Waive visa fees, cut air fares:

[Bruce551]

Waive visa fees, cut air fares: Tourism and Sports Ministry

The Tourism and Sports Ministry has submitted 13 tourism recovery measures for government approval. The proposals include waiving visa fees, cutting air fares, and reducing airport charges.

Minister Chumpol Silapa-Archa said the proposed measures were handed to the government's economic team yesterday.

"The ministry has compiled [the measures] from the needs and proposals from the private sector," Chumpol said.

The tourism industry, which normally generates about 6-8 per cent of gross domestic product, is suffering from the global economic crisis and last year's eight-day closure of Bangkok's two commercial airports.

Among the measures proposed to revive sector, the ministry will urge Thai Airways International and other carriers to cut fares by 50 per cent to encourage more advanced bookings.

It is also urging the government to waive visa fees for tourists from all countries for six months, with a possible extension of a further six months.

The ministry has also asked the government to reduce value-added tax on hotel room rates for one year, and Airports of Thailand to reduce landing and parking fees at the country's international airports in a bid to persuade more airlines to restore their Thai operations.

Other measures would require government organisations to adjust their budgets for outside meetings and seminars so as to boost domestic tourism, plus a proposal that private companies' tax refunds for meetings and conferences be doubled.

Moreover, hotel operators have asked for an exemption from the annual fee of Bt80 per room they have to pay to the Revenue Department.

Banks, meanwhile, will be encouraged to extend debt-repayment periods for operators in the tourism sector for three years.

The Ministry also plans to promote the major destinations of Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga for local tourism by reducing airport taxes and surcharges.

In addition, all national parks should play their part by waiving entrance fees for three years.

The government has also been urged to help workers in the tourism sector, which faces a high risk of increased job losses.

Chumpol said the Ministry would seek an additional budget from the government to assist the tourism sector.

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved Bt1 billion to help tourism and related businesses, but more funding was needed to support the recovery effort.

Prakit Chinamourphong, President of the Thai Hotels Association, said three- and four-star hotels planned to discount room rates by 50 per cent for people visiting the country in February and March.

Among the main target markets are China, India, the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.

Shopping centres and tourist attractions in Bangkok and other key destinations are also supporting the tourism-recovery campaign.

Most hotels in Bangkok and other major tourist cities are running at lower-than-usual occupancy rates following the airport closures.

New promotion and marketing activities in both local and overseas markets are also planned.

- The Nation / 2009-01-15

[submissiv]

How about just being friendly to the people staying here for a long time all together. Stop being such babies when it comes to long term visa and stuff.

We all know lowering the prices on the hotel will not make the hotels lower the rates to the customers just make more profit.

Stop putting people on black lists and stop blocking websites and just give us this SMILE you promised on the advertising.

[beej]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

[Neo]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

So they get 30 days when they arrive (depending on where they came from etc).. extend that to 45.. that's a month and a half holiday in one place, don't they have a job to go back to? And if they're on some grand 3 month trip around SE Asia don't they have any flights booked within a 45 day period? I'm sure it causes an inconvenience for some but doesn't seem like a big deal to me. A long time ago when I spent 2 months traveling around SE Asia I never spent more than 3 weeks in one place.

[dannyboy]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

So they get 30 days when they arrive (depending on where they came from etc).. extend that to 45.. that's a month and a half holiday in one place, don't they have a job to go back to? And if they're on some grand 3 month trip around SE Asia don't they have any flights booked within a 45 day period? I'm sure it causes an inconvenience for some but doesn't seem like a big deal to me. A long time ago when I spent 2 months traveling around SE Asia I never spent more than 3 weeks in one place.

They get 30 days on arrival and if they need to do a visa run, a land crossing gets them 15 days but by air they still get 30.

So if musts be, jump on an Air Asia flight to KL or PP and come back again...there you go, 30 more days thank you very much for about B5,000.

All's not lost...

If you want to stay here long term get the right visa

it's pretty simple

There is that option also.

I have recently came back to Thailand and I knew I would be working so I got a Non B visa from my local consulate. When I was there, people were getting 60 and 90 day tourist visas, all they did was pay a fee.

It wasn't that hard.

[CiaranM]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

So they get 30 days when they arrive (depending on where they came from etc).. extend that to 45.. that's a month and a half holiday in one place, don't they have a job to go back to? And if they're on some grand 3 month trip around SE Asia don't they have any flights booked within a 45 day period? I'm sure it causes an inconvenience for some but doesn't seem like a big deal to me. A long time ago when I spent 2 months traveling around SE Asia I never spent more than 3 weeks in one place.

