National —
From June 2023 onward, an entry fee of 150-300 baht will be imposed on international visitors who want to enter Thailand, Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said after the Thai Cabinet approved the fees on Tuesday, February 14th.
The 150-baht fee will be collected from land and sea passengers and 300 from air passengers, Phiphat said, adding the former fee was cheaper because visitors arriving by water and land were likely to stay in the country for only a few days.
All one-day visitors would be exempted from the fee.
The collected fee will be used for good causes, said Phiphat, as some parts of it will be used to cover health and accident insurance for tourists during their stay in the country as well as to help restore local tourist attractions. The Thai government predicts they will be able to garner around 3.9 billion baht in fees this year and Phiphat has continued to say all funds will be used entirely transparently.
A report stated that the fee will be added to air ticket prices, while the government is still debating how the fee will be collected from land and sea travellers.
The levy has long been discussed but its endorsement was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Tourism Minister said, “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 300-400 million baht.”
It is unclear for now, however, to what extent the fee will cover the care of tourists, how one would go about claiming this, and many more questions.
Also, the fee will not be applied to the holders of diplomatic passports, valid work permits, or special work permits for specific occupations, according to the Labour Ministry.
Children under the age of two and transit passengers will also be exempt
from paying the tax.
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