigan]

4 hours ago, fishhooks said:

Wow....We will soon be up to 200 suggestions/replies about a matter which is not going to in any way change.

 

We all know that, that not what this forum is about, we just air our grievances, have a moan have a nag etc.what do you personally suggest, we do on a forum such as this, say nothing! 

[bimmerbob]

13 hours ago, steffi said:

It's not double pricing it's two tiered pricing.

...or two faced pricing.......

[Docno]

6 hours ago, maxcorrigan said:

I already did, we visited Madame Tussaud's in London entrance fee £30 (rip off) i said to my Thai wife would you be happy to pay £300 entrance fee being as you are Thai, as we flangs are forced to pay in Thailand if we want to visit a NP?

Needless to say,there was no answer!

As others have have pointed out it is the principal of the whole thing, that galls me!

The principle is that citizens should have affordable access to national assets (parks etc) and that in developing countries citizens (on average) do not have much disposable income while visitors from typically richer countries can afford to pay higher fees to defray the costs of said attractions.

 

Madame Tussaud's is not a public/national asset and the UK is not (yet) a developing country. Your wife was being courteous in not telling you that you were making a false equivalence. Credit to her...

[joecoolfrog]

13 hours ago, cocorico2558 said:

For foreigners coming on tourist visas, therefore earning their living  overseas, 400 Baht is appropriate. But foreigners living in Thailand and on non-immigrant visas, very rarely having 10times the income of a Thai should have a different rate, let's say 200 Baht. You earn more, so you pay more, very fair!

Its fair if rich Thais also pay the higher rate , if not then it is racist.

[webfact]

UPDATE:

 

No joy for boat operators as 500 protest two tier pricing

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

KRABI: -- Some 500 long tail and speedboat operators blockaded the Ao Nang national park HQ yesterday to seek changes in the two tier pricing policy for foreign tourists.

 

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/970227-no-joy-for-boat-operators-as-500-protest-two-tier-pricing/

 

[Jonmarleesco]

On 2/22/2017 at 5:34 AM, AlexRich said:

Never had this issue - I simply don't go. All foreigners should do likewise if they want to see 'farang price' stopped.

Of course they should. But we're talking tourists, not just residents. In order for them to refuse to pay, they need to be made widely aware of the practice in advance of their visit. The benefit of social media, something the Thai dual-pricers ignore at their peril. 

[Jonmarleesco]

On 2/22/2017 at 8:58 AM, samjaidee said:

I'm not saying double pricing is right but really if you think about it, approximately 10 pounds, euros or dollars will not be considered an outrageous amount by a tourist to visit a marine park. Why should they spoil their holiday by missing out on the trip just to make a political point in a country where their voice will not be heard?

A political point? Politics rarely recognises principles, and that's what this is about: principle, not politics. 

[metisdead]

Off topic posts about the Krabi coal powered power station have been removed.

[outsider]

On 2/22/2017 at 6:34 AM, AlexRich said:

Never had this issue - I simply don't go. All foreigners should do likewise if they want to see 'farang price' stopped.

 

Totally agree. I have stopped going to all these places. And when friends visit, I warn them in advance of the hefty scams in place - if they insist on having their Instagram moments, I'll just take them there, leave them at the entrance and tell them to look for me at the nearby cafe when they've fulfilled their daily selfie/we-fie quota.

 

However, just the few of us not going to these places aren't going to stop anything, Heck, the authorities, the people running the place - they won't notice our absence. Because every time one of us makes a U-turn at the ticket booth, ten will stand in-line salivating at the prospect of adding another picture on Instagram and posting another 'I was here' post on FB. We - the informed foreigners - are not the target of these scams. Our numbers are the minority. Their target is the busloads of tourists, those who are here in Thailand for the first time, where everything is new to them. The ones who 'ooh' and 'aah' at everything Thai. Granted, it seems tourist numbers have declined, but still, there is no shortage of these dinner plate-eyed tourists. For now, that is.

