B300 tourism fee postponed
published : 19 Apr 2023 at 15:00
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Molpasorn Shoowong
Tourism operators are calling for clearer measures regarding the 300-baht tourism fee after the tourism and sports minister said levy collection will be delayed from June to September.
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said fee collection from foreign arrivals by air must be postponed because the airlines could not adopt a selective approach between foreign tourists, Thais and expatriates.
The airlines insisted that all passengers must be treated similarly due to regulations.
The Phuket Tourist Association said if the collection is postponed for air travellers, it should also be pushed back for arrivals by land and sea.
The association agrees with a tourism fee collected and managed to help develop tourism destinations and communities, as well as cover the medical expenses of tourists in public hospitals.
Unpaid medical bills of tourists in Phuket amount to more than 10 million baht a year, it said.
The Thai Hotels Association said the delay would help ease the burden for tourists as other travel costs surge.
It said transparency in fee collection and fund management are vital for this scheme.
Earlier, Mr Phiphat said 60-70% of the fee will be earmarked for a tourism fund, while 17% will be used for medical insurance for tourists.
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Vocabulary
- burden: a serious or difficult responsibility that you have to deal with - ภาระ
- earmark: to decide to use something, often money, for a particular purpose - ตัดสินใจที่จะใช้สำหรับวัตถุประสงค์เฉพาะ
- expatriate (expat): a person living in a country that is not their own - คนที่อาศัยอยู่ต่างประเทศ (เป็นเวลานาน)
- expenses: money spent in doing a particular job, or for a particular purpose - ค่าใช้จ่าย
- fee: an amount of money that you pay to be allowed to do something - ค่าธรรมเนียม
- insurance: an arrangement in which you regularly pay an insurance company an amount of money so that they will give you money if something you own is damaged, lost, or stolen, or if you die or are ill or injured - การประกัน
- levy (noun): an extra amount of money that has to be paid, especially as a tax to the government - การจัดเก็บภาษี
- postponed: delayed; decided that something will be done at a later time - เลื่อนออกไป
- regulations: official rules that control the way that things are done - ระเบียบปฏิบัติ
- selective (adjective): careful about who they choose, choosy, discerning, discriminating - ซึ่งเลือกเฟ้น, ซึ่งคัดเลือกอย่างระมัดระวัง, ช่างเลือก
- similarly: in the same way or nearly the same way -
- surge: to increase very quickly - เพิ่มขึ้นอย่างรวดเร็ว
- transparency: an honest way of doing things that allows other people to know exactly what you are doing - ความโปร่งใส
