Hotel operators urge government to extend visa waiver policy, postpone landing fee
Hotel operators seek extension of visa waiver for targeted foreign tourist markets
The Thai Hotels Association (THA) has urged the government of new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to consider extending the visa waiver policy to foreign visitors in targeted markets, as well as postpone the “landing tax” on foreign arrivals for at least two years.
As Thailand’s tourism industry is recovering steadily, levying an arrival tax would greatly discourage foreign tourists, THA president Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun said on Thursday, adding that the measure should be postponed for at least two years.
The highly controversial tourist tax called “Kha Yeap Pan Din” (fee for stepping on Thai soil), also known as a “landing fee”, was approved in principle by the Cabinet in February last year. It aims to levy 300 baht ($8.47) on foreigners arriving by air and 150 baht ($4.37) on those arriving by land or sea.
The money earned would be used to buy insurance for foreigners and the remainder added to the Tourism Development Fund.
Thienprasit urged the government to carefully review the details of the new tax, especially the provisions on how the Tourism Development Fund would be managed and spent.
The president added that the THA does not agree with the government’s plan to have the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organise online marketing campaigns to promote Thailand’s tourism industry in collaboration with nine online travel agencies.
Thienprasit said that most of these agencies are owned by foreigners, therefore the state budget of 433 million baht earmarked for this campaign would likely go to promoting products and services of these foreign companies.
“This money can easily be used to directly fund the existing promotional campaigns, such as providing vouchers and discounts for hotels in the country, which will directly go to local operators,” he said.
Thienprasit also suggested that the government’s ongoing campaign of promoting tourism in 55 secondary provinces should focus on eliminating factors that made tourists skip these provinces in the past. Examples of these factors include accommodation availability, service quality, number of attractions, and public transport.
