News Forum - Thailand to charge foreign arrivals 500 baht “tourism fee” from next year

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I get your point

And I think you always seem rational, even with your critiques 

Do I agree that is may be ill-timed ?

Well, I would if it weren't just an extra $15usd

I just can't be concerned about $15usd

I mean look at some of the comments?

"This is the nail in the coffin"

I mean, come on.....

Someone is saying that about $15usd????

That's just absurd, no matter the principle 

I agree some people do go a little too far, but that seems normal these days. Everything is a disaster or a crisis in the media, so why not this forum .
 

It isn’t a lot of money and even a family of 4 would only pay $60. It’s interesting that today, the President of the Thai hotels association has come out and questioned the timing of this move. I guess it’s like many political moves, timing is everything. Mind you, they say that about comedy. You have to wonder which one this government is best at! 

[Soidog]

4 hours ago, Bob20 said:

Thailand is in for a rude awakening when TAT's figures aren't realised (as always).

Every new bump or barrier will limit more people from choosing Thailand as their holiday destination.

It's not the few baht. It's the arrogance to do it immediately after everyone has suffered and while it's already difficult enough to make it over here.

People have always gone on holiday to enjoy themselves carefree after working and saving. And after Covid I believe that is even more important. Travelers will be more selective.

My opinion.

I note even the Bank of Thailand has come out and said they think 10 million tourists TAT forecast next year will likely be 6 million. Unless they scrap the Additional insurance and COE process, they will be lucky to get 3 million. I do think the tourism market is adopting to the “new normal” (what a term that is!). People are realising that if they want to travel, then there are going to be hoops. As a result, people may decide that if they need a PCR test and some extra health cover to visit a particular country , then why not Thailand. My concern for Thailand or the tourists going there, is the mindset and tone this charge shows and instils . We are likely to see additional hotel charges, restaurants and bars and other attractions hiking prices. Maybe Soi 6 will start an entrance charge

[Fluke]

6 minutes ago, Soidog said:

I
 

It isn’t a lot of money and even a family of 4 would only pay $60. 

And also 800 Baht departure tax and 1900 Baht for a visa .

US$ 100 per person, $400 for a family of four in taxes

[Bob20]

2 minutes ago, Soidog said:

I note even the Bank of Thailand has come out and said they think 10 million tourists TAT forecast next year will likely be 6 million. Unless they scrap the Additional insurance and COE process, they will be lucky to get 3 million. I do think the tourism market is adopting to the “new normal” (what a term that is!). People are realising that if they want to travel, then there are going to be hoops. As a result, people may decide that if they need a PCR test and some extra health cover to visit a particular country , then why not Thailand. My concern for Thailand or the tourists going there, is the mindset and tone this charge shows and instils . We are likely to see additional hotel charges, restaurants and bars and other attractions hiking prices. Maybe Soi 6 will start an entrance charge

I just read in BP that even the Thai Hotel Association doesn't condone the charge. Also, I now see that the "fund" will be setup with the money as a "co-payment fund". So only businesses that pay into it as well will be able to benefit. That's limited to a small selection, as the other ones have no money left...

I still think that Thailand should jab all they can, and when it's reasonably safe and can be done responsibly, open up with as little threshold as possible.

You can make a selection when you're in a position of luxury. Not when you need all the help you can get.

[Poolie]

4 minutes ago, Fluke said:

And also 800 Baht departure tax and 1900 Baht for a visa .

US$ 100 per person, $400 for a family of four in taxes

Of course, and what about familes of six, eight?

'Cos there's loads of families visit Thailand. Few that I've ever seen but there must be. The general intelligentsia say so.

[Soidog]

2 minutes ago, Fluke said:

And also 800 Baht departure tax and 1900 Baht for a visa .

US$ 100 per person, $400 for a family of four in taxes

Yes I agree. And any additional charge may be the one that makes people think it’s too much. However, many countries can still use Tourist visa exemption for 30 days and I think the departure tax is a normal charge in most places.

Overall, the main issues here for me are:

The timing of this announcement is utterly ridiculous. You have to be a blithering idiot or hellbent on stopping tourism to make this announcement now. 

Secondly, this charge was already added to the ticket price back in 2007 (maybe 2008?).  This feels like the same charge to me being added again on the basis most new travellers are unaware. Now I may be wrong about that. I never saw the justification for the original 500 baht tax that was physically collected  at the airport. However, I’m fairly sure it was a “tourism tax”?  I would also say, that was just a terrible way to do it back then. Most people had already got rid of their last few baht apart from enough to buy a drink at the airport. You then arrived and they cleaned you out. It left people feeling it was the final clear out of your wallet prior to boarding in a plane. I saw many an argument in those days

[Fluke]

15 minutes ago, Poolie said:

Of course, and what about familes of six, eight?

