Thailand National Parks

Monday 27 October 2008

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List of Thailand National Parks

There is a certain irony in the fact that Thailand’s autocratic Royal Forest Department Director-General, Dr Plodprasop Surasawasdi, raised the entrance fees for national parks from Bht. 20 to THB. 200 more or less simultaneously with the appearance of the OBC Bulletin Special Thailand Issue.

This new entrance fee does not apply to Thai nationals, you understand, who will continue to pay THB. 20. It only applies to foreigners.

At currently THB. 40 per USD, THB. 200 to enter a national park is a cost which most of us can probably bear. However, the principle of discriminating solely on grounds of nationality seems to me to be little more than bare-faced banditry. It is merely the latest example of blatant double-pricing in Thailand, "The Land of Smiles" according to the government tourist blurb, but where it is accepted practice to overcharge foreign tourists on the grounds that "they are richer than us Thais.

" It seems that the incongruity of allowing a Bangkok businessman to drive his Mercedes Benz into Khao Yai National Park for THB. 20, while charging a western or non-Thai Asian backpacker THB. 200 to enter on foot hasn’t occurred to Plodprasop.