Three venues in Thailand allowed to sell alcohol outside restricted hours every day
Thailand’s updated rules designate three types of venues as exempt from alcohol-sale restrictions, allowing them to sell outside regulated hours every day after earlier exemptions permitted alcohol sales even on major religious holidays.
Thailand’s updated alcohol control framework is taking shape following the enforcement of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (No. 2) 2025, which came into effect on November 8, 2025.
On November 13, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee, chaired by Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat, approved a Tourism and Sports Ministry proposal to relax restrictions on alcohol sales. The committee agreed to lift the long-standing sales ban during 2pm–5pm, with the policy to be reviewed again after six months. It also approved allowing patrons to continue drinking for one extra hour after midnight.
These changes require an official announcement by the committee and must undergo a 15-day public consultation.
The Department of Disease Control has since opened a public hearing on the draft announcement on alcohol-sale hours via the government’s LAW online platform between November 15–29, 2025. Key points of the draft include:
Key provisions of the draft announcement
- Section 1
The announcement shall take effect the day after its publication in the Royal Gazette.
- Section 2
The announcement revokes the 2015 Prime Minister’s Office regulation on alcohol-sale hours, dated June 23, 2025.
- Section 3
Alcohol sales are prohibited at all times except during the following permitted hours:
- 11am–2pm
- 2pm–5pm (allowed only for 180 days from the effective date of this announcement)
- 5pm–12pm
Bangkok’s Alcohol Control Committee and provincial committees must assess the impacts of allowing sales during period (2) and submit their findings to the national committee before the 180-day period expires.
- Section 4
The restrictions under Section 3 do not apply in the following cases:
- Sales inside airport terminals serving international flights.
- Sales in licensed entertainment venues, in accordance with operating hours under the Entertainment Venues Act.
- Sales in hotels, as permitted under the Hotel Act.
Three types of venues permitted to sell alcohol outside restricted hours
The draft announcement under Thailand’s updated alcohol-control framework specifies, in Section 4, the venues allowed to sell alcohol outside the newly proposed restricted hours.
In reality, however, these three types of venues, international airport terminals, licensed entertainment venues operating within legal opening hours, and hotels, had already been exempted under earlier relaxations issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Those exemptions were granted under two regulations:
The Prime Minister’s Office Announcement on Prohibited Alcohol Sale Hours 2025, effective June 27, 2025, and The Prime Minister’s Office Announcement on Prohibited Alcohol Sale Days 2025, effective May 10, 2025.
The 2025 regulation on prohibited-sale days allowed five exempted locations to sell alcohol even on religious holidays, Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asarnha Bucha, Buddhist Lent Day and End of Buddhist Lent Day. These locations are:
- Airport terminals serving international flights
- Licensed entertainment venues
- Tourist-area establishments operating in a manner similar to entertainment venues, as designated by the Public Health Minister upon the Interior Minister’s advice
- Hotels under the Hotel Act
- Venues hosting major national or international events, as designated by the Public Health Minister upon recommendation from the Tourism and Sports Minister
Taken together, these regulations mean that three types of venues may legally sell alcohol every day, including during restricted hours:
- International airports serving international flights
- Licensed entertainment venues
- Hotels
- Hua Lamphong granted exemption before new law took effect
Before the enforcement of the new Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, the government had already relaxed rules for Bangkok’s historic Hua Lamphong Station.
The original 2015 regulation prohibited all alcohol sales and consumption on trains and railway premises.
In 2025, the rule was revised to allow alcohol to be sold and consumed in designated event areas inside the air-conditioned hall of Bangkok Railway Station, provided that access control, crowd safety measures and youth-protection safeguards were in place, and with prior approval from the Public Health Minister for each event.
Latest reforms also ease rules on advertising and vending machines
The 2025 Act introduces several major deregulations:
1. Alcohol vending machines
Previously: All alcohol sales through vending machines were banned.
Now: Vending machines are permitted if they can verify the buyer’s identity.
2. Advertising and promotional communication
Previously (2008 Act – Section 32):
Any advertisement displaying the name or logo of an alcoholic beverage was prohibited if it suggested benefits or encouraged drinking, directly or indirectly.
Producers were allowed only to provide factual or educational content, without showing the actual product or packaging (only brand symbols were allowed).
Under the 2025 Act:
Advertising is permitted if it provides information, knowledge or public-interest communication.
The new law does not prohibit showing the product or packaging, but grants the Public Health Minister authority to set detailed rules and conditions based on the committee’s recommendations.
The law also relaxes restrictions on the use of personal reputation for communication:
Individuals may now communicate information showing the name or symbol of an alcoholic beverage if the communication is academic in nature and shared with a limited group.
