Tuesday 3 November

Top-down aerial view of an expressway interchange and skytrain curve in Bangkok

Money & fees

Cabinet backs 35% excise on imported EVs from 2027

The rate applies to fully imported models with no Thai production or local parts. Range-extended EVs rise from 15% to 35%. Officials gave no price or sales estimates.

Cabinet agreed on 3 November to raise excise tax on imported battery-electric cars from 10% to 35% from 1 January 2027.

The stated aim is fair treatment for carmakers that have built factories in Thailand and employ local workers. Excise Department director-general Pornchai Thiraveja said the department will open talks with interested investors on special rates for new investment, and that several have shown interest.

The decision follows National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee resolutions of 25 November 2025 and 10 September 2026. Reports of the Cabinet meeting in Udon Thani do not say when the new rate will be published in the Royal Gazette, or how “local parts” will be measured.

What to do If you are buying a fully imported EV, ask the dealer how the January change affects the quoted price and delivery date.

Living here

Bangkok bans new pavement vendors, keeps 15 trade zones

Existing vendors in 15 trade zones would have to drop tables and chairs and sell takeaway only. The city wants sellers to move into rented shophouses, hawker centres or formal businesses.

Bangkok will register no new pavement vendors, Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said, leaving street trading to sellers who are already licensed.

Chadchart called pavement vending a temporary concession, not a permanent right. His Orderliness Maintenance Committee reviewed 15 trade zones in seven districts: Bang Rak, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Ratchathewi, Chatuchak, Lat Krabang, Samphanthawong and Phra Nakhon. Vendors there may not set up tables and chairs. Stalls and umbrellas must follow a standard design, and the city says it will enforce cleanliness and safety standards.

The committee also approved cancelling four relaxed vending zones in Khlong San, Bang Na and Lat Phrao, where street trading has already stopped. Those pavements go back to pedestrians.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has not said when the table ban starts, how many vendors are affected or what penalties apply.

Visas & entry

Tourism plan adds Belarus to visa-waiver shortlist

Mexico, Colombia and Uzbekistan were already on the shortlist. No exemption is approved, and a waiver only takes effect for travellers once the Royal Gazette publishes it.

A draft tourism plan targets at least four trillion baht in revenue and adds Belarus to the countries considered for visa-free entry.

Deputy Government Spokesperson Lalida Persvivatana announced the plan on 31 October, saying the list now includes Belarus, after the National Tourism Policy Committee met under Deputy Prime Minister Suphajee Suthumpun. It is the draft Fourth National Tourism Development Plan for 2028 to 2032, which aims to put Thailand in the top 30 of the Travel & Tourism Development Index.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand plans to take the exemptions to a committee on 9 November. The plan also lists faster e-Visa processing and shorter immigration queues at Suvarnabhumi.

Background Background

A visa waiver lets visitors from a country enter without applying for a visa beforehand. In Thailand a waiver needs approval from the relevant committee and Cabinet, then publication in the Royal Gazette. Until then, passport holders from those countries follow the existing entry rules.

What to do Check your passport's entry requirements before booking.

In brief

Money & feesExcise Department seeks six billion baht to retire old cars.
The proposed scheme would pay 40,000 baht towards a new locally made pickup. It is open to Thai nationals aged 20 or over who hand in a vehicle registered before 2012, with spending from January 2027. The request is not approved, and certified dismantling sites can process only about 50,000 vehicles a year against a target of 150,000.
WeatherHeavy rain floods Patong roads as more is forecast.
Runoff from the hills flooded roads at several points in Phuket on 2 November, and at least one Patong hotel was stacking sandbags. The Meteorological Department expects heavy to very heavy rain in the south from 7 to 9 November, with unsettled weather across the upper country from 5 November.
SafetyThailand reinforces Myanmar border and lodges protests.
The army has sent more troops and equipment to the Myanmar border, where fighting centres on Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot in Tak, and Thailand has lodged formal protests with Naypyidaw. National Security Council secretary-general Gen Chaipruak Doungprapat warned that heavy weapons fire could send mortar rounds into Thai territory, and the Interior Ministry has evacuation plans ready for high-risk border zones.

