Entry fees into national parks for foreign tourists remain unchanged

[kowpot]

My wife went into Watsons  Pharmacy today.  She bought hair coloring that was advertised , buy one and get one for 1 baht. I am sure some of you have seen them do this. 

  Well anyway, when she went to the cashier to pay. The girl asked if she had a Thai ID card.  Of course she did, but asked why?   The girl said, it was so she could get the buy one , get one for 1 baht offer. 

 Now this is advertised on display in plain sight throughout the store.  But, apparently only Thais receive this offer. 

 This was at Watson in Tesco Lotus, Khon Kaen. The one just past Home Pro on Mittraphap  Rd.

[MikeN]

4 hours 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.

At Khon Kaen Zoo they have a big sign in Thai and English listing prices, and discounts for over 60s, handicapped, under 5s, etc ....when I asked for the over 60s price I was told "No, only for Thais" .....Uh, so why have the sign in English ? Idiots. AND they refused to give the discount to a handicapped THAI person in our group !

[hawker9000]

7 minutes ago, MikeN said:

At Khon Kaen Zoo they have a big sign in Thai and English listing prices, and discounts for over 60s, handicapped, under 5s, etc ....when I asked for the over 60s price I was told "No, only for Thais" .....Uh, so why have the sign in English ? Idiots. AND they refused to give the discount to a handicapped THAI person in our group !

Wow.  How Thailand has changed in 30 years.  'Really WAS a LOS back then.  Maybe it still is way out in the sticks somewhere.

[jimster]

4 hours 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 thought free entry for 60s and over is only for Thais. You got in for free as an exception, but I have been to national parks with foreign visitors well over 60 and they still had to pay.

[JonnyF]

23 minutes ago, kowpot said:

My wife went into Watsons  Pharmacy today.  She bought hair coloring that was advertised , buy one and get one for 1 baht. I am sure some of you have seen them do this. 

  Well anyway, when she went to the cashier to pay. The girl asked if she had a Thai ID card.  Of course she did, but asked why?   The girl said, it was so she could get the buy one , get one for 1 baht offer. 

 Now this is advertised on display in plain sight throughout the store.  But, apparently only Thais receive this offer. 

 This was at Watson in Tesco Lotus, Khon Kaen. The one just past Home Pro on Mittraphap  Rd.

This is great news for farang supporters of double pricing. They should get down there quick, as soon as the cashier has taken their money and stopped laughing at them they can start boasting on ThaiVisa about how they just got ripped off, but they don't care because they are so rich and it was only 'a few beers'.

[laocowboy2]

5 hours 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.

But do those on the gates know? I am 65 and it didn't work for me.

[colinneil]

2 minutes ago, laocowboy2 said:

But do those on the gates know? I am 65 and it didn't work for me.

I am only stating my own experience, i was told over 60 free Thai and farang.

[alex8912]

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Does residents encompass foreign nationals who live locally?

Yes. In Massachusetts a Thai national can buy a house in a seaside town and purchase (for a reasonable price) a yearly beach pass. A Thai can also rent a house in the same town and get a pass as well. But a Thai living in another town still has to pay $20-25 to get in 

I do however get the point of your question hence my answer.  

Even though this topic is quite over done my true feeling is I just look at the price of the entrance fee and if it's 200 baht that is about 4.6 British Pounds. I also know Thailand is not Britain  but there are more poorer Thais that can barely afford 20 or 40 baht than British that can't. It's a tough life out here in Thailand ville and if some posters want to rant and rave all day about double pricing so be it!  They would probably not go if the price was the same and I truly believe this. Many posters never get off their butts and key boards all day and don't experience Thailand. Part of experiencing it is visiting the nice national parks from north to south and enjoying them with friends and family. Once yah do that a few times the 4.6 pounds seems okay!  Cheers 

[alex8912]

1 hour ago, MartinL said:

... and I'd bet that your 'local host' could have been Mexican, Chinese, Swedish or any other nationality -  not only a US Citizen - if they lived in the locality.

Exactly and this always comes up Disneyland and univ studios. It's because the town residents had to put up with the construction of these things and live every day of the week with the traffic!!  How moronic posters who post this fact every time when this thread comes up is insane. It's not the same.  But I still don't care about double pricing. Just sneak in if yah want. My post above about beaches in the USA is the same Thais living in the towns can get a pass for cheap or free. 

