Thailand to consider ending 52-year-old alcohol ban

Thailand alcohol ban may end

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin may be contemplating the end a 52-year-old ban on afternoon alcohol sales after appeals from the tourism industry.

According to Time, the Restaurant Business Club recently submitted a letter to the Prime Minister asking for urgent relief measures, including an end to the afternoon alcohol sales ban to help alleviate rising costs and a dying economy.

“PM Srettha is pleased to consider proposals from restaurant operators to change laws that ban sales of alcoholic beverages from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.,” a statement read on the Royal Thai Government website.

“We have to look at the overall picture on this,” Srettha said in the statement. “Costs are rising, but the government is also promoting tourism, which will help boost restaurant operators’ income.”

The three-hour ban on afternoon alcohol sales has been in effect since 1972, when Thailand became one of the world’s most popular travel destinations. 

Country also drops plans to instate tourism fee

In other news, international tourists planning to visit Thailand need not worry about the proposed tourism fee the country had intended to instate, as now, the fee has been scrapped.

According to Travel News, the fee was meant to be implemented from 1 June 2024, after several postponements.

The BHT300 (R147) fee has now been ditched altogether, reports say, in a bid to help tourism recover in the nation.

“The fee… was abandoned with the rationale that its elimination could encourage higher tourist spending in other areas, thereby providing a more substantial boost to the economy,” Thailand’s Government Public Relations Department said. 

In another bid to boost tourism and the economy, Thailand will now also offer tourists an extended visa to stay in country for longer.

As per government spokesperson Chai Wacharonke, as of June 2024, travellers from 93 countries, including South Africa, will be permitted to stay in Thailand for up to 60 days.