Few expats will escape the new Thai tourism tax

[reader]

From Pattaya Mail

By Barry Kenyon

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.

[PeterRS]

The Thai government is clearly in a real bind over how this tax is to be paid and there seems to me to be no even reasonable solution that will avoid a humungous mess. Understandably airlines and travel agents don't want near it because they'd have huge difficulty working out who need not pay. And what about those many millions of us who book online? Cash on arrival is a recipe for utter disaster at the country's main gateway airports.

This is all so typical of Thai governments making decisions without first giving any thought to the consequences. In principle I'm not against some way of taxing those who arrive in Thailand having deciding they do won't need travel insurance and then leave hospitals with large unpaid bills. But then I wonder why I as one who lives in Thailand, is fully insured with a Thai insurer and travels about 15 times a year should have to cough up 4,500 baht. Better surely to make it mandatory that incoming travellers are fully covered by travel insurance - although I have no idea how this can be chacked in advance.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

 Cash on arrival is a recipe for utter disaster at the country's main gateway airports.

 

few dozen terminals accepting major credit cards and making exchange booths before immigration collecting it would help. Even better allowing to pay in advance from home countries or indeed anywhere  and having receipt in form of QR code available on demand of immigration officer. 

[reader]

I can still recall the vending machines at Don Mueang airport that collected 500 baht cash departure fee before proceeding to immigration (you got receipt to show officer). That was when DMK was known as BKK in the days before Swampy.

I think this is that receipt.

[PeterRS]

AIrports in Asia routinely used to collect departure taxes in cash on check in. But for around 20 years or so these were eventually added to the ticket price along with a host of other additions and paid for along with the ticket.

If a machine based system is reintroduced for entry, even of there were 50 of them can you imagine the length of the queues at peak time? And what of those who have no baht with them? WIll there be a similar number of currency exchange booths? Even then, what rates would they offer and who would want to exchange a small amount of baht just to cover, say, their first 24 hours? Then, would the machines offer change from 500 or 1,000 baht notes? If so, I'll place a bet that they'd run out of notes/coins long before the time came for them to be refilled. It would be a recipe for massive chaos.

On 4/28/2023 at 9:07 AM, vinapu said:

few dozen terminals accepting major credit cards and making exchange booths before immigration collecting it would help. Even better allowing to pay in advance from home countries or indeed anywhere  and having receipt in form of QR code available on demand of immigration officer. 

The problem here concerns "major credit cards". My Thai bank VISA credit card is frequently denied when travelling overseas. So I also carry two from international banks. But what about the mass of possible future tourists from countries like China, Russia, India and others who might not have acceptable credit cards? Does the AU Small Finance Bank in Jaipur offer acceptable credit cards - or even any credit card? Ethiopian Airlines flies into BKK. Does the Bunna International Bank have acceptable credit cards? So many problem issues!

QR codes might be a better idea but, again, what about the time taken at check-in for the assistants to check that a work visa for a foreigner is actually a work visa? I know people with Thai Elite visas in their passports who have had difficulty checking in because the automatic check-in machines do not recognise them! Sometimes airline staff do not recognise them!

[PeterRS]

A further thought. Many countries have a form of tourism tax, Hong Kong for one. But that tax is usually levied by hotels and guest houses. This ensures that those who actually live in the cities/countries do not pay the tax. Admittedly some tourists escape paying it by staying with relatives. But generally it works very well and is easily accountable.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

If a machine based system is reintroduced for entry, even of there were 50 of them can you imagine the length of the queues at peak time? And what of those who have no baht with them? WIll there be a similar number of currency exchange booths? Even then, what rates would they offer and who would want to exchange a small amount of baht just to cover, say, their first 24 hours? Then, would the machines offer change from 500 or 1,000 baht notes? If so, I'll place a bet that they'd run out of notes/coins long before the time came for them to be refilled. It would be a recipe for massive chaos.

The problem here concerns "major credit cards".

you sound like my sister who whenever there's any idea tends to list what may go wrong instead of looking for solution i.e .  " Hi sister, I'm coming on Tuesday " , "OMG I have doctor appointment and won't be able to pick you up"   I instead of ' take a taxi,  I have doctor appointment and entertain yourself  until I arrive home"

They weren't big queues when machines were in use at DMK, granted then traffic was lower but  arrivals but still counted in millions.

as for issue with major credit cards it's nothing different from all other purchases, some work , some not and every traveller needs to be prepared that whatever mode of payment he plans to use may not work including cash ( once in Siem Reap I was witness when lady had all of her fours 100 USD bills rejected at exchange due to some writings or microtears, it may be hard to find place exchanging maloti or guarani to baht etc ) 

 

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

as for issue with major credit cards it's nothing different from all other purchases, some work , some not and every traveller needs to be prepared that whatever mode of payment he plans to use may not work including cash ( once in Siem Reap I was witness when lady had all of her fours 100 USD bills rejected at exchange due to some writings or microtears, it may be hard to find place exchanging maloti or guarani to baht etc ) 

I agree with you. But when many thousands of travellers are arriving in the space of, say, 30 minutes at a peak time,and maybe 4 or 5 passengers are trying to use a cc that is not accepted and may not have another card and will object to having to get out of line and re-queue for a cash dispenser, you have a recipe for a lot of bad feeling bordering on anger. But then I am more of a glass half empty kind of person and our dear @vinapu is very much glass half full.

But do remember that even in its last year prior to the opening of BKK, DMK had just 16 million passengers of whom 13.5 million were on domestic flights. By 2019 Suvarnabhumi was handling 53.5 million passengers. Quite a difference!