National parks hike fees

BANGKOK, 23 August 2012: Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will raise entrance fees, 1 October, by 150% at 29 national parks out of 148 locations, nationwide.

The short notice has angered inbound tour operators who have already signed contracts for next year’s tour package prices and many of them included national park fees. They will have to absorb an additional Bt300 per person, per entry to most of the popular national parks that are visited by foreigners.

The new fees have been imposed at top-ranked national parks including Khao Yai, Inthanon, Erawan, Doi Suthep-Pui, Huai Nam Dang, Mu Ko Surin and Mu Ko Similan. Fees will be Bt100 for a Thai (Bt50, for a child) and Bt500 for a foreigner (Bt300, child).

At present (effective from 1 December 2007), Thais pay Bt40 at the listed national parks except for Mu Ko Surin and Mu Ko Similan which costs Bt80.

Foreigners pay Bt200 except for Mu Ko Surin, Mu Ko Similan, Pha Hom Pok, Inthanon, Thung Salaeng Luang, Phu Kradung, Khao Yai, Lanta and Hat Noppharatthara-Mu Ko Phi Phi that charge Bt400 per entry.

The department claims the top national parks are suffering from too many tourists and the new fees will be a deterrent to help fight deterioration of a sensitive environment. Also the department says it will use the additional revenue to improve facilities to better serve tourists.

The department’s director-general, Damrong Phidet, said the selected national parks are either large popular parks, or marine national parks, that attract thousands of visitors annually. He added if there are complaints about high price, the department might consider a revision.

“These new fees are based on the principle that people need to sacrifice to conserve natural resources.”

National Park Office director, Wittaya Hongwiangjan, said that normally the department allocated Bt10 million to each national park, but the money was used for patrolling, looking after resources so it was not enough to add tourism services especially expensive waste water treatment. Therefore the additional income will be used for tourism purposes.

After learning about the new fees, Nutty Adventures and Ayutthaya Boat and Travel managing director, Nithi Subhongsang, told TTR Weekly that the announcement came as a shock and would have a “horrible impact on inbound tour operators” because contracted prices are signed for the entire year and the ones for next year are effective until October 2013.

“I cannot accept this and will file a complaint… TEATA (Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association) need to take lead role because I am only an operator, and my voice will not be heard.”

He added: “It is ridiculous, a 150% hike. How did they calculate it? Officials are never transparent, and there is no guarantees that the budget will be used for what they say it will. They have to show us why they need the extra income…Private stakeholders have never been called for a discussion or given a heads-up on this in advance.”

Mr Nithi said that when the fees were increased five years ago, tour operators also raised a hue and cry. Eventually the officials waived the fees case by case and they gave coupons to tour operators who had to go to the national parks on a weekly basis to get the coupons.

According the the DNP’s statistics, there were 9,494,807 visitors to all national parks (8,306,851, Thais and 1,187,956, foreigners). The 29 listed national parks accounted for around 4,750,000 or around half of the total. Based on the number and the ratio of Thais and foreigners using 2011 data, roughly the DNP would receive Bt250 million additional income from Thai tourists and Bt180 million from foreign tourists.

The department also announced fees for four new national parks: Chalerm Phrakiat Thai Prajan, Khao Kho, Khun Khan and Doi Phu Nang at Bt20 for an adult and Bt10 for a child while foreigners pay Bt100 for an adult and Bt50, a child.

In addition, in April, it announced from 1 September the one-day pass ticket for multi-visits of national parks all on the same day will be cancelled.

The policy in place since 1993 was announced to support the promotion of national park tourism, but the department said statistics showed only a small number visited more than one national parks in a day.

Also, responsible agencies reported that there were some corrupt tour operators who took advantage of the one-day pass ticket by reusing and sharing tickets with other tour groups in order to maximize their profits.

Sourced: ttrweekly