There has been much talk recently about the issue of dual pricing in Thailand, and TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) have finally announced that they want to end dual pricing for expats.
Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of TAT, has said that the will discuss the issue of dual pricing with the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department and other tourist sites, with the aim of allowing expats to pay the same price as Thai citizens.
They think the best way to do this would be for TAT to issue expat ID cards so that tourist sites could distinguish between expats and tourists. This just that regular international tourists will still be subject to paying a higher fee at many tourist sites.
It’s not clear how or when these cards would be issued, or how expats would actually prove that they are eligible for one.
A simpler solution may be to allow expats to show the pink ID cards that some of them have or to show their Thai driving licences.
It hasn’t been mentioned whether these cards would be free or whether there would be a cost. And how long would they be valid for? Would they need to be renewed annually?
I’m sure we’ll find out more details soon, but at least this is a step in the right direction.