[fruitman]

9 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

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

One day i went to koh samet in a group of thai..we chartered a boat and let him drop us right infront of the resort. We didn't pass that paybooth so didn't have to pay.

 

 

[alex8912]

Go to nang rung beach everybody pays 20baht. Ther place is some Thais tons of Russians and me and my friends!! It goes to show Thailand offers a nice clean beach , everybody pays 20 baht and there are basically never any old falang Thai Visa posters around!!  It's great wouldn't want to see yah anyways. Except for the handful of cool ? ones. 

[mettech]

I suppose if any of us would send this story to a social sight and disclose the matter it would at least provide valuable info for future tourist wanted to go visit the national park.

I watched NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ON THE TV IT IS FREE,

[Itsnottheplaceitwas]

9 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

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

 

7 hours ago, catman20 said:

all farangs should boycott.

And advise incoming farangs the same ! 

On post on Trip advisor the real truth instead of those 15-20 year old photos that trick everyone ! 

 

and while your at Mrs May how about start charging wealthy Thais buying up London 10x the entrance fees to our tourist attractions rather than your free entrance fees for tourist attractions no doubt another Blair balls up that one day will haunt us 

[Bluespunk]

38 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

Yes. In Massachusetts a Thai national can buy a house in a seaside town and purchase (for a reasonable price) a yearly beach pass. A Thai can also rent a house in the same town and get a pass as well. But a Thai living in another town still has to pay $20-25 to get in 

I do however get the point of your question hence my answer.  

Even though this topic is quite over done my true feeling is I just look at the price of the entrance fee and if it's 200 baht that is about 4.6 British Pounds. I also know Thailand is not Britain  but there are more poorer Thais that can barely afford 20 or 40 baht than British that can't. It's a tough life out here in Thailand ville and if some posters want to rant and rave all day about double pricing so be it!  They would probably not go if the price was the same and I truly believe this. Many posters never get off their butts and key boards all day and don't experience Thailand. Part of experiencing it is visiting the nice national parks from north to south and enjoying them with friends and family. Once yah do that a few times the 4.6 pounds seems okay!  Cheers 

It's not just the national parks. It's in a lot of the city/mall attractions as well.

 

One price for all or I don't go.

 

It's discrimination.

 

I'm not calling for price rises that Thai's can't afford.

 

Just one price regardless of nationality.

[wvavin]

Its all about collective effort but I doubt it works.

[jimster]

1 hour ago, fruitman said:

One day i went to koh samet in a group of thai..we chartered a boat and let him drop us right infront of the resort. We didn't pass that paybooth so didn't have to pay.

 

 

I didn't know Thais had to pay at all. I've been to Koh Samet a few times and Thais never had to pay. I always managed to sneak past and not pay either, pretending to have already been on the island for a few days - the trick is not to carry your luggage as you walk past the booth where they collect the entrance fee - get a Thai to do it and make sure you don't walk anywhere near them. Maybe that has now changed.

[Itsnottheplaceitwas]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

It's not just the national parks. It's in a lot of the city/mall attractions as well.

 

One price for all or I don't go.

 

It's discrimination.

 

I'm not calling for price rises that Thai's can't afford.

 

Just one price regardless of nationality.

 

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

It's not just the national parks. It's in a lot of the city/mall attractions as well.

 

One price for all or I don't go.

 

It's discrimination.

 

I'm not calling for price rises that Thai's can't afford.

 

Just one price regardless of nationality.

FYI 

I've pretty much covered all of Thailand in 14 years and by bus not plane or train & with very poor Thais & back in the day there were 2 prices 

bus with AC or without I took the later everytime 

& rooms @250b with fan only 

not because I am tight 

because I wanted to 

 

in fact sleeping on the floor in mukdahan area 10 yrs ago was better than the peninsula Bkk 1 night to finish that trip off before flying home 

far better memories 

 

and from top to bottom east to west 

there's always double pricing from a coconut to a Phuket zoo 

 

there are more rich Thais in Phuket & Bkk now than ever before & far richer than I ever will be 

sorry it's not fair & taking the Pi...

 

when end they go overseas are they charged 4x a local ? No 

 

infact in the UK they sponge more off us than most 

[Foozool]

4 hours ago, khunPer said:

There will be plenty of farangs – i.e. tourists – gladly paying as little as $11 or 10€ in entrance fee; the "poor" expats staying away cannot make-it-up for a difference in-low-to-no-fee for all, compared to tourist's willing to pay the asked for...

