Thailand postpones 300 baht tourist arrival tax - again

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Tourist arrival ‘tax’ postponed, foreign arrivals drop

By Peter roche

April 19, 2023

The tourism industry is requesting much clearer guidelines on the implementation of the much-discussed 300 baht tourism fee, which the caretaker Minister for Tourism and Sports, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, has, again, postponed until September due to “difficulties in enforcing it”.

Meanwhile, the number of daily international arrivals in Thailand has fallen more than 15% since February.

According to the minister, the airlines have stated that they cannot differentiate between foreign tourists, Thais, and expatriates, and therefore, all passengers must be treated equally. The Minister had earlier said that locals and expats with a valid work permit would be exempt from the tax.

Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, advisory chairman of the Phuket Tourist Association, is calling for a central organisation to manage and collect fees for arrivals by air, sea and land, rather than relying on the airlines to act as the tax collector.

Mr Bhummikitti says he supports the implementation of a tourism fee that would, if used as described, help promote tourism destinations and cover the medical expenses of tourists in public hospitals, which amount to more than 10 million baht per year in Phuket alone.

He suggests that if the fee collection is delayed for air travellers, it should be postponed for arrivals by land and sea to ensure consistency. Additionally, he believes that the government should take into account the different contexts of cross-border visitors, such as Malaysian tourists in Songkhla, who frequently visit Thailand often for short trips and ‘weekenders’.

Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association, supports the delay in the tourist tax collection, as it could help ease the financial burden for tourists as other travel costs increase. She emphasises that transparency in fund management is crucial for the scheme’s success.

According to Minister Phiphat, 60-70% of the fee would go towards a tourism fund, as stated in the 2009 National Tourism Policy Act, while 17% will be used for medical insurance for tourists (details unspecified).

While some have suggested that hotels collect the fee, Mrs Marisa believes this would be unfair, as many Thai hotels are unregistered and may not apply the same rules to their guests.

In Phuket, alone, the number of daily foreign arrivals has dropped to an average of 10,035 in April, compared to an average of 11,734 in March. The March numbers were also a fall from February’s average. The leading international arrivals in April have been (in order) from Russia, China, Australia, India and the UK.

https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/natio ... vals-drop/

[Jun]

The 300 baht arrival tax will raise a negligible amount of tax and if only applied to tourists, it will be difficult to collect.

Just for comparison, I believe total taxes on hotel stays are 17%.
So if I stay for one week in a modestly priced hotel, the taxes on that alone will be 1000 x 7 x 0.17 = 1190 baht.
Then we can add in all the other taxes, on alcohol and whatever else we're paying.

If they want to raise more tax revenue, it would be more straightforward to levy the taxes on international flights.
Then the people who pay the tax would barely notice it.

Or better still, start increasing the taxes on diesel to cut pollution.

[Gaybutton]

Or better still, start increasing the taxes on diesel to cut pollution.

I don't see what makes you think that would cut pollution in any way. The same diesel vehicles would still have to be on the road. The way to cut pollution from those vehicles would be to simply enforce the existing emissions regulations. And they could also decrease the time between emissions inspections.

I believe putting a stop to illegal emissions is the key, not raising fuel prices. However, I'm not holding my breath for either to happen.

[Jun]

I don't see what makes you think that would cut pollution in any way. The same diesel vehicles would still have to be on the road.

Your second sentence isn't strictly correct. No diesel vehicles have to be on the road and the number actually on the road is influenced by the cost of operating them.

If we doubled the price of diesel, due to taxes, a few changes would happen:
The cost would encourage people to think carefully before making a trip, so there would immediately be fewer vehicles on the road.
Some people would drive more carefully to reduce consumption of diesel and there would be an indirect pollution benefit.
In time, more people would switch from diesel vehicles to alternatives. Such as public transport, petrol cars, electric cars etc. Particularly when some of the revenue raised is spent on improved public transport.

That's exactly how it works in countries that have increased taxes on fuels.

Of course, in practice, they would need to increase diesel taxes slowly.

[Gaybutton]

No diesel vehicles have to be on the road and the number actually on the road is influenced by the cost of operating them.

Oh yes they would. I'm not talking about private vehicles. I'm talking about the shipping trucks, or as you Brits say - lorries - and every one of them would still have to be on the roads.

You can have the last word about it. After that, back on topic - the tourist tax. Anything other than that, please start a new topic.

[Gaybutton]

You mean Thailand came up with a set of rules that are not crystal clear? Wow! A first time for everything . . .
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Thai Tourism Operators Demand Clearer Explanation on Controversial Tourism Fee

By Tanakorn Panyadee

20 April, 2023

The 300-baht tourism fee that has been postponed from June to September is facing criticism from Thai tourism operators regarding its clarity.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has postponed the imposition of the levy on foreign arrivals by air, reasoning that airlines cannot differentiate between foreign tourists, Thais, and expatriates. The delay has come because airlines have argued that regulations must be applied equally to all passengers, but the Tourism Ministry does not want the tourism fee to apply to certain types of expatriates and Thai nationals.

Meanwhile, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, advisory chairman of the Phuket Tourist Association, insisted that the levy postponement should be applied to land and sea arrivals as well for consistency.