They get 30 days on arrival and if they need to do a visa run, a land crossing gets them 15 days but by air they still get 30.

So if musts be, jump on an Air Asia flight to KL or PP and come back again...there you go, 30 more days thank you very much for about B5,000.

All's not lost...

go to vientianne in laos and get a tourist visa 60 + 30 days and rumour has it u got get a double entry .... if u r lucky .... 60 + 30 + 60 + 30 !!

also easy to get a tourist visa ... or non immigrant O in ur own country before u leave .... well depending on what ur own country is i guess !

[dannyboy]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

So they get 30 days when they arrive (depending on where they came from etc).. extend that to 45.. that's a month and a half holiday in one place, don't they have a job to go back to? And if they're on some grand 3 month trip around SE Asia don't they have any flights booked within a 45 day period? I'm sure it causes an inconvenience for some but doesn't seem like a big deal to me. A long time ago when I spent 2 months traveling around SE Asia I never spent more than 3 weeks in one place.

They get 30 days on arrival and if they need to do a visa run, a land crossing gets them 15 days but by air they still get 30.

So if musts be, jump on an Air Asia flight to KL or PP and come back again...there you go, 30 more days thank you very much for about B5,000.

All's not lost...

go to vientianne in laos and get a tourist visa 60 + 30 days and rumour has it u got get a double entry .... if u r lucky .... 60 + 30 + 60 + 30 !!

also easy to get a tourist visa ... or non immigrant O in ur own country before u leave .... well depending on what ur own country is i guess !

Even better Ciaran.

[beej]

You get a lot of students going over land coming in from Cambodia/Laos/Malaysia wanting to spend a month in Thailand, 15 days is crazy short in my opinion for these people to ''see Thailand''.

[dannyboy]

You get a lot of students going over land coming in from Cambodia/Laos/Malaysia wanting to spend a month in Thailand, 15 days is crazy short in my opinion for these people to ''see Thailand''.

True...

As always there must be some kind of logical thought process gone into this.

My understaning was, not that they wanted to affect foreign tourist visa runners...just foreign natiionals from working...Even those from neighbouring countries.

But it kind of kills 20 birds with one stone...

[beej]

As always there must be some kind of logical thought process gone into this.

:roll: come on Danny, are you trying to go for Quote of the month? :roll:

[dannyboy]

As always there must be some kind of logical thought process gone into this.

:roll: come on Danny, are you trying to go for Quote of the month? :roll:

I forgot to add :shock: sarcasm doesn't always convey well on the page...

[condotown]

.... get rid of that dumb 15 day boarder crossing rule, I know tons of normal tourists that its stuffing.

So they get 30 days when they arrive (depending on where they came from etc).. extend that to 45.. that's a month and a half holiday in one place, don't they have a job to go back to? And if they're on some grand 3 month trip around SE Asia don't they have any flights booked within a 45 day period? I'm sure it causes an inconvenience for some but doesn't seem like a big deal to me. A long time ago when I spent 2 months traveling around SE Asia I never spent more than 3 weeks in one place.

They get 30 days on arrival and if they need to do a visa run, a land crossing gets them 15 days but by air they still get 30.

So if musts be, jump on an Air Asia flight to KL or PP and come back again...there you go, 30 more days thank you very much for about B5,000.

All's not lost...

If you want to stay here long term get the right visa

it's pretty simple

There is that option also.

I have recently came back to Thailand and I knew I would be working so I got a Non B visa from my local consulate. When I was there, people were getting 60 and 90 day tourist visas, all they did was pay a fee.

It wasn't that hard.

beej is right!!

It's crap!

My friend flew in with his Thai wife on Dec 26 for an 18 day holiday until 12 January.. He got his 30 day stamp which should have allowed him plenty of time.. We took off for Laos on the 28th and came back across the border on the 30th.. All of a sudden he was just leaving the country under the wire. His original tourist visa for flying in was no good and his legal visiting time had been cut by almost half due to the fact that he took an overland trip out of the country for two days... How f*cked is that?

[Neo]

beej is right!!

It's crap!

My friend flew in with his Thai wife on Dec 26 for an 18 day holiday until 12 January.. He got his 30 day stamp which should have allowed him plenty of time.. We took off for Laos on the 28th and came back across the border on the 30th.. All of a sudden he was just leaving the country under the wire. His original tourist visa for flying in was no good and his legal visiting time had been cut by almost half due to the fact that he took an overland trip out of the country for two days... How f*cked is that?

That sucks. Ok, then the only way to get rid of the English teachers is prohibition :wink:

All those in favour?

