Thailand Opens Consultation on 450-Baht Tourist Fee—but Survey Is Only in Thai
Thailand Opens Consultation on 450-Baht Tourist Fee—but Survey Is Only in Thai
BANGKOK, 30 August 2026 — Thailand has opened an online public consultation on a proposed 450-baht tourism fee for foreign arrivals, but the 27-question survey is available only in Thai, potentially creating a language barrier for the overseas visitors whose views the consultation seeks to gather.
The consultation, hosted on Thailand’s Council of State’s Digital Government Development Agency law website, will remain open until 28 September. Respondents can participate as representatives of government agencies, private organisations or members of the public.
Although the webpage displays a language option, it is reportedly not clickable. Instead, users are instructed in Thai to right-click and use their browser’s translation function to translate the page.
The survey asks whether respondents support collecting a fee from foreign tourists to fund tourism management and development, including insurance coverage for visitors while travelling in Thailand.
Several questions seek views on proposed legal definitions, including those of a “foreign tourist,” land and maritime checkpoints and tourism operators. Under the proposed definition, a foreign tourist would be a non-Thai national temporarily entering Thailand for travel without engaging in employment or receiving compensation.
The consultation also seeks opinions on possible exemptions and payment arrangements. One question allows respondents to select multiple groups that should be exempt, including diplomatic passport holders and work-permit holders.
Other questions address the proposed authority responsible for implementing the fee, as well as practical arrangements for travellers. One asks whether visitors should receive a 30-day grace period for re-entry after paying the fee on their first arrival, while another seeks preferences on payment methods.
No implementation date has been announced for the proposed 450-baht levy.
The proposed fee could generate substantial revenue for Thailand’s tourism fund if introduced. The country recorded approximately 33 million international visitors last year, meaning a 450-baht charge on that volume would have generated an estimated 14.8 billion baht.
Thailand has set a goal of restoring tourism revenue to its pre-pandemic level of 3 trillion baht within four years, a target that would require international visitor numbers to approach the roughly 40 million recorded annually before 2020.
Weerasak Kowsurat, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Suphajee Suthumpun and chairman of a visitor economy development working group, said the government needed to hear from as many stakeholders as possible to ensure the proposed foreign tourism fee could be implemented effectively.
