Compulsory travel insurance to be enforced soon

Thailand’s tourism officials are looking at introducing compulsory travel insurance for international visitors in the near future, especially as a recent spate of accidents involving tourists have cast the spotlight on the country’s safety and security records.

Surging visitor numbers into Thailand has intensified the challenge of unpaid medical treatment fees racked up by foreign visitors while vacationing in the country, Thailand’s minister of Tourism and Sports Weerasak Kowsurat said in a recent interview.

“I’m introducing a new legislation, probably within (this year or next), to require self insurance for all arrivals into Thailand – it will be one or two dollars more for each person,” said Kowsurant.

“This common pool of money will be used to buy one insurance policy (to cover all international visitors),” he added. “We are barred by the law to use our budget to buy insurance policies for international arrivals.

“If travellers want to get involved in more challenging activities, like climbing mountains or diving in the sea, I’ll put into law to make sure service operators stop them from entering into the activity unless they buy the second level of insurance. And if they’re driving any vehicles, they will need another kind of insurance.”

The proposed mandatory travel insurance policy has received positive reception from tour operators and agents, although it has opened up questions on how the requirement will be implemented.