The Revenue Department of Thailand will pilot a value-added tax (VAT) refund service for foreign tourists at five department stores, aiming to attract more tourists to the country.
Visitors to a temple in Bangkok (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) – The RevenueDepartment of Thailand will pilot a value-added tax (VAT) refund service forforeign tourists at five department stores, aiming to attract more tourists tothe country.
Initially, the tax refund service will beprovided at five Central Department Stores and will be expanded to othershopping places in the future.
Thailand levies a 7 percent VAT for purchases ofgoods and services.
The Revenue Department gives 5 percent of VATback to foreign tourists who claim tax refunds, while the remaining 2 percent isdeducted for the department's processing fee.
Foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand grew bynearly 15 percent year on year to 7.11 million between January and February.Income from their spending was estimated at 348 billion baht (more than 12.3billion USD).
In February alone, the number of touristarrivals reached 3.56 million, up 19.3 percent from the same time last year.
China has been the largest source ofinternational visitors to Thailand, sending 9.8 million tourists in 2017,representing 28 percent of total arrivals. That figure is expected to exceed 10million this year and pass 12 million in 2019.-VNA
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Visitors to a temple in Bangkok (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) 