[Stu_thailand]

How about the Government ministers forgetting the sweet words, and actually getting off hid ass and DOING something about it?

For a start, how about getting rid of the scum at the airports who call themselves taxi drivers? They are the FIRST impression many people have of THAILAND? Why therefore, have they been allowed to sit there and rip people off for so long? Wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that they are paying their bosses, their bosses are paying THEIR bosses, and THEIR bosses are paying YOU lot off, would it?

How about NOT scrapping entrance fees to national parks? Even WITH entrance fees a lot of them are holes strewn with litter (Koh Samet for example)...instead, how about charging everyone the same, and actually using the income to clean them up into the beautiful places that they should be / once were instead of creaming everything off yourselves?

How about addressing the fact that Thai airways international are 50 years behind the times? How many international airlines in the world are there today who refuse to accept applications for pilots / cabin crew from foreigners? I know of one. THAI. Why not stop the racism, open the doors to a modern multi national crew that can compete with other airlines, instead of restricting it to members of wealthy Thai-Chinese people who have their Daddy make a phone call and a payment to get them the position regardless of their English, or other foreign language abilities?

How about doing something about the greedy bastards, such as Wisuth Setsawat, owner of Santika, who think it's ok to take young lives into his own hands? Santika had been open for 5 years with a ******* NOODLE license...and NO ONE did anything about it...how about being happy with your salary, taking care of people who visit and invest in your country, and of course your own people too, and stop the greed of taking payments from scum such as Setsawat?

How about bringing in some foreigners to advise you on what foreigners want to see? Every normal country in the world has advisers from overseas. Why not stop this dumb 'I'm Thai, I'm important, I know everything', attitude?

...and some fell on deaf ears.

[yamahacrasher]

How about the Government ministers forgetting the sweet words, and actually getting off hid a*s and DOING something about it?

For a start, how about getting rid of the scum at the airports who call themselves taxi drivers? They are the FIRST impression many people have of THAILAND? Why therefore, have they been allowed to sit there and rip people off for so long? Wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that they are paying their bosses, their bosses are paying THEIR bosses, and THEIR bosses are paying YOU lot off, would it?

How about NOT scrapping entrance fees to national parks? Even WITH entrance fees a lot of them are holes strewn with litter (Koh Samet for example)...instead, how about charging everyone the same, and actually using the income to clean them up into the beautiful places that they should be / once were instead of creaming everything off yourselves?

How about addressing the fact that Thai airways international are 50 years behind the times? How many international airlines in the world are there today who refuse to accept applications for pilots / cabin crew from foreigners? I know of one. THAI. Why not stop the racism, open the doors to a modern multi national crew that can compete with other airlines, instead of restricting it to members of wealthy Thai-Chinese people who have their Daddy make a phone call and a payment to get them the position regardless of their English, or other foreign language abilities?

How about doing something about the greedy bastards, such as Wisuth Setsawat, owner of Santika, who think it's ok to take young lives into his own hands? Santika had been open for 5 years with a f*cking NOODLE license...and NO ONE did anything about it...how about being happy with your salary, taking care of people who visit and invest in your country, and of course your own people too, and stop the greed of taking payments from scum such as Setsawat?

How about bringing in some foreigners to advise you on what foreigners want to see? Every normal country in the world has advisers from overseas. Why not stop this dumb 'I'm Thai, I'm important, I know everything', attitude?

...and some fell on deaf ears.

Agree with you totally.

[Neo]

How about the Government ministers forgetting the sweet words, and actually getting off hid a*s and DOING something about it?

For a start, how about getting rid of the scum at the airports who call themselves taxi drivers?... paying YOU lot off, would it?

How about NOT scrapping entrance fees to national parks? ... instead of creaming everything off yourselves?

How about addressing the fact that Thai airways international are 50 years behind the times?... wealthy Thai-Chinese...

How about doing something about the greedy bastards, ... and stop the greed of taking payments from scum such as Setsawat?

...

Sure, just set up a government committee to get rid of corruption in Thailand. Simple.

[MisterMatlock]

How about the Government ministers forgetting the sweet words, and actually getting off hid a*s and DOING something about it?

For a start, how about getting rid of the scum at the airports who call themselves taxi drivers? They are the FIRST impression many people have of THAILAND? Why therefore, have they been allowed to sit there and rip people off for so long? Wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that they are paying their bosses, their bosses are paying THEIR bosses, and THEIR bosses are paying YOU lot off, would it?

How about NOT scrapping entrance fees to national parks? Even WITH entrance fees a lot of them are holes strewn with litter (Koh Samet for example)...instead, how about charging everyone the same, and actually using the income to clean them up into the beautiful places that they should be / once were instead of creaming everything off yourselves?