He advised that the Tourism ministry should establish a new organization to specifically deal with the fee collection for all foreign arrivals, regardless of mode of transportation, instead of burdening airlines with the task.

Bhummikitti , however, expressed his support for the new fee, stating that it would contribute to the development of tourism destinations and communities in Thailand, as well as cover medical expenses for certain foreign tourists in public hospitals, which have amounted to over 10 million baht annually.

He also pointed out that the fee might impact cross-border visitors, such as Malaysian tourists in Songkhla province, who frequently travel to Thailand every month for weekend breaks.

Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said that the delay in implementing the fee would provide some relief for tourists amidst rising travel costs.

However, she disagreed with some suggestions that hotels should assist in the fee collection because Thailand still has numerous unregistered hotels whose operators may not adhere to the same rules for their guests.

https://thepattayanews.com/2023/04/20/t ... urism-fee/
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Thailand’s battered tax on foreign tourists delayed once again

By Barry Kenyon

April 19, 2023

The 300 baht (US$9) levy on foreigners entering the kingdom by air, land or sea has again been put back from June this year to September at the earliest. This is the fifth delay since the idea was first mooted in 2018. Tourism minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the ongoing delay was due to the well-known implementation issues. Most of the proposed tax would be set aside for improvements and renovations at tourist sites such as temples, although a modest 10-17 percent would go to an ill-defined insurance pot on behalf of foreign visitors.

International airlines had agreed to pilot a scheme whereby the cost would be added to fares whether booked with them direct, or online or with travel agents. However, no way had yet been found to target only “foreign tourists” since Thai nationals and some non-defined expats were excluded from the scheme to raise the extra money. It had been suggested that those excluded would be able to reclaim their 300 baht later, but the fuzzy idea has proved very unpopular amongst those directly concerned.

Nor has any solution yet been found to the nitty-gritty problems of collecting the cash at land borders or when foreigners arrived by water including cruise ships. The prospect of long queues forming as toll booths struggled to deal with foreign currencies, give change or cope with the hazards of credit cards have all been bones of contention. There is also the issue that some foreigners are daytime market traders, from Myanmar, Cambodia or Malaysia, who stay in Thailand only a few hours on a daily basis.

The prospect of cash for hospitals to cover the medical bills of foreigners has also created confusion, especially in the international media. The scheme does not envisage universal cover – a financially absurd notion – but a discretionary government fund to cover cremation or compensation costs in publicized cases such as awful traffic accidents with multiple victims. The Tourist Association of Thailand urges all visitors to take out personal policies even though these are compulsory only for a small number of visas including the 10-year Long Term Residency and some retirement visas issued at Thai embassies abroad.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ain-429499

[Gaybutton]

As always, it is still a mass of confusion as to how this will work and who wills and will not have to pay, although I find it difficult to imagine that tourists from western countries will be deterred because of a 300 baht fee.

However it is decided how this will work, what do you suppose the odds are that it will be a complete screw-up . . .
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Very, very few expats will escape the new Thai tourism tax

By Barry Kenyon

April 27, 2023

The latest notice from the Thai tourism ministry lists the exceptions to the rule that all foreigners must pay on arrival 300 baht at airports and 150 baht by land or sea. The fortunate ones are diplomats, infants under 2 years, those with work permits, single day and transit passengers and that famous expression: foreign residents in Thailand.

The latter phrase is optimistically being interpreted by some expats to include themselves as they see themselves as “residents” by virtue of their annual, renewable extensions of stay based on retirement or marriage or because they are learning Thai. But the contextual meaning of “resident” here is “permanent resident” or that category of foreigner who holds a red police residency book and has no visa expiry date in his or her passport. Needless to say, it is a much sought-after status with a complex application procedure which can take years.

The scheme has been delayed until September because of the publicized reluctance of airlines to include the tax in most airfares whilst skillfully excluding the 300 baht from the tickets of Thai nationals and the foreign exempt groups. It is not yet clear whether this dilemma will be resolved by taxing everybody and instituting a post-arrival refund policy, or by training travel agents what documentation to look for when deciding whether to include the tax. Of course, establishing a payment system on arrival at Thai airports would risk macro crowd control issues.

Taxable foreigners arriving at land border crossings have their own issues such as needing change, paying in foreign currencies or offering online payments. How to avoid long queues of discontented travellers has not yet been resolved, according to the Tourist Authority of Thailand. The proposed solutions have included advance payment online, cash booths at immigration checkpoints and, latterly, the establishment of a private company to sort everything out.

The Thailand Tourism Fee (TTF), according to the latest publicity circular, is to develop and keep up tourist destinations – presumably renovations and improvements – and “to provide medical insurance for tourists”. Without clarification, this seems to suggest that tourists – whoever they are – are automatically covered for medical emergencies and do not need their own insurance cover. But previous announcements suggested that government cover would be restricted to discretionary help in mass accidents such as cremation costs and compensation to family members. A spokesman at the tourist ministry said further information on TTF might be delayed until after the general election in mid May. Can’t come soon enough.

Story and graphic: https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... tax-430108