Money & paymentsBy Clever Tourists · Published
No. As of 30 October 2026 Thailand is not charging the 300-baht tourist entry fee, and we found no confirmed start date. The fee, approved in principle by the cabinet in February 2023 at 300 baht for air arrivals and 150 baht for land or sea, has been announced and delayed several times, and nothing in your airfare or at immigration currently includes it. What you must do before arrival is file the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card. This page explains the history, who would pay if it starts, and how to check before you fly. Our sources are the Nation Thailand report on the delay and secondary 2026 guides; we could not find an official Ministry of Tourism and Sports notice with a start date. We spent about six weeks in Thailand from December 2022 to January 2023.
Free toolConvert to your own currency at live rates →Live mid-market rates for all 17 currencies we used, so you can see what a price actually costs.• In force? No. Guides published in mid-2026, and our own October 2026 search, show no collection at Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai or land borders.
• What was approved: in February 2023 the cabinet approved in principle the "Thailand Tourism Fee": 300 baht per foreign visitor arriving by air and 150 baht by land or sea, per trip.
• What changed since: a July 2025 Nation Thailand report quotes the tourism ministry as saying the fee would not be enforced in 2025 while it assessed demand in the high season and set a structure by mode of travel, with a launch expected in the second or third quarter of 2026. That window has passed without a confirmed start.
• Why it is still unclear: the collection method, the legal text and the exemptions have not been published in the form of a final announcement, so some travel blogs repeat old start dates. Treat any page that gives a firm date without citing a Royal Gazette notice as unreliable.
Nothing is final, but the 2023 plan and later commentary point to this:
• Foreign tourists: 300 baht per air arrival, 150 baht per land or sea arrival. Per arrival, not per year, so a trip with a side visit to Cambodia or Laos and a return would trigger it twice.
• Thai citizens and permanent residents: not expected to pay.
• Transit passengers and long-stay visa holders: unclear until the rules are published.
• Children: no exemption has been announced that we could verify.
Collection methods discussed have included adding it to the airline ticket, paying it at check-in or collecting at immigration. The ministry has said repeatedly that it needs time to study readiness. If it is tied to the ticket, you would see it as a line in the fare breakdown, as the departure tax is in Japan.
As of October 2026 the entry costs you can expect are:
• Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC): free, mandatory, filed online before arrival. See our TDAC guide. Beware of lookalike sites that charge for it.
• Visa: many nationalities enter visa-exempt for up to 30 days, and the 60-day exemption ended on 15 September 2026 according to our Thailand visa guide. A Visa on Arrival is 2,000 baht according to a visa agency's guide.
• Extensions: about 1,900 baht for a tourist stay extension, per the same agency page.
A 300-baht fee would be small next to those costs. In dollars it is under US$10, so it should not change a trip budget; our Thailand trip cost guide shows where money actually goes. Do not confuse the proposed fee with national park entry fees, which are paid in cash on site, or with the refund you can get on shopping: see Thailand's VAT refund.
1. Read your fare breakdown. If a new fee is added to the ticket, airlines will show it as a tax or charge line.
2. Check the official sources. The Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Royal Gazette are where a start date would have to appear. The TDAC site is another place immigration changes show up.
3. Ignore start dates on blog posts that do not link a notice.
4. Keep a few hundred baht in cash on arrival in case a counter-based payment appears, though nothing suggests it will. See cash or card in Thailand.
5. Recheck a week before departure, because announcements in Thailand can be made with short notice.
For a broader pre-trip checklist, read things to know before visiting Thailand.
The fee has been politically awkward since 2023: tourism arrivals were recovering after the pandemic, industry groups warned it could discourage visitors, and the ministry has repeatedly said it wants to see demand first. The money is meant to fund tourist-site improvements and insurance cover for visitors, according to the Nation Thailand report.
There is also a practical problem: collecting at land borders, where visitors cross by bus and on foot, is harder than collecting a line on an airline ticket. That is why the air-only version is the one most often expected to start first. Until a notice is published, plan as if there is no fee, and keep an eye on the sources above.
No. As of 30 October 2026 we found no collection and no confirmed start date. The plan is proposed, not in force.
The 2023 plan is 300 baht for foreign visitors arriving by air and 150 baht by land or sea, per trip. Neither is being charged now.
You must file the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card before arrival. Visa-exempt visitors pay no entry fee, and a Visa on Arrival is 2,000 baht.
It would appear as a line on your airline ticket or in an official notice from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports or the Royal Gazette. Check before you fly.
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