How about addressing the fact that Thai airways international are 50 years behind the times? How many international airlines in the world are there today who refuse to accept applications for pilots / cabin crew from foreigners? I know of one. THAI. Why not stop the racism, open the doors to a modern multi national crew that can compete with other airlines, instead of restricting it to members of wealthy Thai-Chinese people who have their Daddy make a phone call and a payment to get them the position regardless of their English, or other foreign language abilities?

How about doing something about the greedy bastards, such as Wisuth Setsawat, owner of Santika, who think it's ok to take young lives into his own hands? Santika had been open for 5 years with a f*cking NOODLE license...and NO ONE did anything about it...how about being happy with your salary, taking care of people who visit and invest in your country, and of course your own people too, and stop the greed of taking payments from scum such as Setsawat?

How about bringing in some foreigners to advise you on what foreigners want to see? Every normal country in the world has advisers from overseas. Why not stop this dumb 'I'm Thai, I'm important, I know everything', attitude?

...and some fell on deaf ears.

Agree with you totally.

Best forum post I've read in a long time. Would be nice if the attitude in this country wasn't "say whatever is expected at the moment, but NEVER act on it." Abhisit should get away with doing "the same old thing" because he's got a nice haircut and he studied at Oxford. :roll:

[PeeMarc]

How about the Government ministers forgetting the sweet words, and actually getting off hid a*s and DOING something about it?

For a start, how about getting rid of the scum at the airports who call themselves taxi drivers? They are the FIRST impression many people have of THAILAND? Why therefore, have they been allowed to sit there and rip people off for so long? Wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that they are paying their bosses, their bosses are paying THEIR bosses, and THEIR bosses are paying YOU lot off, would it?

How about NOT scrapping entrance fees to national parks? Even WITH entrance fees a lot of them are holes strewn with litter (Koh Samet for example)...instead, how about charging everyone the same, and actually using the income to clean them up into the beautiful places that they should be / once were instead of creaming everything off yourselves?

How about addressing the fact that Thai airways international are 50 years behind the times? How many international airlines in the world are there today who refuse to accept applications for pilots / cabin crew from foreigners? I know of one. THAI. Why not stop the racism, open the doors to a modern multi national crew that can compete with other airlines, instead of restricting it to members of wealthy Thai-Chinese people who have their Daddy make a phone call and a payment to get them the position regardless of their English, or other foreign language abilities?

How about doing something about the greedy bastards, such as Wisuth Setsawat, owner of Santika, who think it's ok to take young lives into his own hands? Santika had been open for 5 years with a f*cking NOODLE license...and NO ONE did anything about it...how about being happy with your salary, taking care of people who visit and invest in your country, and of course your own people too, and stop the greed of taking payments from scum such as Setsawat?

How about bringing in some foreigners to advise you on what foreigners want to see? Every normal country in the world has advisers from overseas. Why not stop this dumb 'I'm Thai, I'm important, I know everything', attitude?

...and some fell on deaf ears.

here here!! [sxf of applause]

[Neo]

How about we supply all the police with uniforms, handcuffs and a few motorbikes so they don't have any reason to scam locals for cash, and then form a police section to remove corruption from the police force.

How about we make nepotism illegal and enforce equal opportunity rights for non-Chinese Thais.

How about we make English the official language of Thailand.

How about we make it illegal to say one thing and do another, and remove the word kreng jai from the language (oh wait.. English doesn't have that phrase anyway)

How about we make Christianity the official religion and replace all the Wats with Churches (replacing fate induced laziness with fear driven zeal).

How about we ban mor lum and look thung and play UK top 40 on all radio stations.

How about we shoot anyone who rips off a tourist.

How about we shoot all the drug dealers too.

How about we turn all the karaoke bars into Irish Pubs.

Let's bring freedom and democracy to Thailand so we can drink our beer in peace without uncivilised interuption from the natives!

[Stu_thailand]

How about we supply all the police with uniforms, handcuffs and a few motorbikes so they don't have any reason to scam locals for cash, and then form a police section to remove corruption from the police force.

How about we make nepotism illegal and enforce equal opportunity rights for non-Chinese Thais.

How about we make English the official language of Thailand.

How about we make it illegal to say one thing and do another, and remove the word kreng jai from the language (oh wait.. English doesn't have that phrase anyway)

How about we make Christianity the official religion and replace all the Wats with Churches (replacing fate induced laziness with fear driven zeal).

How about we ban mor lum and look thung and play UK top 40 on all radio stations.