'Cos there's loads of families visit Thailand. Few that I've ever seen but there must be. The general intelligentsia say so.

I quite often see Families of tourists out and about 

[Poolie]

27 minutes ago, Fluke said:

I quite often see Families of tourists out and about 

No doubt there is. I just don't see them. Maybe in Bangkok.

[Rip255]

Its only 500bt. Heaven forbid you actually make a monetary contribution to society somewhere other than a sleazy bar. Wouldnt hurt half of you zero shower barflys to invest in some personal hygeine products either. 

Its hardly going to break the bank. 

I swear the old boys on this forum are as stingey as they are cynical. 

 

 

[DiJoDavO]

Charge a tourist fee? They are literally going full force doing everything they can to keep tourists out, isn't it? 

Now I need to bring my work permit and explain to multiple people I'm not a tourist before I can pass through without paying the fee. Nice for the people behind me in line. Saves a lot of time IF the airport will be full again. But with this news I doubt it. 

I thought the tourist fee was calculated into all the prices from all the attractions already.... 

[DiJoDavO]

9 minutes ago, Rip255 said:

Its only 500bt. Heaven forbid you actually make a monetary contribution to society somewhere other than a sleazy bar. Wouldnt hurt half of you zero shower barflys to invest in some personal hygeine products either. 

Its hardly going to break the bank. 

I swear the old boys on this forum are as stingey as they are cynical. 

Not everyone is like that man. Idk how long you live here, but when you have to pay 500 THB while your wife and kids can get in for free, while you live here for +10 years.... If you like to be treated like that.... Well, it's your choice. 

There are people living here for +10 years who do a lot to contribute to society, and still get treated like this.

I might be able to get away with it, showing my work permit from years ago, but it's mentally shitty to be treated this way. Because no matter if I show it or not, they will try. 

[poohy]

10 minutes ago, Rip255 said:

Its only 500bt. Heaven forbid you actually make a monetary contribution to society somewhere other than a sleazy bar. Wouldnt hurt half of you zero shower barflys to invest in some personal hygeine products either. 

Its hardly going to break the bank. 

I swear the old boys on this forum are as stingey as they are cynical. 

it works out at around 11.50 GBP!

If you want to throw a tenner and a bit to make a  monetary contribution too exactly what?! ( i doubt it will make much difference to any poor or needy after its been processed by the Mercedes toting government )

Yes 23 years here, call me cynical 

[Poolie]

6 minutes ago, DiJoDavO said:

who do a lot to contribute to society

No, they dont. It's been proven. It just sounds good.

[DiJoDavO]

14 minutes ago, Poolie said:

No, they dont. It's been proven. It just sounds good.

Idk what you are talking about. Maybe you and the people you know don't contribute to society. 

But to say this about others is a bit ridiculous. So you put me into that basket too. It's not a very thoughtful comment you made there. 

Yes, there are people only hanging out in bars etc. but there are people who actually live here, pay tax already, even do donations, do charity work. You maybe underestimate how many foreigners live here and actually do such things. 

This rule is totally inconvenient except for the people who receive this money. Sadly enough it will probably stay too, because they know tourists are like, WOW 3000 THB for a taxi? That's cheap af!!! Let's pay without asking anything else! So 500 THB at the airport wouldn't be a problem. FOR THEM, yes. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by DiJoDavO
.

[Poolie]

35 minutes ago, DiJoDavO said:

Idk what you are talking about. Maybe you and the people you know don't contribute to society. 

But to say this about others is a bit ridiculous. So you put me into that basket too. It's not a very thoughtful comment you made there. 

Yes, there are people only hanging out in bars etc. but there are people who actually live here, pay tax already, even do donations, do charity work. You maybe underestimate how many foreigners live here and actually do such things. 

This rule is totally inconvenient except for the people who receive this money. Sadly enough it will probably stay too, because they know tourists are like, WOW 3000 THB for a taxi? That's cheap af!!! Let's pay without asking anything else! So 500 THB at the airport wouldn't be a problem. FOR THEM, yes. 

So how many full time residents among the, lets say, farang, diaspora now?

It was proven a while back, maybe two years. It came to less than 1% of the Thailand GDP. The residents were much more numerous then and the GDP was more fluid.

There wasn't a lot of thought went into the comment, there was no need. It was verbatim.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Faz
reference to a place removed

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, poohy said:

it works out at around 11.50 GBP!

