The fee was announced to start sometime in June, with no clear date given. The Ministry of Tourism & Sports is projected to collect B3.9bn from the introduction of the fee alone this year, and more than B10bn from 40 million visitors estimated for next year.
Part of the funds collected will be used to provide health and accident insurance coverage for tourists during their stay in the country, said Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn when confirming the fee had been granted Cabinet approval.
“The entry fee will support care for tourists. From 2017 to 2019, foreign tourists used services at public hospitals and that cost the state as much as B300-400 million,” Mr Phiphat said.
However, the entry fee has been widely criticised by the local tourism industry, which has called for greater scrutiny of the Tourism Promotion Fund, into which entry fees collected will be deposited.
Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said management of the fund must be transparent and must use the principle of checks and balances to avoid accusations of corruption or ineffective spending.
The structure of the Tourism Promotion Fund’s subcommittee responsible for approving tourism project proposals should be balanced between the government and the private sector to assure that budget allocation does not favour any interest groups or is used for improper purposes, he said.
Soon after the Cabinet approval was announced last week, the Public Relations Department (PRD) started defending the decision with its own ‘informative” releases.
The PRD pointed out that holders of diplomatic, consular or other official passports were exempt from paying the entry fee.
Also exempt were people who are allowed to work in Thailand, transit passengers and children under 2 years old, “or other persons as determined” by the National Tourism Policy Committee, the PRD explained.
“The collection of such fees will be spent on the administration of tourism development as well as being used to arrange insurance for foreign tourists while traveling in Thailand.
“Thailand is the first country in the world to collect fees and return welfare to tourists. through accident, death and repatriation insurance,” PRD said in one of its announcements.
“Such action will reduce the budget burden of taking care of foreign tourists in public health from not collecting medical expenses in full. Previously, the budget for taking care of this group of tourists was approximately B300-400 million per /year,” it added.
The fee will be introduced after 90 days from the date of publication in the Government Gazette, the PRD noted.
The PRD highlighted a slew of local taxes in countries around the world which effectively worked as a “tourism tax”, including in countries such as the United States, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Malaysia and Indonesia.
While the debate rages on, The Phuket News asks its readers: ‘Do you support the B300 tourist entry fee?’
Responses available in the poll are:
- Yes, without any conditions
- Yes, but only if the use of funds is transparent
- No, we can’t trust that the money collected will be spent properly
- No, let the tourists spend the B300 while on holiday here
If your preferred response is not available, feel free to submit it in the comments section below.
The poll will remain open until midnight Friday night (Feb 24).
To vote in the poll, click here.
Pooliekev | 23 February 2023 - 15:25:18