BANGKOK: Thailand is planning to collect a 300 baht ($9) fee from foreign tourist from April to develop attractions and cover accident insurance for foreigners unable to pay costs themselves, senior officials said on Wednesday.
Thailand, one of Asia’s most popular travel destinations, has been badly hit by a pandemic-induced tourism slump, with about 200,000 arrivals last year, compared to nearly 40 million in 2019.
Recent efforts to revive the sector have been complicated by the rapid global spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
“Part of the fee will be used to take care of tourists,” Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters.
“We’ve encountered times when insurance didn’t have coverage for tourists ... which became our burden to take care of them,” he said, adding that funds would also be used to upgrade tourism infrastructure.
The fee adds to a list of requirements for foreign tourists seeking entry to Thailand, which include pre-payment for COVID-19 tests, hotel accommodation or quarantine, and having insurance with COVID-19 treatment coverage of at least $50,000.
Thailand waived its strict quarantine measures in November in place of a “Test & Go” scheme for vaccinated visitors, but suspended that late last month over concerns about the spread of the omicron variant.
The new fee will be priced in with airline tickets and is part of the government’s sustainable tourism plans, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said.
Thailand expects between 5 and 15 million foreign arrivals this year, depending on policies in place in its main tourism markets, Thanakorn said.
Foreign tourists are expected to generate 800 billion Thai baht ($23.97 billion) this year, he said.
Thailand’s leading business group on Wednesday forecast foreign tourist arrivals for the year to be 5 to 6 million arrivals. ($1 = 33.3700 baht).
Thailand plans to impose tourist fee from April
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Thailand plans to impose tourist fee from April
- Recent efforts to revive the sector have been complicated by the rapid global spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19
Listen to abuse victims, pope tells cardinals
- The pope said the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by priests was still a “wound” in the Catholic Church
- “Listening is profoundly important,” Leo said
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV stressed the importance of listening to victims of clerical sex abuse during a meeting with cardinals from around the world this week, according to comments released Saturday.
In a speech concluding the two-day, closed-door consistory, the US pope said the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by priests was still a “wound” in the Catholic Church.
“Listening is profoundly important,” Leo said, according to a Vatican transcript, adding: “We cannot close our eyes, nor our hearts.”
He noted that abuse was not a specific topic for discussion during the consistory, his first since taking over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May following the death of Pope Francis.
But he said he wanted to raise it in his closing remarks, saying the scourge was “a problem that still today is truly a wound in the life of the Church in many places.”
“I would like to say, and encourage you to share this with the bishops: many times the pain of the victims has been worsened by the fact that they were not welcomed and listened to,” he said.
“The abuse itself causes a deep wound that can last a lifetime.
“But many times the scandal in the Church is because the door has been closed and the victims have not been welcomed.”
He added: “A victim recently told me that the most painful thing for her was that no bishop wanted to listen to her.”
Some 170 cardinals were present at the Vatican for the consistory on Wednesday and Thursday, where they discussed the future direction of the Church.
Leo invited them to meet again at the end of June, in what the Vatican said would become an annual event.
