BANGKOK, Jan 12 — Thailand plans to collect a 300 baht (RM38) entry fee per person from foreign tourists starting April 1 to help fund the development of local tourist attractions and for tourists’ insurance coverage.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the fee would be added to air ticket prices.
“However, relevant agencies have yet to decide the method of collection for entry by land,” he said in a statement.
Thanakorn said the tourism industry is expected to generate between 1.3 to 1.8 trillion baht, including 800 billion baht from foreign tourists.
He said based on the current situation, the government projected five million international travellers will visit the kingdom in 2022, where a majority of them will be from Europe and the United States.
If Chinese and Indian tourists return, he said tourist arrivals could hit nine million.
“If the land borders are reopened for cross-border tourism, attracting tourists from Malaysia, Laos, and Myanmar, the number of 15 million tourists is viable,” he said.
Thailand has been introducing various plans including the quarantine-free “Test and Go” and “Phuket Sandbox” programmes to revive its tourism industry.
Starting December 22 last year, Thailand halted its quarantine-free entry programme “Test & Go” and also most of the “sandbox” programmes except “Phuket Sandbox” in a bid to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant.
Thailand has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with only about 200,000 arrivals last year compared to nearly 40 million visitors in 2019 and 6.7 million in 2020.
Thailand’s Central Bank reduced its foreign tourist arrival outlook for 2022 from 6 million to 5.6 million.
— Bernama
