Each foreign visitor visiting the country of golden pagodas from next year will have to pay 500 baht, about 336,000 VND.
The decision to charge visitors 500 baht was approved by the Center for Economic Execution (CESA) in early October. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) estimates that if 10 million visitors come here by 2022, the government will collect 5 billion baht.
The money goes into a "tourist conversion fund", with the goal of creating more safe and cleaner destinations in Thailand. In addition, the money is also used to subsidize tourism projects, focus on sustainable tourism or provide additional insurance benefits for guests. The official time to collect tourist money has not been announced specifically.
A tourist enjoys the view at the Mae Fah Luang botanical garden in Chiang Rai. Photo: Pongpet Mekloy/Bangkok Post
Earlier this year, Thailand expected the fee to be 300 baht. Explaining the price increase, the Director General of the National Administration of Tourism Yuthasak Supasorn said that this 200 baht is used to support projects that transform the model from mass tourism to more advanced, or sustainable tourism that protects the environment. school. The head of TAT believes that visitors will not hesitate to pay this extra fee. "This additional cost won't hurt visitors as we want to focus on the quality market."
This fund was also created not to address the negative financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, but to focus on long-term local economic growth.
