German documentary reignites sex tourism concerns for Thailand’s Pattaya

[captnhoy]

Damages the image? Oh. I thought it just confirmed it. Again. I have come to think of Pattaya as a shining example of The Power of The Pu$$y. Does anyone think that the biggest names in the hotel industry invested there because of the beach?

[couchpotato]

5 hours ago, JackGats said:

I'm not a pensioner who's been stuck in TH on an unindexed pension for 3 decades. I travel around the World. I know what it means for a country to be one where prostitution is endemic.

 

There's no prostitution whatsoever in Kanchanaburi, Ubon Ratchatani, Petchaburi, Tak, Mae Hong Song, Buriram, Mae Sot, Nakhon Sawang, Rangsit, Nakom Patom, Lopburi, Surat Tani, Chumpong ... indeed in any mid- to small town in TH. This in itself is remarkable. 

 

In similar-sized towns in Brazil, Colombia or Peru, any taxi would drive you to a brothel in 10 minutes's time if you asked. You didn't because you never were there.

I wondered where my laugh for the day was coming from..thanks for that.

Your posts are a wind-up or you are terribly naive.

The most remarkable thing is you seem to believe what you are writing.

[jacko45k]

54 minutes ago, captnhoy said:

Damages the image? Oh. I thought it just confirmed it. Again. I have come to think of Pattaya as a shining example of The Power of The Pu$$y. Does anyone think that the biggest names in the hotel industry invested there because of the beach?

That's a fair consideration.....I thought that when The Hilton, Holiday Inn etc opened in Pattaya. Did they not care about the association with the reputation Pattaya had, or did they perhaps think it would fade, or it was nothing compared to Vegas? 

[KhunBENQ]

21 hours ago, it is what it is said:

This documentary is currently blocked in Thailand.

 

there's non so blind as those who don't want to see.

Just stumbled upon this thread and a bit surprised about the repeated excitement.

This was a topic around the beginning of this year when this sorry effort was INITIALLY published.

 

Multiple YouTube links for it and nothing blocked (in German language, don't know whether they made a translated version).

[save the frogs]

someone in thailand should do a documentary about germany.

 

https://unherd.com/2022/11/germany-europes-bordello/

Germany is known as the bordello of Europe. It is a hard-won title. With more than 3,000 brothels across the country, and 500 in Berlin alone, its sex trade is worth more than £11 billion per year.

 

[jacko45k]

34 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Just stumbled upon this thread and a bit surprised about the repeated excitement.

This was a topic around the beginning of this year when this sorry effort was INITIALLY published.

 

Multiple YouTube links for it and nothing blocked (in German language, don't know whether they made a translated version).

There was certainly a topic in August focused around an Al Jazeera video report that lit up the board. You claim an even more historic one?

[KhunBENQ]

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

There was certainly a topic in August focused around an Al Jazeera video report that lit up the board. You claim an even more historic one?

Will try to find it later when on the desktop.

It was a big wave in February 2023.

Hardly any German public TV station that didn't rebroadcast in February to March.

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Just stumbled upon this thread and a bit surprised about the repeated excitement

Repeated excitement........ BIG JOKE. 

 

Anything that involves Big Joke will reignite the story. 

 

 

[ohpont]

One restaurant owner from northern Germany tells the filmmakers that the girls only stand on the side of the road in such short skirts because of the warm weather here.

LOL

 

oh

[bendejo]

Haven't tried this lately, but I used to drop in at the TAT office when arriving at BKK.  Most of the ads in the stuff they handed out had to do with companionship.  Pretty bold.  The Skin Business in LOS is not clandestine.

Amusement park?  Would YOU let your kid go on a ride in Thailand?

 

[NextG]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Will try to find it later when on the desktop.

It was a big wave in February 2023.

Hardly any German public TV station that didn't rebroadcast in February to March.

