Thailand to collect 400-baht national park entrance fee from foreign visitors

[yogi100]

7 minutes ago, kowpot said:

Apparently some of you have never been to a Nat'l park here.  They don't challenge Lations, Vietnamese, or Filipinos for that matter. If they give the money to a Thai to pay for them,  they are never questioned.  It is because they can pass for Thai's.  Now if a Western Round Eye tries that,   they will be challenged and ultimately charged the higher rate.  NOW,  that Is racism. You are being judged by the way you look.  Racism pure and simple.

 

What happens if they don't or can't give their money to a Thai to pay for them, can't speak Thai and are therefore possibly unable to pass as Thai? 

 

As a fellow who is apparently familiar with National Parks would they then still get in for the same price as a Thai person or would they be required to pay the foreigner's rate?

 

[xtrnuno41]

Well what is new? I was in Indonesia 2004 borobudur. left side was for foreigner, pay more and come into a cooled glass house where you can sign,

the visitors book and sit down for a while if you please ???!! And they controll you to that left side. Right side was Indonesian, just a little ticket office and pay less.

So its not a miracle you have the same in Thailand or slightly different (price) coz you are in front of same ticket office. Saves another ticketoffice

[yogi100]

29 minutes ago, kowpot said:

Apparently some of you have never been to a Nat'l park here.  They don't challenge Lations, Vietnamese, or Filipinos for that matter. If they give the money to a Thai to pay for them,  they are never questioned.  It is because they can pass for Thai's.  Now if a Western Round Eye tries that,   they will be challenged and ultimately charged the higher rate.  NOW,  that Is racism. You are being judged by the way you look.  Racism pure and simple.

 

If they discover that these Lations, Vietnamese, or Filipinos are not actually Thai they will charge them the foreigners rate which kicks your pure and simple racism theory into the long grass does it not?

[anon4637435435]

21 minutes ago, DavidOxon said:

After spitting my dummy at Lampang Elephant hospital last year I always try to clarify pricing before leaving home. Any Thai family who go with me go on the strict understanding that if there's double pricing, then we ALL leave

I do exactly the same thing. I take my thai family and there extended family everywhere. Double pricing means we all go elsewhere and i dont encourage it. My thai family boycott it themselves and theres typically a screaming match to follow.

[Mook23]

Look majority of thai think eur is worth 35x thb so europens are 35x richer than thai. These little minds can't even understand what currency rates mean. The schools don't intend to educate the thai. Imagine the serfs find out that a large Leo here is costing more than equivalent beer/lager in Western European countries where average income is 4-5x thai salaries. 

[cyberfarang]

9 hours ago, Psimbo said:

Its not double pricing- its DUAL pricing. 400 baht is not exactly extortionate. Considering the income of most foreign visitors is at least ten times that of Thais what's the issue so long as it is clearly publicised. I get the feeling its the 7/11 drinkers who take exception to this.

 

Just to annoy you even more I can get into Doi Inthanon without paying and its perfectly legal.

 

UK National parks are free but expensive to park in, Canadian National parks have free entry but slap on all sorts of fees and a person visiting Yellowstone Park pays 15 bucks (35 for a car) as a comparison. 

You have a totally wrong attitude and probably don`t realise it.

 

It`s always been an experiment as to how tightly they came squeeze the golden goose. Not until they kill the golden goose completely will they begin reviewing the situation. The solution is in one word; boycott. But when they are receiving the; that`s fine, messages from those with the same opinions are yourself, then the sky`s going to be the limits with them. I have not visited those places for years and have no intentions to do so in the future.

[The Deerhunter]

15 hours ago, garyk said:

That is more than I pay to get into the parks in America. And they have clean restrooms, hot showers. And no trash everywhere.

 

Ask yourself;  "How much are Vietnamese national parks charging?"  There is your competition!  

In my own little backward country national parks are free to everyone.   Once inside a few parks where entry is still free, there may be accommodation or hut fees, campsite or caravan park  charges, or any other special facilities which might be charged to ANY user     And I am not talking about picnic tables or toilets.

 

For heaven's sake dump this stupid idea before word gets around.    Twenty baht a person is still over 800 - 900 baht for each bus-load of Chinese tourists or, at least 2 days wages to each park employee.   Enforce that on everyone , Thais and all, and audit it.   Make sure IT ALL goes into the correct coffers and be grateful for it.  This level of outrageous greed is not justified for the dirty and inadequate state of the facilities usually available.  The people would be better off to skip the national parks go only to private theme parks.  At least most of them have clean toilets and empty their rubbish bins regularly.  This is just brainless, short-sighted avarice at its worst.

