The head of a Thai hotel company proposed to pay for the post-covid recovery of the Thai tourism industry with tourists’ money. Bill Heineke, the Thai-American chairman of Minor International, which manages more than 500 hotels around the world, proposed a “fresh idea” – to allow hotels to charge tourists an additional fee of around 300 baht (that is, a little more than 310 hryvnias) per day.
According to him, the purpose of the tax is to finance the industry’s recovery after the pandemic. “The room surcharge, along with several other proposals, will help Thailand’s hospitality sector survive in this challenging environment of low demand and rising prices,” Mr. Heinecke wrote in an open letter to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
He said that Thailand’s tourism industry is suffering from high inflation and raw material and labor costs, as well as pressure from energy and fuel prices. “This forces operators to use their reserves to a large extent to cope with the situation,” he said.
It should be noted that such calls are made against the background of global forecasts of tourism statistics. Thailand is expected to surpass its target of attracting 10 million foreign visitors this year. However, this figure is only a quarter of the 2019 level. Therefore, Thailand needs to focus on “getting more from each visitor”. However, it is doubtful that this initiative will please the same Russian tourists, whose demand for Thailand began to grow in connection with the expansion of transportation and lower prices.