Thailand shelves the 1,000-baht departure tax, with no new date

Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said on Wednesday 22 October 2026 that the government will not proceed with the proposed 1,000-baht departure tax for the time being. The draft would have charged every passenger leaving Thailand by air, Thai or foreign, through the airline ticket, with land and sea departures exempt at first.

The Revenue Department's public consultation opened on 30 September and was due to close on 29 October. The tax was never approved, and no new start date has been set. The minister cited airline costs from the Middle East conflict and the risk to tourism in the last quarter of the year; the Association of Thai Travel Agents and the Thai Hotels Association had both opposed it.