If you want to throw a tenner and a bit to make a  monetary contribution too exactly what?! ( i doubt it will make much difference to any poor or needy after its been processed by the Mercedes toting government )

Yes 23 years here, call me cynical 

I think that’s something I see with this forum. It seems to consists of those who have lived in Thailand a long time or use to visiting for months at a time, and those who are tourists for 2-4 weeks maybe a couple of times a year. I fall in to the former category, and while £12 is not a whole lot of money to me or many other foreigners, it’s tedious to be treated in such a way month in and month out. 
 

Speaking Thai and having Thai friends certainly helps you integrate. As does having working in Thailand. But you are never going to be Thai. You see some foreigners who will even wear the clothes of a Thai, claim to love Pla sauce and even find “somtam not that spicy”.. but it doesn’t matter. You are still the foreigner and still the Farang. It doesn’t matter so much when you are just on holiday. It gets tiresome after a while and I think that’s where the cynicism and negativity creeps in. That’s why I enjoy what I do. 3-4 month 2 or 3 times a year with a gap of around 6-8 weeks back “home”. It resets the mind and actually makes you appreciate Thailand and home far more.
 

Those who are long timers should not get too frustrated with the guys who are more short term visitors and vice versa. Of course not everyone falls nicely in to either camp.
 

Enjoy Thailand for what it can offer you and don’t expect too much. My advice  however is to always keep a lifeline back home. You never know when the situation could change …. 

[poohy]

2 hours ago, Soidog said:

Enjoy Thailand for what it can offer you and don’t expect too much. My advice  however is to always keep a lifeline back home. You never know when the situation could change …. 

Throughly Agree was in travel industry for many years so thailand was just a base now retired in paradise area remote beach house etc but try to leave at least 3 months a year to visit other countries and visit uk if only to eat real food and drink real beer in Dudley

Will i stay for ever i dont know, for now ok but a mid  welsh coastal village is calling

[Soidog]

36 minutes ago, poohy said:

Throughly Agree was in travel industry for many years so thailand was just a base now retired in paradise area remote beach house etc but try to leave at least 3 months a year to visit other countries and visit uk if only to eat real food and drink real beer in Dudley

Will i stay for ever i dont know, for now ok but a mid  welsh coastal village is calling

Yes, agreed. I know everyone has their own needs, requirements and desires and that’s perfectly acceptable. I have however seen, and indeed know, several people who simply allowed themselves to be come “consumed” by Thailand. Either as a result of needing more money and convincing themselves in their late 50’s or early 60’s that they really don’t need their bolt hole back home. Or simply cut all ties with home when they moved and now have no easy way back.

One guy I knew was in his 80’s  he was English and his pension payments were still what they were 15-17 years previously. He was suffering with COPD and early stages of dementia and  he simply did not have the capacity to work out how to relocate back to England. He was living alone having lost his Thai wife to a road accident some years earlier, a truly tragic case. After a bit of investigation by myself and others who knew him, we were able to contact his family and thankfully the necessary arrangements were made to get him home. Not everyone is so lucky  

Some people say tough luck on these people and you reap what you sow. However there are some people who genuinely have issues with either finances or health and now face serious issues with visas or paying for basic health care. I’m not sure what the answer is for such people, but they are in need and find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. I also feel sorry for many of the Thai people for whom these foreigners have been a part of their life. They have been a financial lifeline for many and now they are old and suffering issues such as dementia or other costly illnesses, and it’s difficult.
 

Im not sure about a mid-Wales coastal village, but I can imagine a place where reciprocal health care and index linked pension payments are recognised. I know that limits your options and maybe Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are as good as anywhere

[Marc26]

19 hours ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

Traveling anywhere right now there are restrictions. I'm going to the UK in a couple of weeks, there are things I'll have to do for going there and things I'll have to do on my return. 

Personally I'm happy with the entry requirements into Thailand right now. I wasn't eligible for the sandbox, and now I am. From next month a lot more destinations apart from Phuket. It's all good. 

For sure, many will go elsewhere. That's up to them. No one is forcing anyone to visit Thailand. 

I would anticipate numbers picking up a bit though because it just got a lot easier to visit, and will continue to do so. 

It's easy to only look at the negatives of the situation but there are also a lot of positives too. The main one being no more 15 nights ASQ stuck in a room in Bangkok!!!

See you in a couple of months..

