Transcript of the above video: 

So it's that Old Chestnut again, the old Tourism Tax as we used to call it in the past. Now apparently, the Byzantine bureaucrats have come up with a way that it can't really be labeled a Tourist Tax because they are trying to tax people on their way out of Thailand, rather than on their way in. Let's jump into this. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Thai Examiner, that is, thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Sharp criticism for sky high passenger service fees to be imposed by Thai airports in June on departures. Quoting directly: Thailand to hike airport departure tax by 53% despite falling tourist numbers. Former Democrat deputy Samart slams the timing as arrivals dropped 7.5%. Outbound fee jumps to 1,120 Baht from June 2026, hitting potentially tens of millions of passengers."

So again as I was saying, we have talked about this a lot in the past; this has come up a lot. I think, look at the end of the day they made us shut down the economy for like 2 to 3 years - it was about two and a half years here in Thailand - and then they were all running around like their hair was on fire because there were no tax revenues. So in the aftermath of that, we've been dealing with this ongoing dragging denouement of folks who think that we just need to be taxed and looking for any possible excuse to tax. The problem they have had in the past from a narrative standpoint it looks to me like, was anytime this would get imposed, everybody would say hey you are trying to impose a Tourist Tax; what's the point of that? Now they're saying, "oh no, no, no. We are just looking, it's a departure tax." So it's like okay, so one way, tickets into Thailand, no tax, but to get out, they are going to hit you up for a toll. Again, I see what's going on here. I question the need for this to begin with. I'd love to know what this is going to be spent on. Most likely just more bureaucracy and more biometrics and I definitely know that under the - I think it was still the Srettha Government - when they were trying to roll out, they were doing the DTV sort of at the same time but they were also trying to roll out this integrated tax banking and immigration sort of nexus that would occur at the airport, and basically they would have you trapped in a man trap and they could assess your tax liability, and get the money out of you at the airport. It's a bad look across the board, and frankly it's not going to attract more people or probably gain more revenue in the long term. 

That said, quoting further: "Thailand's top airports will impose a 53% increase in the passenger-service charge on all outbound travellers from June 2026. The move by the Bhumjaithai-led government comes as foreign tourism slides, with arrivals in 2026 down 7 and 1/2% basically, and 2025 closing 7.2% lower than the year before. On Friday, former Democrat Party leader Samart Ratchapolsitte sharply criticized the decision, saying it makes Suvarnabhumi and other Thai airports markedly more expensive than several of the world's leading gateways. The higher levy will be built into airfares and will affect return tickets purchased for travel after June." 

Again note, that it's being concentrated on return tickets. That way you can't say it's a Tourist Tax because, "oh we're not taxing on the inbound part", so it's a tax so they can go home? I mean it's, again I question the need for this to begin with, and I would love to know what we're supposedly going to get as a big benefit out of this. Meanwhile the optics of it are bad, and tourism really is a Golden Goose. Now I'm not like many of the folks out there who are under the mistaken impression that tourism is like Thailand's bread and butter, and Thailand can't survive without it; Thailand has survived without tourism. I did the video literally when the Tourism Sector was decimated during the middle of COVID. Thailand can survive. It ain't pleasant but Thailand can survive it. That said, to do this kind of thing and to have the risk that it could negatively impact the Tourism Sector for, I don't really see that there's any great benefit gained by this, I just don't think it's wise policy.

That being said, it remains to be seen and supposedly going to be coming online in June. It remains to be seen what happens between now and then. In the interim, we are supposed to be seeing a Parliament come online so that could impact things as well, so we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.