Every foreign tourist to Thailand set to be charged 100 baht insurance fee

Thai media has reported that the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports is proposing that every foreign tourist visiting Thailand should be charged an insurance and life insurance fee.  

BECTERO reported that this was likely to be about 100 baht per trip and come in within the next six months.  The money would be used to insure tourists and stop Thai taxpayers forking out for tourists’ emergency medical treatment and the repatriation of people who die while on holiday.  This, they said, is costing the country 300 million baht a year.  The media said that exactly how much tourists are to be charged is being debated. They referred to Japan’s “Sayonara Tax” that levies a charge of 1,000 yen or 300 baht on Japanese and foreigners leaving the country. Whether Thailand would adopt a charge for tourists coming in or leaving was still to be decided.  BECTERO conjectured that if the fee was 100 baht this would give the government 3.8 billion baht based on 38 million visitors a year.  This would be used for the Thai authorities to insure all tourists. And solve the 300 million baht problem of Thais paying via their taxes for emergency treatment and repatriation of the dead. 

Thai Visa / BECTERO

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