Lawmaker Urges Halt to Proposed 450-Baht Tourist Entry Fee
A Thai lawmaker opposes a proposed 450-baht tourist entry fee, warning it could slash foreign visitor numbers and tourism revenue while creating corruption risks through a special fund lacking proper oversight.
Member of Parliament Anusorn Thamjai from the Thai People Party stated his opposition to collecting a 450-baht per-person entry fee from foreign tourists, which would become a new revenue source for the government. Anusorn said the Finance, Banking, Institutions and Financial Markets Committee of Parliament invited the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to present information about the fee, which would be directed to a tourism promotion fund. He expressed concern that the fee could harm overall tourism revenue and that directing money to a special fund rather than the regular budget process creates risks of leakage, misuse, and corruption due to lack of standard oversight controls.
For transparency and accountability, Anusorn argued the fund should reconsider its purpose and collection methods, as the policy could negatively impact tourism and the public. According to the Ministry of Tourism, if a 450-baht fee per person is implemented, he estimated that foreign tourist numbers would decline, reducing tourism revenue substantially—potentially by 5,000 to 10,000 million baht rather than the government's estimate of 3,114 million baht, depending on management quality.
Anusorn further stated that if the government decides to collect this fee, it should be managed entirely by the Finance Ministry rather than held in a separate fund, which lacks standard supervisory and audit procedures. However, he emphasized the need for careful assessment before proceeding, as the Tourism Ministry may be overly optimistic about the policy's impact on visitor numbers.
