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๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ Poland /Economy & Trade

Thailand Plans Tourist Fee to Fund a More Sustainable Tourism Model

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Thailand plans to reintroduce a 450-baht fee for foreign visitors to create a dedicated fund for tourism development and related services.
  • The proposed fund would support infrastructure, environmental protection, tourism research and training, local communities, and insurance and health care for foreign tourists.
  • Officials want to shift the sector away from simply increasing visitor numbers, while tourism faces renewed challenges from safety concerns, geopolitical tensions and weaker travel prospects.

Thailand is returning to a plan to charge foreign visitors, with a proposed 450-baht fee intended to finance the tourism sector outside the state budget. The government wants tourism to be judged not only by how many people arrive, but also by how much value they bring.

The money would go into a Tourism Promotion Fund. Planned uses include developing attractions and infrastructure, protecting the natural environment, conducting research, training tourism workers, promoting destinations and supporting local communities. The fund could also pay for insurance and health care for foreign visitors.

Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said Thailand needs a dedicated source of money to improve tourism across all regions. Depending on an increasingly limited government budget, he said, could restrict the sector's competitiveness. The proposed policy therefore places greater emphasis on higher-quality tourism, infrastructure, environmental protection and a more even distribution of tourism benefits.

One part of the plan would provide insurance for foreign visitors during their stay, replacing current arrangements under which the state helps tourists or provides compensation after accidents and other incidents. Officials say the change could also reduce pressure on the public health system. The state currently covers an average of 300 million to 400 million baht a year in treatment costs when hospitals cannot recover the full amount from foreign patients.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents estimates that the fee could raise about 10 billion baht. Thailand previously suspended the idea in 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis. Foreign arrivals recovered to about 35 million in 2024, but tourism again faced difficulties in 2025, including the effects of an earthquake and concerns about visitor safety. Nearly 33 million foreign tourists still visited Thailand that year. The ministry expects geopolitical tensions and the conflict involving Iran to weaken growth prospects in 2026.

Thailand needs a special fund to finance improvements in the way tourism operates.

· Surasak PhancharoenworakulThe tourism and sports minister explained the government's case for creating a dedicated fund outside the regular state budget.
About this summary

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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