Thailand’s Tourism Tax
Thailand's Tourism Tax
Unsurprisingly, Thailand’s tourism economy has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most countries who depend on tourism, the lack of foreign traffic into the country has severely hurt businesses and the livelihoods of those who depend on tourist expenditure. To build back the tourism industry, the Tourism and Sports Ministry is proposing and initiating a 500-baht tourism fee, which is equivalent to around $14 USD. According to the Bangkok Post, Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, aims to begin the fee collection in 2022, “with the aim of collecting 5 billion within the first year, assuming 10 million foreign arrivals in 2022. Supasorn had stated that this fee was not to address the short-term financial burden of the pandemic but rather to facilitate long-term economic growth. The funds will be used for projects initiated by the private sector and community enterprises to help the country restructure its tourism from mass tourism to a “high-value” and “environmentally-concerned” tourism. Yuthasak foresees this fund being used as a form of insurance in order to split the burden of owning a business between the private owner and the government. The new tax is one of the many initiatives the Thai government is taking to restore and improve tourism, emerging alongside a shorter quarantine period for travelers, as well as programs to allow vaccinated visitors to travel to pre-approved destinations, such as Phuket, without quarantining.
In launching this tax, Yuthasak believes the additional cost won’t have a momentous impact on tourists, but there has been pushback against the tourism tax, citing other mandatory fees already in place in order to visit Thailand as well as other unfair pricing policies, such as dual pricing. The idea of a tourism tax originated with tourism minister, Pipat Ratchakitprakan, who compared it to the Japanese Sayonara Tax, which is a 1000-yen departure fee. However, critics say that the Sayonara tax in Japan is utilized to service airports and facilitate aviation services, with land borders being exempted from the tax. However, in Thailand’s case, this fee would apply to any travel methods, and Thailand already charges a 700-baht airport tax that is automatically added to the airplane ticket cost. Richard Barrow, one of Thailand’s most popular English bloggers, has also called into criticism the dual pricing model many businesses in Thailand take on. Barrow says that foreign travelers already have to pay more than Thai nationals to enter national parks and other attractions and services, sometimes resulting in foreigners paying 10 times the amount as a native. Barrow is not outwardly criticizing the tax but rather hinting that this extra fee may bother tourists, giving them a negative impression of Thailand, perhaps perpetuating the opposite effect of the tax.
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