Entry fees into national parks for foreign tourists remain unchanged

[norbra]

Some years ago I went to Ancient City with several Thai, I went to buy admission tickets for all and provided sufficient funds to cover farang fee.

The attendant asked if I had "something" Thai,I showed Thai driving licence and was then charged at the rate for Thais,so some are trying harder to please.

[Wavel]

4 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

The number of foreign tourists boycotting the rip off venues will also remain unchanged, I imagine !

Very unfortunate about the greed of small minded burocrats. That cannot see ripping off foreigners is driving people away from parks. Which directly affects the income of there beloved Thai boat owners & food stall vendors etc. Shame on you!

 

[irwinfc]

the rates remain unchanged alright, still a lot higher than for locals! for those waiting for things to change, wait for your hair to turn blue. even one temple in Chiang Mai charge tourists entrance fees. perhaps some form of involuntary donation. go figure

[Teelak17]

4 hours ago, Raymonddiaz said:

time to boycott these parks..

I always do.

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, catman20 said:

all farangs should boycott.

I've been boycotting all double-pricing venues for the past ten years. I haven't missed them even slightly.

 

 

[colinneil]

28 minutes ago, freebyrd said:

Have to show a passport to get into a national park FOC . What a pathetic excuse for a country TL has become.

No i did not say have to show passport, i showed my passport to prove my age.

I volunteered my passport.

[johng]

5 minutes ago, irwinfc said:

even one temple in Chiang Mai charge tourists entrance fees.

If you mean the "white temple"  then I think you'll find its not really a temple but a private hobby/business.

I wouldn't mind paying 50 baht to go inside.

[Katipo]

I loathe double pricing, but I find the damage to the environment that unregulated and out of control mass tourism brings even more disturbing.

[bandito]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

I would like to see the TAT  put THIS on their tourists pamphlets and brochures

when advertising for Amazing Thailand ? .....

 

Yeah, when pigs start flying.

[Wavel]

I'am English & When i go to parks in the north with my Thai family. I speak Thai at the entrance & often is the case that the staff on the gate get "geng Jai" and will let me in at the Thai price.

[Time Traveller]

1 hour ago, rodney earl said:

They tried to rip me off years ago and did not succeed. I have not been to one since then and I have got no intentions of EVER going to a national park in this country.

Even at 200 I WILL NOT GO.!!!

 

The idea that unimproved scrubland with a barely trickling waterfall as it's attraction filled with hundreds of 20 baht Thais in pick up trucks blaring music and litter everywhere is somehow a "tourist attraction" is laughable. Even if admission was free I wouldn't visit these sad places.

 

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, LukKrueng said:

I think that depends on the normal price. Are there any parks that charge only about 60 cents entry? Of so, I guess tourists wouldn't mind paying $6 or $12 for entry. In Thailand the most I ever paid to use a toilets facilities was 5 thb. In Italy I had to pay 1 euro.

How much did Italians have to pay...

[bandito]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

One thing nobody has mentioned, is over 60 years old get in free.

A while back , before my accident i took my FIL to the fish caves 15 kilometers north of Mae hong son.

I went to pay and the lady said over 60 free, showed my passport and went in free.

 

Must have been a promotion as I am over 80 and still have to pay.

If I am with my extended family I will do, while loudly protesting and I mean LOUD!

[kennw]

53 minutes ago, A Skeptic said:

It's not just tourists. I have lived in Thailand for 10+ years and there was a brief period when I could enter a National Park for only double what a Thai pays. Now it is 10 times, so I just don't go there. The unfair and unreasonableness is that in my 10 years here I have undoubtedly paid more in taxes than the average Thai will in his/her entire lifetime.

So good luck with trying to attract more "quality" tourists. Applying a 10 times pricing factor for "quality tourists" to visit National parks is hardly a sound business principle.  

[Graemej100]

If you did this in New Zealand you'd be up before the courts so fast. Discrimination, of any form, and for any reason, is illegal in New Zealand.

[Graemej100]

27 minutes ago, norbra said:

Some years ago I went to Ancient City with several Thai, I went to buy admission tickets for all and provided sufficient funds to cover farang fee.

The attendant asked if I had "something" Thai,I showed Thai driving licence and was then charged at the rate for Thais,so some are trying harder to please.

 

You are right. Sometimes, if you show your Thai drivers licence you can get into some of these places for the same fee as Thais, but I think you miss the point.

Why are there two fees and why should you have to show ANY identification?

[ironbark]

At around 18AUD for entry to a cave or a small beach makes it expensive even by Australian standards. I have twice now got to a NP and turned around because I thought it was too much.

 

[PatOngo]

No doubt he is blessed by the statues behind him.

 

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, LukKrueng said:

I think that depends on the normal price. Are there any parks that charge only about 60 cents entry? Of so, I guess tourists wouldn't mind paying $6 or $12 for entry. In Thailand the most I ever paid to use a toilets facilities was 5 thb. In Italy I had to pay 1 euro.