 

PS Psimbo, it is 20 times the Thai rate x not 10x.  Most Chinese (the most populous tourists) do not earn 10, let alone 20 time the usual Thai wage rate.

Edited March 6, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[Orac]

After spitting my dummy at Lampang Elephant hospital last year I always try to clarify pricing before leaving home. Any Thai family who go with me go on the strict understanding that if there's double pricing, then we ALL leave

To be fair, if you have your own elephant I think it is only fair that you should get the Thai price.

[RoyDee]

15 hours ago, kannot said:

Wife is down in Krabi at the moment  with two Farang friends  (Tourists) she was  appalled that not  only was the park 40 baht Thais ,400 for  farangs but  many restaurants also had higher prices for farangs in fact she went in sat down and asked for for four dishes the same and was told farang is 80 baht Thai is 60 baht, she told  em where to stick it and they dropped the farang price to the Thai price. Everything in Krabi has been inflated for Farangs, theyre  just greedy  little shites.

 

Yes! My Thai wife is the same. If she feels injustice, she speaks out loudly. (cannot repeat her words here). We do not venture into so-called "National Parks" any more. There are interesting places to visit with nice Thai people. But, for mass and crass tourism. it works.

[chopin2]

13 hours ago, catman20 said:

vote with your feet.i will not be going to any national park or beaches. all farangs need to stick together and do the same.

Just add this one to all the other rip offs and scams.

[straylight]

What those with permanent residence and should have all the same rights as Thais except to vote or own land?

[kowpot]

1 hour ago, yogi100 said:

 

What happens if they don't or can't give their money to a Thai to pay for them, can't speak Thai and are therefore possibly unable to pass as Thai? 

 

As a fellow who is apparently familiar with National Parks would they then still get in for the same price as a Thai person or would they be required to pay the foreigner's rate?

 

Laotians obviously won't have much a problem, especially in the north of the country. Have talked to filipino english teachers and they don't seem to have a problem either.  

[smudger1951]

Well, it's only a ten times mark-up. !  I do often wonder what would happen back in the UK if we treated incomers and holiday makers like this. Sometime ago I was with a thai lady when she was browsing for a new dress/shirt. The vendor tried to inflate the price when she saw me. Happens everywhere. Amazing Thailand !!

[tomacht8]

Can not go to the parks with my Thai family.
If they see that I pay 10 times the entrance fee, I would lose my face.
They would think  i am stupid.

[Jimbo1964]

Never been and never will as I don't like getting ripped off by anyone. Bad enough the immigration dept and BiB constantly try it

[Nerone]

17 hours ago, Thailand said:

My guests were given the option of paying double pricing, that has now gone unless they decide to make their own way which is highly unlikely.

 

Also just heard that visitors from HK now need to carry 5K HKD cash  ( About 25,000THB) to enter the illustrious kingdom. They really do need to have a complete rethink of the current " lets try and piss off tourists" approach.

The shit they got with Hong Kong is justified. The only right thing perhaps...

[bangrak]

When 'double pricing' is some part of Thainess which cannot be avoided, well, so be it then. BUT, dear Ministers, Officials, TAT, and the whole flock of 'well fed' mandarins in your ivory towers, are you, really, not able to 'think outside the frame', in a positive way for the country you are supposed to serve...?

Say 400 for an (adult) non-Thai visitor, OK! BUT include the choice between a (decent quality!) T-shirt (real sizes!), scarf, baseball cap, ...hard-cover picture book including maps (bilingual!), which will cost you like 100. Present the Thai visitors with the opportunity to buy the same, on top of their reduced fee though(!), for 250 f.i., and advertise it on large (bilingual!) posters.

Outside of the fact quite some Thais might actually buy some items, towards the non-Thais it would not look like a rip-off anymore, and probably a lot would wear/use the item they chose later on, providing you with free advertising for your park and so!

Or how to turn an anti-productive measure into a positive one... But I'm not Thai. The odds are...  

[Notadoctor]

7 hours ago, yogi100 said:

Thailand is a country that is run on a nationalist basis or system. None of us falangs have any experience of it in our own countries but in Asia it very common. Thailand, Japan and South Korea are just three Asian nations that don't accept immigrants and run their countries for their own benefit.

 

The Thais charge us 400 baht to enter a park only if we're daft enough to pay it but their own people get a discount. It's how the British National Health Service should be run but it's not and that's why it's said to be on its knees.

 

We should also bear in mind that many Thais only get 300 baht a day working all day long in the heat doing hard manual work. Englishmen get nearly twice that amount on the dole and at least 10 times as much doing similar manual work. A British tradesman can get 7000 baht a day which is 20 times that of a Thai workman! It's the same with Aussie and American workers and benefit claimants. Our professional people are even better off in comparison. I for one don't see what all the fuss is about.