How about we shoot anyone who rips off a tourist.

How about we shoot all the drug dealers too.

How about we turn all the karaoke bars into Irish Pubs.

Let's bring freedom and democracy to Thailand!

Don't repeat yourself, it sounded ******* stupid the first time you posted it!!

[Neo]

Don't repeat yourself, it sounded f*cking stupid the first time you posted it!!

Thanks for the kindness and tolerance Stu.

You may not be interested to know I only posted it once but something went wrong with my connection at the time.

Now you may go back to your beer and swapping complaints about the lazy corrupt Thais with your English teacher buddies. :wink:

[CiaranM]

Don't repeat yourself, it sounded f*cking stupid the first time you posted it!!

Thanks for the kindness and tolerance Stu.

You may not be interested to know I only posted it once but something went wrong with my connection at the time.

Now you may go back to your beer and swapping complaints about the lazy corrupt Thais with your English teacher buddies. :wink:

he doesn't have any buddies .... even English teachers have some standards !!

[Stu_thailand]

he doesn't have any buddies .... even English teachers have some standards !!

LOL Ciaran

lets drink on THAT!!

Yes, LET'S - and after the last few days with some things which have been told to me, I now have to REALLY think who my real ones are!!!

[CMG_UK]

To Stu,

How about sending that excellent message to the newspapers in addition to posting it here. Give the rest of Thailand a chance to read your wise words.

And you could add, how about they create more of their websites in English and keep them maintained and up to date. How can tourists plan bus journeys in Thailand when the national bus company's site is only in Thai (as far as I can find) and seat availability on trains can only be checked in Thai (and it hasn't worked right for weeks)?

[submissiv]

For all those who has been living here for a while you all know that the Chinese some not even thai passport holders own most of the houses in Bangkok.

They refuse to pay property tax on income for renting. They give you some BS contract with 5000 THB for rent and 95 000 for cleaning.

If Thailand was to tax them they could get so much more money easy.

[CMG_UK]

Obviously not the type of tourists the government is trying to attract...

By Subir Bhaumik

BBC News, Calcutta

Thai soldiers are detaining illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Burma and forcing them back out to sea in boats without engines, survivors say.

Survivors say their hands were tied and they were towed out to sea with little or no food or water.

About 500 migrants are now recovering from acute dehydration in India's Andaman islands and the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Thai officials were not immediately available for comment.

But sources in the police and army confirmed to the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok that asylum seekers are being pushed out to sea. They did not provide further details about the practice.

Thousands of poor Burmese and Bangladeshis try to reach south-east Asian nations in search of work.

'Without food'

Survivors rescued by Indian coast guards say hundreds of other asylum-seekers are still missing after leaving Bangladesh and Burma since the end of November.

They told the BBC that they paid agents to take them to Thailand by boat so that they could have a better life.

Map

They said that the Thai authorities detained many of them in Koh Sai Daeng island.

"Thai soldiers tied up our hands and then put us in boats without engines. These were towed into the high sea by motorised boats and left to drift," said Zaw Win, a survivor rescued by Indian coast guards off the coast of Little Andamans after drifting for 12 days.

"We were without food and water. The Thai soldiers clearly wanted us to die on the boats," Win told the BBC by telephone from a camp where survivors are being cared for.

Other survivors said that about 400 migrants were put on a huge boat by soldiers. It was equipped with only two bags of rice and two drums of drinking water.

"The food and water ran out in two days. After that we were starving for nearly 15 days before we saw a lighthouse and jumped into the sea and tried swimming ashore," Mohammed Said told the BBC.

This group of migrants was also rescued by the Indian coast guards and put into relief camps.

"They have all suffered huge dehydration. We are taking care of them the best we can," said Ratan Kar, deputy director of health services in the Andamans.

'Dehydration and starvation'

Nearly all of those rescued have equally harrowing stories.

Dehydrated Bangladeshi immigrant after being rescued by the Indian coast guard

The asylum seekers are dehydrated (Photo: Andaman Chronicle )

One Rohingya villager from Burma said that his son and seven friends had left together on the same boat.

He said that after they were arrested by the Thai authorities, they were forced onto the same large boat without an engine:

"Four of them, including my son, survived but four died," he said.

"My son told me that many died because of dehydration and starvation but many also jumped into the sea.

"When the boat finally drifted close to an Andaman island, there were only just over 100 still onboard."

The refugees say that hardly any of them escaped the Thai military guarding the country's coastal islands.

Human rights activists have condemned Thailand's "inhuman and brutal response" to this new wave of illegal migration.