It isn't the price, it's the principle. Double pricing in Thailand is racist. If they discounted the entry fee for ALL people who lived locally (regardless of nationality), the elderly, disabled etc I'd have no objection.

 

[Jiggo]

Do the National Parks have a Facebook page, if so you know what to do......

[alex8912]

Where I come from there are many town beaches that are free for residents with a pass but often $20-25USD for out of towners also state beaches are cheaper for in state residents as well. I think national parks are the same for everyone. The only problem with Thai parks I have are that many are not nearly as clean as they should be. Koh samed is just getting gross, I used to go every year. You can sneak in very easily if you are against the higher price for foreigners or after your friend pays he/ she can walk back by the 7/11 and hand you off the park receipt and if it really bothered most tourists ( which it doesn't seem to) a whole system could easily be in place to exchange the receipts with each other. You enter only once no one would know what day you entered if you stay a few days. After I arrive I go back and forth between the 7/11's outside the park and inside and no one asks for ticket ever. How would you know if there was even a fee? The office is off to the left of entering and I always walk up from the boat instead of getting the stupid truck that stops at the office with all the tourists ?

[Elfin]

1 hour ago, Diamondbob said:

Ko Samed national Park is exactly the same.
200 THB for foreign adults and 100 THB for foreign children.
For Thais it's 40 THB for adults and 20 THB for children.

It's ALL about the principle, Land of smiles they say, sure we understand why !!!
Outrages and completely wrong!

I'm over 20 years married with a Thai lady and have 2 children, they all can enter under the Thai rate but the moron asked me to pay the foreign fee, <deleted>!

 

The same thing happened to me last year at Koh Samed and when I politely told the gate keeper my opinion about this he just smiled and told me that he doesn't make the rules. My wife told me off for complaining but my Thai/Aussie daughter got in for 20 baht.

I also had to pay a 30 baht "tax" at a window when I got off the  ferry but none of my family had to!

 No-one enjoys being ripped off.

[chuang]

What's all the huluhulu about....if you don't like the fees then don't go...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know it...no one is forced to visit the parks...

[inalyat]

The moral of the story I believe is, it isn't about race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, rich or poor or country of origin. It is about double standards. Let's get away from saying "but in your country this, or in your country that". We all, no matter where we are from, have some benefits and some losses no matter where we go in this wide world. It should never be a  "us and them" policy, rather? It should, in my opinion, be one price for all, let's face it, after all we are only one race, it's called the HUMN RACE, let's be consistently equal. 

[prakhonchai nick]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

One thing nobody has mentioned, is over 60 years old get in free.

A while back , before my accident i took my FIL to the fish caves 15 kilometers north of Mae hong son.

I went to pay and the lady said over 60 free, showed my passport and went in free.

I think the over 60 Free rule is very selective, and does not as far as I am aware apply to national parks. The Queen Mothers Botanical garden in Chiang Mai is free to over 60s Thai and farang!

[speckio]

they should at least raise the the cost of entry for locals.

[prakhonchai nick]

Some years ago  at Nong Nooch Gardens (somewhere that I had visited many times a year for many years) I was asked by the lad on the gate for 400baht.  He refused to accept I was a resident, and told me to F. OFF or pay!

 

I duly paid, and later in the day went to the office to complain. There I met the owner, a Thanphuying. She was very very angry. called the boy to the office and sacked him on the spot. She assured me that whilst tourists paid more, those living in LOS paid the Thai price. She refunded me the 400baht I had paid, and invited my family and I to their upcoming special Loy Kratong evening function.

 

Not sure what the pricing is these days.

[kannot]

42 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

The idea that unimproved scrubland with a barely trickling waterfall as it's attraction filled with hundreds of 20 baht Thais in pick up trucks blaring music and litter everywhere is somehow a "tourist attraction" is laughable. Even if admission was free I wouldn't visit these sad places.

 

surely  you  mean "poor Thais in their new pickups"

[kannot]

1 minute ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Some years ago  at Nong Nooch Gardens (somewhere that I had visited many times a year for many years) I was asked by the lad on the gate for 400baht.  He refused to accept I was a resident, and told me to F. OFF or pay!

 

I duly paid, and later in the day went to the office to complain. There I met the owner, a Thanphuying. She was very very angry. called the boy to the office and sacked him on the spot. She assured me that whilst tourists paid more, those living in LOS paid the Thai price. She refunded me the 400baht I had paid, and invited my family and I to their upcoming special Loy Kratong evening function.

 

Not sure what the pricing is these days.

These are the very few decent  Thais I like, ps  Nong  Nooch great place go as often as I can

[exalll]

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Thai tourists get park benefits equal to Foreign tourists. But foreign tourists pay more.

That's discriminatory.

The Park service could equalize the differential by giving foreign tourists additional non-cash benefits without lowering fees for foreign tourists. Just to brainstorm: discount cards at major stores, state-owned transportation; free park re-entries; discount for paid park activities; entry discounts at other national parks.

In any case, proceeds from tourists should not be used to benefit tourists.  What were the parks created for? Tourists?  No!  The proceeds should be used for conservation of wildlife.