Thailand to introduce compulsory travel insurance/tourist tax

[Chromeman]

I think the suggested fees are way to low to be able to cover the costs of insurance coverage for a tourist, even with the high number of tourists that Thailand have every year. So I do think it is just a tax, and that they are trying to make it look pretty by saying it will partially go to cover the costs of treating tourists Thailand have.

But as you say, Pete, we will know when they present it to the cabinet.

[PeteC]

Here's an updated article saying that indeed the 500 Baht fee is for medical insurance.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... nforcement

[Big Boy]

But surely this could be misleading. It isn't intended to pay every medical bill that a tourist may incur. It is to pay those bills that aren't paid, or to help those without sufficient funds. If this gets publicised as travel or health insurance, people are going to take them at their word, and not bother to buy their own insurance.

[Korkenzieher]

And unless they know something I don't, it can almost certainly only be imposed as an exit tax - unless they add it to airline bills - as most folk won't have currency until they get land side of immigration. So it is almost inconceivable that it could be considered to be insurance. Clearly a thinly disguised tax, IMHO.

[cheapercharlie]

Here is another example of an entry fee vs. paying for a required visa, in CHILE: From FROMMER'S.

Citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand need only a valid passport to enter Chile. Chile charges a reciprocity fee upon entry to citizens of the following countries: $131 for the U.S., $61 for Australians, $132 for Canadians, and $23 for Mexicans. Visitors from the U.K. and New Zealand do not pay a fee. The one-time fee is good for the life of a traveler's passport, and is charged when entering through the Santiago airport only. Travelers crossing over land do not pay this fee. You may pay this fee at the airport counter (to the left of Customs) with your credit card.

This is a tit-for-tat fee. The fee that Thailand wants is only about 16 U.S. dollars. If it keeps undesirables out, is used to ship overstay losers back to their home country, and is used to cover medical costs of the indigent, then I am all for it. Of course we all know where some of the money will end up.

[caller]

The fee that Thailand wants is only about 16 U.S. dollars. If it keeps undesirables out, is used to ship overstay losers back to their home country

$16 is going to achieve all that? Amazing (Thailand).

[cheapercharlie]

Tourist arrivals at record 22 million
28 Jan 2013

More than 22 million tourists visited Thailand last year, up nearly 16% year-on-year, setting a new record for the kingdom, according to figures released Monday.

Do the math.

People were making comments on the Bangkok Post, saying they would not come to Thailand if they charged the fee.

"Talk is cheap, especially for those who only talk, and can't back it up"

[parbeau]

Hi!

Saw this in Bangkok Post the other day. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tou ... nforcement
What do we think about this? Also applies for us with one-year-visas when we go abroad and come back again?? For a family with two kids 2.000 baht..... Wouldn´t it be better to get rid of corruption and get necessary funding from there? I guess they will get very happy at Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia tourism agencies if this becomes a reality.

[PeteC]

Really no need to start a new thread on this as short and sweet.....The airport departure tax is going up also to cover existing costs (so they say). Domestic flights going from 100 to 200, and international 700 to 800. Pete

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tou ... se-by-b100

[PeteC]

Tourist fee is a sick idea

".....So the health ministry came up with the idea of a cover charge to get into Thailand, as if it were a nightclub....."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... -sick-idea

[parbeau]

This new tourist tax or "travel insurance" certainly raises a few questions.... Still not sure if this also applies for us living here permanently with one-year-visas - when we leave the country and come back on a re-entry permit!? I have an expensive health insurance, but hey I´m flexible, should I cancel that (you reading this Mat?), leave Thailand short time 4 times per year (4.000 b re-entry permit) and as a "tourist"(?) get free health insurance???

[mat]

Yes i'm reading this. And i don't want to say anything yet until i know exactly how this is going to work out in real life. But personally i think it's hard to believe that the Thai government can offer a decent kind of coverage for such a premium. Take away the costs for administration etc. and maybe only 200 baht will be the spending room.....

[oakdale160]

There is no Plan on how to distribute money, only how to correct it. The hospitals have NOT been consulted. The idea is that it is to help pay the HUGE unpaid bills, it is not ever going to be health insurance. it is a SCAM, just another tax the farang move.

[buksida]

Thai authorities to hold new talks on insurance for foreign tourists
THAILAND’S tourism minister says she will hold talks with relevant parties on providing insurance to foreign tourists visiting the Kingdom.

Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said this week that she will discuss the possibility with relevant parties from airport and immigration authorities.

She said the plan has met with opposition from many parties, who feel the cost of providing insurance to tourists should not come from government coffers.

“The tourism minister added that there has been a suggestion to incorporate this expense with other costs of travel, such as the visa fee or as an airfare add-on,” the National News Bureau of Thailand reported.

The minister’s announcement comes amid reports this week that a British woman has died in a Thai hospital after running up a 1.65 million baht (US$47,138) medical bill that her family could not pay.

Kathryn Williamson, 51, died last week after spending more than two months on life support after collapsing while on holiday in the country, reported British tabloid The Sun.

“Kathryn had been ill for a long time and suffers from arthritis. I think the heat hit her. She wasn’t well and went to bed then got up and just collapsed,” a family member was quoted as saying.

A crowdfunding effort to raise the money for Williamson’s care fell well short of its £36,000 target, with family members now hoping they can raise enough to have her body released from the hospital and returned home.

Thai authorities have struggled for a number of years to come up with a workable scheme to ensure that tourists visiting the country have adequate insurance.

Thai hospitals in tourist areas complain that they often have to foot the bill for injured or sick tourists who are unable to pay their medical bills.

In 2013, Dr. Nara Kingkaew, then deputy director of Vachira Public Hospital in Phuket, said that the hospital alone had 4 million baht (nearly US$114,000) in additional costs per year, directly linked to foreigners without insurance or who could not pay hospital bills.

At the time, Thai authorities proposed to address the issue by making insurance compulsory for foreign visitors. We reported at the time that tourists who applied for visas outside the country could be required to purchase a 500 baht insurance package. The proposal was never put in place.

Source: https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/07/ ... insurance/

[oakdale160]

This proposal recycles every few years, but never gets anywhere.