Tourists in Thailand may have to pay a new arrival tax

Public Health Minister Pradit Sintavanarong said yesterday that related agencies were discussing the plan to charge tourists a separate fee for entering the country – possibly Bt500 for a three- to 30-day stay and Bt30 for less than three days.

The Health Minister said once a conclusion is drawn, it will be proposed to the Cabinet. This new tax could make the country earn as much as Bt10 billion, he said. He didn’t actually say what the extra 10 Billion Baht would be used for, but part of it will probably used to cover for the hospital bills unpaid by foreign tourists with no insurance which cost the country over 300 Million Baht annually.

The question is how will this tax be paid ? At immigration ? Add to flight tickets price ? The second option will probably be the one choosen since the 700 THB departure tax is today already included in the plane ticket. So is it the end of free visa to Thailand (actually it is a 30 days visa exemption) ? But with the already existing departure tax  is it really free today ?

Public Health Minister Pradit Sintavanarong said yesterday that related agencies were discussing the plan to charge tourists a separate fee for entering the country – possibly Bt500 for a three- to 30-day stay and Bt30 for less than three days. He said once a conclusion is drawn, it will be proposed to the Cabinet.

Since Thailand gets up to 23 million visitors a year, the country could earn as much as Bt10 billion from the extra fee, he said. This money could be sent to the Finance Ministry and a specially assigned committee could allocate it to related agencies including the Public Health Ministry, which spends up to Bt300 million for tourists’ healthcare per year. He said if his ministry was given this money, it could allocate up to Bt300,000 per head in life-and-death emergency cases as well as buy more medical tools and suppli