Travel

Suvarnabhumi to cut duty-free space for gates, pick-up desks

Paid à-la-carte services, including valet parking, buggy transfers and fast-track help, would be open to all passengers. Full details are due later in November.

Airports of Thailand plans to shrink duty-free retail at Suvarnabhumi to make room for automated immigration gates and counters where passengers collect online orders.

AOT president Paweena Jariyathitipong said the old duty-free model fell short of expectations and that space must match changing passenger habits. AOT is negotiating a new operating model with its main concessionaire, King Power; both sides cite high infrastructure, inventory and logistics costs.

Passengers would buy premium services one at a time rather than in bundles. The fifth-edition master plan is under Transport Ministry review before it goes to Cabinet, and Cabinet acknowledgement would not approve every capital project, which still needs its own feasibility study.

AOT has not said how much retail space will go or when the changes start.

Safety

Pattaya police arrest fake delivery rider over bag thefts

Police say the suspect wore a delivery jacket and full-face helmet and waited on a blue motorcycle with the engine running until a bag was left on a counter.

Pattaya police arrested a man on 1 November on suspicion of more than 10 bag snatches, with foreign tourists among the victims.

The thefts hit beer bars and roadside shops. A 70-year-old Belgian man reported losing a bag on 26 October with 2,000 baht and a phone worth about 40,000 baht, and identified the suspect at the station. Another tourist lost a phone and cash worth more than 60,000 baht in total.

Officers stopped him near Central Pattaya at about 6:19pm and recovered shoulder bags, bank cards and 150 Norwegian kroner (about 540 baht). He was charged with snatching property using a vehicle. Police said he refused to answer questions at first, then, police said, admitted the thefts after victims identified him.

What to do At open-front bars and roadside shops, keep your bag on your lap or strapped to you, not on the counter.

Law

Customs seize 8,900 weight-loss pens from passenger

The pens contain GLP-1 drugs, which are controlled in Thailand, and were not registered with the Food and Drug Administration. The Customs Department cited two laws.

Customs officers at Suvarnabhumi seized 8,900 unregistered weight-loss injection pens, worth more than 5.34 million baht, from a Chinese passenger who arrived on 31 October.

The passenger flew in from Bangladesh with the pens in two suitcases. The Customs Department said on Facebook on 1 November that bringing them in broke the Customs Act and the Drug Act. He was held by police for legal proceedings. Charges and the possible penalty have not been reported.

Law

Pickup driver fined 10,000 baht for Bang Tao Beach drive

Cherng Talay police traced the pickup after residents complained about a video of it driving back and forth across the sand, and summoned the owner for questioning.

Police in Phuket fined a 44-year-old Russian resident 10,000 baht after a video showed his pickup being driven along Bang Tao Beach.

The drive happened on 28 October near a beachfront hotel in Cherng Talay. Police charged him on 1 November with causing a public nuisance and warned him not to repeat it. He accepted the fine.

Earlier Phuket cases drew smaller fines: 5,000 baht for a tourist whose jeep got stuck on Layi Beach in Kamala in June 2025, and 5,000 baht for an Israeli man riding a motorbike on Kamala Beach in November 2024.

What to do Keep vehicles off Phuket's beaches; drivers can be charged with public nuisance.

Lighter side

Delivery rider trapped in condo sets off fire alarm

Residents left the building at about 12:45am on 30 October. A resident's TikTok video has passed 260,000 views, and some commenters blame the customer for not answering the rider's calls.

A delivery rider locked inside a keycard-only condo pressed the fire alarm at night, according to a resident’s video.

The video says he walked in through an open door instead of using the delivery table outside, then could not reach the customer or open the exit. Residents who checked CCTV identified him as the person behind the alarm. One said she saw him on the second floor, apparently ready to press it again.

The building has not been named and no charges have been reported.

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