The Tourism and Sports Ministry has decided to delay plans to collect a tourism levy from foreign visitors.

Last Wednesday, permanent tourism secretary Chote Trachu said the levy could further harm the stagnant tourism sector.

In May, Mr Chote announced that the ministry had studied the feasibility of collecting a tourism levy from foreign visitors. He hinted that the tax amount would be minimal and not affect visitors.

"We do not want to implement the levy this year, as it could worsen Thai tourism, especially when the baht is so strong," Mr Chote said.

He is convinced that tourist arrivals during the last four months of the year will accelerate, pushing the total to 40-41 million baht as projected because the government extended a waiver from visa-on-arrival fees.

The strong baht has resulted in Chinese tourist numbers falling by 3.3% to 6.63 million in the first seven months of this year.

Kampon Adireksombat, senior director of economic and financial market research at the Economic Intelligence Center of Siam Commercial Bank, said that changes in Chinese behaviour came about from economic factors, as they tend to visit closer destinations such as Hong Kong and Macau or countries with lower costs such as Cambodia.

"But the unrest in Hong Kong may bring about a windfall for Thailand," he said.