I think NDR showed it around nine months ago. Then it was on Al Jazeera’s 101 East in August. Then recently on DW. 
The point is not the sex industry. No one really cares about that. 
It’s the underage thing and the paying your way out that’s in the spotlight. 

[Cake Monster]

Nothing changes

Pattaya was described as the biggest Whore House in the World 40 Years ago

[Lopburikid]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:26 AM, bignok said:

What? 50% of tourists are sex tourists. Most normal tourists avoid the place. 

A Documentary about sex workers coming from a country with one of, if not the largest, LEGAL, and ILLEGAL (underage) sex industry in Europe.

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

There was certainly a topic in August focused around an Al Jazeera video report that lit up the board. You claim an even more historic one?

Seems you are right that the original excitement was not here in the forum.

The documentation was broadcast originally in Feb 2023.

The "Al Jazeera" from August is just a recycling of the same documentation (in English?).

 

Blocked in Thailand is a joke.

Others have posted youtube links and seemingly also on FB in English.

For me it's quite superficial with little insight.

Just spending money from compulsory TV fees for another repetition.

[Hanuman2547]

"Marisa emphasised the need for improved law enforcement to address the issue of illegal sex workers, a problem that has plagued Pattaya and other Thai destinations for several years."

 

Right, those pesky illegal sex workers.  She obviously only wants "legal" sex workers.  

[Shetraveler]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:55 AM, Ben Zioner said:

Most people across the world would think it is wrong, utterly.

 

But the only way they could fix it would be to bring in something as big as Disney. It would attract  Indian families, boost domestic demand and offer jobs to young Thai graduates.

 

 

Leave Disney and crap in the US; or wherever your home country is.  More of that crap isn't needed/wanted anywhere else.
World population tripled in 70 years, people know what sex is; they partake in it; they watch porn.  Honestly, travelers know Pattaya for a sex destination.  It's been know for sex since before I started visiting Thailand, over 30 years ago.
Your "sex is bad" religious viewpoint is best left in your own country.
 

[freedomnow]

It is a weird one, and an Asian thing where the Elephant in the Room of blatant prostitution is denied denied denied....

 

 

[Ben Zioner]

57 minutes ago, Shetraveler said:

Leave Disney and crap in the US; or wherever your home country is.  More of that crap isn't needed/wanted anywhere else.
World population tripled in 70 years, people know what sex is; they partake in it; they watch porn.  Honestly, travelers know Pattaya for a sex destination.  It's been know for sex since before I started visiting Thailand, over 30 years ago.
Your "sex is bad" religious viewpoint is best left in your own country.
 

Laughable, totally, sadly, the point here is the condition of women, young girls who will never get a future, a good life.

 

And  I am no saint, but at least I can see that these girls don't get what they deserve, and so do the Thai people and the Thai government, who are so ashamed of their failure that they had to ban the documentary.

 

But the  bottom line is that I think you are deeply racist and can't see these girls as human beings.

[thesetat]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:16 AM, webfact said:

 

Concerns are being raised about the potential damage to Thailand’s overall tourism market due to a documentary by German media organisation Deutsche Welle (DW), which highlights Pattaya as a sex tourism destination. This documentary is currently blocked in Thailand.

 

Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, the president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), recalls a similar report about sex tourism in Pattaya from Germany around 20 years ago. That incident significantly affected the city’s tourism industry as it resulted in a substantial drop in visitor numbers.

 

Marisa emphasised the need for improved law enforcement to address the issue of illegal sex workers, a problem that has plagued Pattaya and other Thai destinations for several years.

 

She also acknowledged that despite Pattaya’s evolution into a destination offering a diverse range of tourist attractions for families and the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) segment, it remains a challenge to fully eradicate the city’s sex tourism reputation.

 

In addition to her role as THA president, Marisa is the owner of three hotels in Pattaya. She proposed that the local administration and private sector could mitigate the issue by consistently promoting alternative tourism products and attractions to gradually replace the city’s sex tourism, reported Bangkok Post.