 

Also, I'm sure the entrance fees to some of these places are already factored into the price of tour packages so these 'new arrivals' will have no way of discovering how they have been fleeced. Others will say 'oh well, it's just once, we don't come here everyday, we're here on a holiday, so stop bean-counting'.

 

In my opinion, one way to make these idiots - the authorities and people running these places and scams - feel the pinch, is to inform foreigners, tourists and travellers at the source, when they are planning their holidays. If they know what they are paying for, they may be more inclined to look for alternative destinations in Thailand that don't fleece tourists. And if the Thais think they can get away with scamming the mainland Chinese, they better think again because they are essentially scamming the master scammers - the Chinese are better at this game than the Thais. Anyway, back to my original point - what I do is, when my friends plan to visit BKK, I will ask them what they want to do/eat/see. Based on what they want, I suggest to them places to go. If they want to visit national parks, and the likes of Wat Pho or Wat Phra Kaew, I will tell them what they need to pay. Most of the time, they will just strike these places off their list. However, I will suggest alternative places to them. Temples that don't charge entrance fees, or those that ask for donations but at amount that is 'up to you'. I happen to have a Thai friend who loves to check out temples, and she is happy to take my friends to some of the nicer ones. And you know what, most of the time, my friends are happier that they visited these really local temples, instead of visiting one in which they have to jostle with other tourists for a place just to take a decent picture. Sure, not all tourists will have the benefits of a friend on a long-stay in Thailand, but if they can be informed ahead and given a heads-up, I'm sure sooner or later these places will start feeling the pinch.

 

Another poster, Alan Deer wrote, and I quote, "by not visiting a national park in my opinion you are cutting off your nose to spite your face". He has a point, but sometimes, we come to a juncture where we have to ask ourselves, will my life be completely empty and wasted if I don't go into this one temple/park?' Some may say screw it, it's only THB500 for a lifetime experience, while others may say bugger it, seen one, seen all. To each his/her own, I say.

 

 

 

 

[outsider]

On 2/22/2017 at 9:53 AM, Abilene said:

400 baht might be a good price if the attraction compares favourably with what tourists are used to in their home country.  It would be a good idea for an expat to visit them all and rate them.   I see the Thai rate more as a discount reflecting comparable wages.

 

I see your point, but there is a slight problem. By 'home country', were you subconsiously referring to any particular 'home country'. and assuming that that 'home country' should be used as the benchmark? The problem is, many tourists and foreigners come from many different 'home countries' and therefore, the benckmarks will be very different from one to another. Someone coming from, let's just say, Siberia, may find Thailand to be an eye-opener, while someone from the inner parts of China (away from the big cities of Beijing and Shanghai and where the natural sights are just plain breathtaking) may find that Thailand's attractions do not compare favourably to their 'home country'. How then, should we decide if 400b is a good price, or not?

[outsider]

The picture below is my own, please feel free to share it far and wide. Red circles show different prices - the one on the left is 'Personal Fee' also known as Thai or local price. The one of the right is 'Foreigner Fee'. As you can see, the difference is 1,000 percent. Not 100, but ONE THOUSAND percent.

 

Keep this up, Thailand. Soon, your tourism industry will look like a dried prune, all shrivelled and not even a shadow of its former self, all because of your short-sighted greed. As Jonmarleesco posted above, ignore the power of social media at your own peril.

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2017 by outsider

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Andy Dwyer

Good one Andy,Maybe John  Cleese should have got the job of ambassador.

[denby45]

On 2/22/2017 at 9:34 AM, chrissables said:

Wonderful parks, please name the ones that are worth 1000% a higher price than the Thai's pay.

You missed the point I was trying to make. There are some wonderful places to visit here and I won't get into naming them because it is not on point. The point I was making was a point of fairness. What is fair and what is not. Is it fair that people earning huge salaries pay more taxes. Answer = yes because it's fair. In this case should people who are able to afford more pay more again my answer is yes. It would be a shame indeed if Thai's could not visit their own places because they cannot afford the entrance fee. I do realize that there are some Thais who are extremely wealthy and would of course only pay the Thai price. Is this fair? Definitely not but of course these people are only a tiny percentage of the population. 