I believe that even tourists could see the problem otherwise there would not be any complain by boat operators that indicated "tourists refuse to pay the farang fee" and this is killing our business.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, MikeN said:

I thought that Bangkok Sealife was just copying the Sydney logo, you know, "thainess", but after reading your comment I checked and apparently the Merlin Entertainment Group ( http://www.merlinentertainments.biz/) owns both, and according to Wikipedia ... "Merlin Entertainments is a British-based company headquartered in Poole, Dorset (England), which operates 127 attractions, 19 hotels and 7 holiday villages in 24 countries."

Those attractions range from the Falls Creek and Mt Hotham ski resorts in Australia, various Legolands and Madame Taussauds around the world, and even the Blackpool tower. It is a publicly listed company on the British stockmarket, so If anybody has any shares in them they could always go to the AGM and ask why they practice racial discrimination ! Do they have special prices for Thais at the Blackpool tower, or Madame Taussauds in London ? I bet not !

And actually, looking at the Sealife Bangkok website it is triple pricing....the sign at Siam Paragon just has different 2 prices in Thai and English but according to the website tickets bought online for Thais and expats (must show work permit/license/Thai ATM card/utility bill) are 440baht, for foreigners they are 890 baht, for Chinese 1100.50 baht (charged in US$)

Thanks for the correction re UK. I go to bed wiser than when i woke up, always a good thing.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Foozool said:

I believe that even tourists could see the problem otherwise there would not be any complain by boat operators that indicated "tourists refuse to pay the farang fee" and this is killing our business.

Even number of tourists are cut by 50% to half, it will still be same income as half entrance fee full number of tourist paying half entrance fee; but less strain on the area.

Could it be, that there are too many boat operators, and a slightly declining number of tourists, as Phi Phi is already overcrowded and nothing like the "originally impression" frem The Beach..?

[Itsnottheplaceitwas]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Thanks for the correction re UK. I go to bed wiser than when i woke up, always a good thing.

And there's another 1 

ATM charges of £5 GBP to take out 1000thb to 10,000 

 

Watch out for 

coffee shops now charging +++ 

 

when do they stop pulling your pants down here ! 

[superdome]

Typical thai mentality...tourist numbers going down are they????...wait till i get home & post on media...soon will go down

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[Gonefortea]

I for one will carry on frequenting the parks.

[sead]

Milk the cow as long as you can

Sent from my LG-H815 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[realenglish1]

Well guess what I choose not to go with fees so high

You can do many other things with that type of money A family of four has to pay 1'200 baht with 2 children

For that price you can go to the Zoo or other venue that is good

 

I am not missing anything And I chose not to be hosed by the rates

 

I would love to see the American Government start to charge Non Americans double at the National Parks

Outrageous

 

You and I both know that money is not going to improve the parks

[mcdiver]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phu_Kradueng_National_Park

phu kradueng is 40thb for thai, 400thb for foreigner. only 10 times more

[jackinthebox]

10 hours ago, dictater said:

It's really disappointing to read this article and not have the issue addressed at all, or even a reason given for it. Two Tier pricing exists all over Thailand and when the government does it here, and on the railway system, and the government bus system how can we expect shop owners etc... to do otherwise?  

Have you really experienced that? Two Tier pricing at government bus system or railway system? Because public transportation (ie. Bangkok BMTA Bus, Inter-provincial-bus (BohKorSoh) and Train is the only business where you DON'T get screwed IMHO. Same price for all.

[au82tiger]

If I encounter that discriminatory pricing, I just don't go.  While I was teaching, I took some Thai Children on a school bus to a museum.  When the person collecting for admission tried to charge me the "Farang price", I had all of the children get back on the bus and we left the museum.

[Itsnottheplaceitwas]

7 minutes ago, au82tiger said:

If I encounter that discriminatory pricing, I just don't go.  While I was teaching, I took some Thai Children on a school bus to a museum.  When the person collecting for admission tried to charge me the "Farang price", I had all of the children get back on the bus and we left the museum.

I like your stand ! I've done similar the look was priceless 

& again only today it's the only way to keep giving in just means constant shafting 

[FarangJon]

 Nothing will change because most of the entry fees disappears in the bag of
Mr Tunya Netithammakul  and should remain so in the future.
Willommen LOS. Land of SCAM.