We are still travelling during a pandemic, I think people forget that

We booked to go to US/Boston after finally not seeing my family for 18 months

At the time of booking, there was a quarantine in Boston/and testing to enter US

And a pretty expensive hotel quarantine/pcr testing to return to Canada

 

I made the choice to accept those requirements and travel

Both ended up easing, so we got lucky

 

But when returning to Canada, I screwed up our PCR test because US is 3 days and Canada is a strict 72 hours

We tested 2 hours too early for the 72 hours

Cost me $300usd and $250usd for a night at Marriott

I chalked it up to cost of travelling during these times

 

[Marc26]

On 10/4/2021 at 5:46 AM, mickkotlarski said:

Exactly. When nations in Europe and places like Japan provide visa free entry with discounts such as rail passes the results speak for themselves. I totally agree with you.  This is just an extra discriminatory fee the will put off more and more visitors. The empty hotel rooms from covid19 may stay empty from government incompetency. 

Most countries in Europe have the same(and higher) tourist taxes

Doesn't anyone on here do research before just saying all the non-facts?

[Marc26]

31 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Yes, agreed. I know everyone has their own needs, requirements and desires and that’s perfectly acceptable. I have however seen, and indeed know, several people who simply allowed themselves to be come “consumed” by Thailand. Either as a result of needing more money and convincing themselves in their late 50’s or early 60’s that they really don’t need their bolt hole back home. Or simply cut all ties with home when they moved and now have no easy way back.

One guy I knew was in his 80’s  he was English and his pension payments were still what they were 15-17 years previously. He was suffering with COPD and early stages of dementia and  he simply did not have the capacity to work out how to relocate back to England. He was living alone having lost his Thai wife to a road accident some years earlier, a truly tragic case. After a bit of investigation by myself and others who knew him, we were able to contact his family and thankfully the necessary arrangements were made to get him home. Not everyone is so lucky  

Some people say tough luck on these people and you reap what you sow. However there are some people who genuinely have issues with either finances or health and now face serious issues with visas or paying for basic health care. I’m not sure what the answer is for such people, but they are in need and find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. I also feel sorry for many of the Thai people for whom these foreigners have been a part of their life. They have been a financial lifeline for many and now they are old and suffering issues such as dementia or other costly illnesses, and it’s difficult.
 

Im not sure about a mid-Wales coastal village, but I can imagine a place where reciprocal health care and index linked pension payments are recognised. I know that limits your options and maybe Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are as good as anywhere

I've seen so many expats in Thailand(not the majority at all) proudly state they haven't been home for x years.

For me that's sad............why can't you have both?

It seems guys like that(not the majority of expats) feel the need to bash where they came from to justify their move/lifestyle

 

I love Thailand and I love home............

[mickkotlarski]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

We are still travelling during a pandemic, I think people forget that

We booked to go to US/Boston after finally not seeing my family for 18 months

At the time of booking, there was a quarantine in Boston/and testing to enter US

And a pretty expensive hotel quarantine/pcr testing to return to Canada

I made the choice to accept those requirements and travel

Both ended up easing, so we got lucky

But when returning to Canada, I screwed up our PCR test because US is 3 days and Canada is a strict 72 hours

We tested 2 hours too early for the 72 hours

Cost me $300usd and $250usd for a night at Marriott

I chalked it up to cost of travelling during these times

FYI 3 days = 72 hours I think you meant to say 48 hours.

Edited October 5, 2021 by mickkotlarski
My reply was a tab brash. I didn't mean offence just a correction.

[mickkotlarski]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

Most countries in Europe have the same(and higher) tourist taxes

Doesn't anyone on here do research before just saying all the non-facts?

When it comes to taxes you are correct. Its the other BS that I'm in disagreement with.

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

I love Thailand and I love home

Yes I feel the same. All countries have problems and many are different problems in different countries. If you are lucky enough to come from a well developed country such as the U.K., Australia, US, Japan, South Korea, or most European countries and others, then you can still utilise all that has to offer. When the Frustrations of life or weather in these countries get too much, you can hop on a plane and chill out in the warm weather. The laid back beach style or the non-stop buzz of some of Thailand’s party centres.  I realise that this is not an option for many and nor is it what they want. However, I’m simply saying that if you can retain even a postal address and being on the electoral role back home, it could be something you come to be grateful for in later life, or if the situation changes in what is still a volatile region of the world changes. Just my own personal thoughts and not everyone’s assessment which is fine. 

[Marc26]

12 minutes ago, mickkotlarski said:

FYI 3 days = 72 hours I think you meant to say 48 hours.

No, the US does it by 3 days, you can take the test on say the 1st at 9am and arrive on the 4th at 10am(73 hours) and be ok

 

Canada does it by a strict 72 hours. They were checking by the minute at the gate and turning many people away and not allowing boarding......

 

Basically the US provides leeway, Canada does not