These arguments are all actually quite irrelevant to the gist of this thread...incomes and immigration have no bearing on the matter and it has been shown that the principle of charging a blnjet rate 10 times in excess of the base rate has no benefits for the financing of the park....it does however increase the likelihood of corruption..

As for salaries...in high income countries the national parks tend to be FREE  which again seems to go against any notion of rich therefor pay theory

Edited March 6, 2017 by Notadoctor

[Notadoctor]

7 hours ago, tominbkk said:

Best to avoid all parks. Would be. I've to start an embargo on parks by foreigners. When the cash stops flowing they might get smart.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

You're  making the assumption that the high prices paid by foreigners makes a difference to park finances...they don't.

[Gydur]

This is illegal discrimination of foreigners! Thailand has signed treaties with other countries that prohibit such unfair treatment...and I will report the country...

[kannot]

8 hours ago, yogi100 said:

 

What happens if they don't or can't give their money to a Thai to pay for them, can't speak Thai and are therefore possibly unable to pass as Thai? 

 

As a fellow who is apparently familiar with National Parks would they then still get in for the same price as a Thai person or would they be required to pay the foreigner's rate?

 

My Staff are Karen (  hill tribe) he earns less than Thais the reason stated by  most Thais is  cited is "Farang earn more money", he still gets in at the Thai price  if accompanied by my  Wife, on his own I dont know but he does speak Thai an d looks  Thai and Id  pretty  much be sure he'd  get in at the Thai price unless asked for Id..........I sit and  wait  in the car or  play them at their own stupid game and being as  many are lazy and go home at 5 but disappear at 4.30 just walk in at 5pm....no one there, you can see all the caves at Sam Roi Yot  like that just bring your own torch and be prepared for a death trap of a  cave  walk with worn out old hand rails dodgy ropes etc.......top tip of the day

[kannot]

13 hours ago, Mook23 said:

Guys guys dont get too upset. This is country ruled by small minded people who believe in ghosts and amulets. What did you expect? The best part remains that so many foreigners MARRY these people. Much more striking than paying 400thb for a NP. 555

I suspect that underneath all the fear ( Thailands  run on fear)  there are some pretty decent  Thais  who are simply unable to speak out about the state of their dictatorship country

[janejira]

Perhaps I can use this as support with my HR here that I should in fact be making 10 times the salary of my Thai peers.

[jacko45k]

They won't be collecting it from this one......

[maoro2013]

22 hours ago, Artisi said:

you farang, you pay more. 

Yep I think we all have the same take on this, not "tourist" but "farang"

[gemguy]

Time to boycott the place....and it can be done...oh yes it can....lol

[selftaopath]

23 hours ago, chivo said:

I'd love to open a restaurant in America and if a hi-so visitor from Thailand came in, I'd surprise them with a bill that was double the menu prices. When they called it out I'd explain that they're rich enough to travel overseas, therefore richer than the average American, so they should pay. 

;-)

I certainly think we should treat Thais similar to how they treat us. I would also deny them the ability to purchase land/house in a foreign country e.g. America. Why don't we?  I'm not saying it's "right" but fair play and all that....

[Shawn0000]

13 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Read the post. I was WORKING in India, not taking a holiday.

Regardless, my opinion, to which I am entitled, regardless of whether you agree with it, is that charging inflated prices for the same product or service, based on ethnicity is wrong.

Most of the posters on this forum agree with me. You can keep banging the drum, but you seem to be very much in the minority.

I will not take the bait for any more of your trollish posting, so save yourself the next post.

 

Based on ethnicity, what?  Is that what you think it takes to gain citizenship?  Hilarious!

[Shawn0000]

3 hours ago, kannot said:

My Staff are Karen (  hill tribe) he earns less than Thais the reason stated by  most Thais is  cited is "Farang earn more money", he still gets in at the Thai price  if accompanied by my  Wife, on his own I dont know but he does speak Thai an d looks  Thai and Id  pretty  much be sure he'd  get in at the Thai price unless asked for Id..........I sit and  wait  in the car or  play them at their own stupid game and being as  many are lazy and go home at 5 but disappear at 4.30 just walk in at 5pm....no one there, you can see all the caves at Sam Roi Yot  like that just bring your own torch and be prepared for a death trap of a  cave  walk with worn out old hand rails dodgy ropes etc.......top tip of the day

 

If you think that is a death trap you must be used to having your hand held, the whole route is a well made path with steps, I see many older ladies walking it without problems.  Sneak in after dark if you have to, I am sure your battle is well worth fighting for, its not like you enjoy the national park and like they struggle to finance the upkeep, is it?

[Pattaya28]

Notice the word "safety" creeps in. 

 

A "Health and Safety" executive