 

by Alex Morgan

Photo courtesy of iStock

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-12-05

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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I do not think i will ever get over how the people who post this rubbish actually it is true. Anyone who has been to Pattaya knows and can easily see that after 2pm the sex life there becomes open and blatantly displayed. Everyone knows about the short time rooms above the girly bars. The same goes for the Thai massage places there who always seem to focus on the private parts to get you excited and then offer to provide you some relief. Everyone who goes out in the evening to clubs knows the Gogo girls hit the discos after work if they have not been bought out of the bar they work in.  Haha someone quoted 50% tourism for sex in Pattaya but it is more like 85%. Even those nicely dressed businessmen who come there for meetings go out after for their fun with the sex industry there. 

It is only the government that downplays it all and covers it up. So how could one video clip damage their reputation about Pattaya as a sex tourism spot? Only because he was a perv who likes little kids and there was a place for him to get what he wanted. I would presume from other articles in Thailand that this happens in many places in the country. Pattaya should not feel their rep is damaged. Instead they should grasp their true identity and profit from it in a legal manner instead of under the table brown envelopes. And in doing so, the chances of underage prostitution would happen less. 

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

For me it's quite superficial with little insight.

Just spending money from compulsory TV fees for another repetition.

Certainly much wrong with it and for people who live here simply blind to reality.... we will never change that. But I found so much to feel negative about after watching it. The fact that a fellow countryman would knowingly make such disgusting a business, that there are people who partake and see nothing wrong with their behavior, and as far as the police are concerned no problem if you pay them off and the sickos can move on and do it again. I felt dirty to be associated with the Pattaya presented. 

It will pass. 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/5/2023 at 4:16 PM, webfact said:

Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi,

Of course it's a female. say no more.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Certainly much wrong with it and for people who live here simply blind to reality.... we will never change that. But I found so much to feel negative about after watching it. The fact that a fellow countryman would knowingly make such disgusting a business, that there are people who partake and see nothing wrong with their behavior, and as far as the police are concerned no problem if you pay them off and the sickos can move on and do it again. I felt dirty to be associated with the Pattaya presented. 

It will pass. 

Feel free to leave Pattaya any time then. Perhaps that bastion of sexual purity you hail from is so much better than Pattaya. Just go, you know you'll feel much better for it.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Feel free to leave Pattaya any time then. Perhaps that bastion of sexual purity you hail from is so much better than Pattaya. Just go, you know you'll feel much better for it.

Don't read  something into my comment that is actually not there..... my choice as to where I live has nothing to do with you. As much as what you find acceptable on your doorstep has nothing to do with me. 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Don't read  something into my comment that is actually not there..... my choice as to where I live has nothing to do with you. As much as what you find acceptable on your doorstep has nothing to do with me. 

I was responding to "I felt dirty to be associated with the Pattaya presented".

I don't know how that's something not actually there in your post.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Nothing changes

Pattaya was described as the biggest Whore House in the World 40 Years ago

It was better back then. Too many families and wowsers ruining the place now.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was responding to "I felt dirty to be associated with the Pattaya presented".

I don't know how that's something not actually there in your post.

I also said 'it will pass,' but you ignored that. Please go troll elsewhere. 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I also said 'it will pass,' but you ignored that. Please go troll elsewhere. 

[Prubangboy]

A casino seems likely in 5 years. That will swamp the white man out by his Chinese and Indian brothers pretty much for good.

 

The pretty girls will go where the money is. Sex workers will proportionately less Thai. Expect more Madagascar beauty pageants on Beach Road.

 

The honky tonk aspect will always be a money maker akin to downtown Vegas, where a bit of the old beach bar vibe will continue on for the oldies and the cheapies. They'll prob have to walk a little further to find it.

 

 

[NextG]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Feel free to leave Pattaya any time then. Perhaps that bastion of sexual purity you hail from is so much better than Pattaya. Just go, you know you'll feel much better for it.

