BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Thai tourism operators are waiting anxiously to see whether the 300-baht (RM39) fee to be collected from tourists from June will hit bookings.
Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn announced the tourism fee on Wednesday (Jan 12), saying the money collected would fund accident insurance for visitors and development of tourist attractions.
The 300-baht fee, known as the “Kha Yeap Pan Din” (landing fee), will be collected from all foreign visitors who enter the country by land, water or air. It is expected to be integrated into the cost of travel tickets.
The fee will not be collected from foreigners with Thai work permits and border passes, Phiphat said.
The tourism fee, which has been repeatedly postponed over fears it would deter people from visiting Thailand, will be put to the Cabinet for approval in February. It will reportedly fund tourists’ accident coverage of 1 million baht and medical cover of 500,000 baht. The government spent about 300-400 million baht per year treating injured foreign tourists before the pandemic.
Thailand expects to see 25 million visitors and at least 2.38 trillion baht in tourism revenue this year, Phiphat said.
However, this is still a long way short of the 40 million tourists who visited the country in 2019, when tourism accounted for about 20% of Thailand’s GDP.
That fragile recovery will be tested further from June by the new tourism fee, with both the government and private sector watching closely to see its effect.
