Thailand's airport admin is changing in 2026, in three separate directions, and for a trade partner the useful thing is to keep them apart. One change is already live and sitting invisibly inside ticket prices. One is coming in August and will change how clients complete their arrival card. And one that gets talked about the most has not actually happened at all. Get those three straight and you can brief a client cleanly instead of repeating a rumour. What follows is a practical read for partners building Thailand itineraries and combined trips across our two core destinations, and it pairs with our overview of Thailand and Vietnam entry requirements. It is guidance, not legal or immigration advice, so confirm the current position on the official sources we link before you quote or book.
The departure fee just went up 53 percent
Airports of Thailand raised the international Passenger Service Charge from 730 to 1,120 baht per departing passenger, effective 20 June 2026, a 53 percent increase. The charge is embedded in the airfare at the moment a ticket is issued, so any ticket issued on or after 20 June already includes the higher rate, while tickets issued before that date are grandfathered at 730 baht. It applies to both Thai and foreign passengers departing on international flights from all six AOT airports: Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai and Hat Yai. The domestic charge is unchanged at 130 baht. The per-person increase is 390 baht, roughly 11 US dollars, which is easy to overlook on a single ticket and less easy at group scale: a 20-passenger group departs about 7,800 baht more expensive than the same group ticketed a day earlier, a 30-passenger group about 11,700 baht, and a 40-passenger group about 15,600 baht. Because it is inside the fare rather than a separate line, it only surprises the buyer who did not anticipate it. Confirm the current figure on the TAT Newsroom announcement before you build a departure cost line.
| International departure charge | Was | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Per departing passenger | 730 baht | 1,120 baht |
| Effective date | Before 20 June 2026 | On or after 20 June 2026 |
| Domestic passenger charge | 130 baht | 130 baht, unchanged |
The arrival app, THIM, is coming in August
Thailand is introducing a new immigration app called THIM, short for Thailand Immigration Management, with a full launch planned for August 2026. For now it is a voluntary pilot, available to download and test, and it does not replace anything. It is the mobile front door to the existing Thailand Digital Arrival Card, letting a traveler photograph a passport and enter accommodation and travel details to generate the same TDAC, in a process the Immigration Bureau puts at under three minutes per person and which supports group entries of up to ten people. At launch it carries English, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. The important nuance for planning is that the TDAC remains the requirement today, and the official guidance is that travelers should continue to complete the arrival card through the current channel until the app is fully rolled out. So the practical brief to a client is forward-looking rather than urgent: from August, expect an app to become the standard way to submit the arrival card, but nothing has to change on trips departing before then. Confirm the live status on the TAT Newsroom note on THIM and the official Digital Arrival Card portal, and our Thailand and Vietnam entry rules guide keeps the arrival-card detail in one place.
The 300-baht tourist fee you have heard about is not live
The fee that generates the most questions is the one that has not happened. Thailand's proposed 300-baht tourist entry charge, known locally as ka yiab phaen din, roughly a fee for stepping on Thai soil, has been announced, approved, delayed and revived more than once, and as of now it is still not in effect and carries no confirmed start date. The current design is that it would apply to air arrivals, that around 70 baht of it would fund accident and medical insurance active from entry, and that it would be collected inside the airfare rather than at a counter. None of that is live yet. The practical instruction is therefore simple: do not price the 300-baht fee into 2026 programs, and do not let it be confused with the departure charge above, which is the change that has actually taken effect. It is worth watching, because it can move quickly once a cabinet decision lands, but until then it is a talking point rather than a cost. For anything borderline, send the client to the official sources rather than a travel-news summary.
What this means for programs you are selling now
Three quick actions cover it. First, update your Thailand departure cost line for any ticket issued from 20 June 2026, because the higher passenger service charge is already inside those fares whether or not the client noticed. Second, brief clients that an arrival app is coming in August but that the current Digital Arrival Card process still applies, so nobody arrives expecting a step that is not yet live or skipping one that is. Third, leave the 300-baht fee out of your costings until it is formally in force. There is also a quiet knock-on for two-country pricing: with the departure charge now near 31 US dollars, the Thailand exit has become the more expensive leg against a Vietnam departure closer to 25 US dollars, which is a small but real input when a client is comparing a Thailand-only and a combined Thailand and Vietnam trip. The trip itself has not changed, only the paperwork and the fees around it, and the partner who keeps those straight looks like the one who runs the ground. For a refresher on reading a quote line by line, our guide to how to read a DMC quote sits alongside this one, and our note on the restored Bangkok to Amsterdam nonstop covers the access side of the same picture.