I think he’s referring to the ‘underage’ aspect. Why would you attack him for that?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:34 PM, Ajarnbrian said:

Surely the issue is under-age sex workers and the sex tourists exploiting this. What consenting adults do in Pattaya is otherwise their own business. 

 

You'd think so, but the NDR/DW documentary did the same as all the others before them and mixed it right up.  So a lot of pretty normal guys who agreed to be interviewed now find themselves mixed in with that German guy who took a 15 year old out of a bar.

Anyway I just watched the thing and it's just terrible journalism with a nasty moralizing streak to it.  Let me count the ways: 

1. First up I see it mentioned everywhere that the documentary has been blocked in Thailand.  It's not, and especially not by Thai authorities. You can readily find it on Youtube and other places, it's here; if you turn on captions in English, the translation is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9m2qg1_-Vk    This fake news suggests that Thailand is trying to cover it up, which would be nonsense.   Some covering up does happen on the part of NDR/DW, who have disabled comments on the Youtube video.  They're likely worried about people pointing out all the mistakes and misleading content. 

2. They readily apply 'Pedophilia' to a sex act with a person under 18.  That's potentially illegal in Thailand and in Germany but it's not pedophilia; look it up. They also cut in video of a person walking through Pattaya with a very short bargirl, heavily implying that she's a child and that this is rife.  As we all know there's no shortage of short Thai women and unless you've asked her for ID then you can't just imply she's 12 years old.  Similarly we get video of actual children who are selling stuff on the streets; that's sad but it's not evidence of child sex: it's child labor.  Still bad, but if you cut that footage in with the rest then the audience can really only reach one conclusion: this is a city/country full of child sex slaves and pedophiles. 

3. There was nothing really wrong with the storyline of the bar girl who lived in Germany and had a child with a German man who is refusing to pay child support.  We also get the most coherent description of sex work from this lady.  The makers didn't bother with the man's side of the story, there may well be more to it. From the video call with the kid he didn't look particularly half Western but who knows and the makers didn't really care so ok. 

4. They did care to find the German guy who was arrested by Pattaya police for having sex with or planning to have sex with the underage girl from Cobra bar.   Quite astonishingly the guy agreed to be interviewed AND in the interview readily admitted that he knew the girl was 15.  Yet he feels unfairly treated.  As a result German police have now arrested him.. not the brightest bulb in the tree clearly.  Apparently he feels that as it was just a bar like any other and very out on the open he did not expect it to be illegal. Anyway it happens; some expats seem to think that tourist bars don't have underage girls when clearly they're around.  

5. Now we get to the weird moralizing.. there's a Thai Youtube influencer chick who does videos in which she features bargirls dressed up as sexy French maids in a hotel in South Pattaya, plus some pool parties, etc.  Now guess what they did.. they went to the site of a major German tourism operator and found that this hotel can be booked for a holiday.   WHAT?!    It's now the hotel's fault for one of their guests renting a couple rooms and shooting a youtube vid.. and not only that, this means that the German tourism company is promoting and sponsoring sex tourism..  As a result they got the hotel removed from their site..  Now, this is a totally normal hotel in South Pattaya, not on Walking Street or an obvious red light area and if you check the hotel reviews then you see many families stay there.  🤣  TUI should have told them to get stuffed. 

6. The rest is kind of filler content of gullible idiots agreeing to be interviewed with the usual nonsense about Thai women being more female than German women, while the interviewer asks cringy questions about paying for sex/company and if they're taking advantage of poor Thai women's poverty and desperation.  None of them state the bloody obvious and miss the opportunity to deflect it right back:  go talk to those women and ask if they'd prefer foreign men to stay home, so they can go work on a farm or construction site.  But they don't, so all the men in the video look like schmucks or creeps or both, or trying to cover up what Pattaya is.   They basically look like creeps just for being in a place like that.  Great work. :)