 

 

Den

[AloisAmrein]

On 21.2.2017 at 11:34 PM, AlexRich said:

Never had this issue - I simply don't go. All foreigners should do likewise if they want to see 'farang price' stopped.

I do exactly the same. Just boycott them, so they will have to learn a lesson. Btw, good advertising for TAT and Thailand...

 

[Lord Lucan]

In the UK it would be classed as racial discrimination 

so why not in Thailand?

[12DrinkMore]

On 2/22/2017 at 10:23 AM, Khun Robert said:

I thank the Chief of National Park for NOT changing his prices.

Tourisme in Krabi changed in the last years, I'm living here for 13 years so I have a little experience.

The fees for National Park did not change in the last years.

 

Krabi was visited by lots of back packers, who wanted to go around cheap cheap.

Now we have lots of families who like to be transported with a little more comfort,

Speedboats are fully booked on the same tour and the longtail boats lost 60 % of their customers.

Not because the entrance fee, but because a noisy non stable boat and wooden banches, with a 2 step ladder and customers walking

from the boat in  1 meter water towards and from the beach. Elderly people are pushed and pulled on the longtailboats.

Speedboats use the harbor.

It is funny to see how they treat the customers as cattle.

 

Next to that the amount of longtail boats went from 200 till 700 in just 2 years but the volume of customers did not increased that much.

Not blame Us, longtail boat drivers, we made money long time ago and customers come every day, blame every body else.

 

Total Ao Nang area has NO clue about tourisme and many shop owners, including Foreign shop owners, keep on telling:

It does not matter how I treat a customers, Krabi is nice and people will come.

 

Some customers, as read in the OP 60% start seeing the difference in tours and change their plans.

Time to change your service towards customers to keep them coming into your shop, boat, restaurant etc.

 

Those long tailed boats are dreadful outdated pieces of c54p.

 

You forgot to mention all the oil dripping off the engines, the loose planks, no shelter if it rains, the filth left on clothes from whatever stuff they use to maintain the wood, and noisy is not the word, very few have a silencer just a one foot pipe, anchors dropped onto coral, they should all be banned,

 

 

 

[free123]

On 22.2.2017 at 2:36 AM, rudidep said:

Two tiered pricing by private enterprise (especially when using Thai script to hide the Thai prices) is despicable. This is different. Two-tiered pricing is set at all national parks in Thailand, and clearly posted in both English and Thai. I was told that the underlying rationale is that a flat fee to cover the cost of upkeep of the parks would raise the price of a ticket to a level where it would no longer be affordable for the average-income Thai family. Hence low prices for Thai, high prices for Tourists. There some logic to this...whether acceptable or not is a different matter and leave it to the forum to decide. Cheers.

its true a lot of average thais cannot pay high 

[oyster]

On 2/22/2017 at 3:36 PM, chrissables said:

Where, since the new rules were started have you got the Thai price?

Issan

[chrissables]

Just now, oyster said:

Issan

That is a tad vague :)

[oyster]

Just now, chrissables said:

That is a tad vague :)

OK Nakon Phanom

[William C F Pierce]

On 22/02/2017 at 1:36 AM, rudidep said:

Two tiered pricing by private enterprise (especially when using Thai script to hide the Thai prices) is despicable. This is different. Two-tiered pricing is set at all national parks in Thailand, and clearly posted in both English and Thai. I was told that the underlying rationale is that a flat fee to cover the cost of upkeep of the parks would raise the price of a ticket to a level where it would no longer be affordable for the average-income Thai family. Hence low prices for Thai, high prices for Tourists. There some logic to this...whether acceptable or not is a different matter and leave it to the forum to decide. Cheers.

There is one park in the north that charges 100 Baht to both Foreigners and Thais and the onsite restaurant you can get a meal and a drink for 100 Baht. Yes an equal price can and does work. I won't say where it is, because I don't want the authorities spoiling a good thing.