Pai's Tourism Woes: Over 1,600 Foreigners Arrested in a Year

[snoop1130]

Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

In 2022, Pai district in Mae Hong Son saw the arrest of over 1,600 foreigners mostly for traffic and immigration violations. Among those detained, 13 were Israeli visitors for immigration infractions, according to local police reports.

 

Police Major General Songkrit Ontakrai, Mae Hong Son's police commander, has responded to rumors on social media about difficulties with unruly Israeli tourists. He clarified that, in total, 1,634 foreigners were arrested over the year, out of which 27 were for immigration issues. Despite claims of thousands of Israeli tourists, Pai's capacity of 3,257 rental rooms means these numbers are overstated, the officer explained.

 

“Residents generally do not experience significant issues with Israeli visitors,” assured Maj. Gen. Songkrit. A recent inspection of tourist areas and businesses found no Israeli or foreign ownership; instead, all establishments were owned by locals.

 

 

In addition, officials urged tourists to avoid public disturbances, including smoking and drinking in public. A night patrol on February 22 led to 10 arrests for smoking cannabis disruptively on Pai Walking Street, a location featuring 84 licensed cannabis shops.

 

In related news, four Israeli men were deported following disruptive behavior at Pai Hospital. Their actions, described on the Facebook page AggressiveDoctor, left the medical staff feeling unsafe and exhausted. The arrests underscore the ongoing challenge of maintaining order amid growing tourist numbers in the region, reported The Thaiger.

 

-- 2025-02-24

 

 

[MikeandDow]

But ! But!  we are TAT quality tourist !!!!

[ikke1959]

Thai tourism is unbelievable.. They want tourists and when they come there is nothing good about them. Millions flock in and a few don't behave. What do you want? Do you want to be a tourist destination handle it... if not, like in Pai, close the hotels and remove the attractions and no problems... But that will cost you money and that is more important.. so complain and look what will happen.. and than complain again that people ignore you

[Bill97]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

and businesses found no Israeli or foreign ownership; instead, all establishments were owned by locals.

Have heard a lot of Bangkok Thai owners,  not “local “ in my opinion 

[blaze master]

Boo hoo.

[Tailwagsdog]

What's the big attraction in Pai ??

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, MikeandDow said:

But ! But!  we are TAT quality tourist !!!!

TAT are out of control, mass tourism just for the sake of spouting numbers will come back to bite them

[novacova]

1 hour ago, Tailwagsdog said:

What's the big attraction in Pai ??

Loud obnoxious tourists 

[Harrisfan]

1 hour ago, Tailwagsdog said:

What's the big attraction in Pai ??

Lots of dumb pot smokers acting cool

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, Tailwagsdog said:

What's the big attraction in Pai ??

It used to be a lovely little mountain town, quiet and a very peaceful aura to it... Glad I spent some time there - - many years ago. 

[novacova]

2 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

It used to be a lovely little mountain town, quiet and a very peaceful aura to it... Glad I spent some time there - - many years ago. 

It’s a place to stop for fuel is all it’s good for anymore 

[1FinickyOne]

12 minutes ago, novacova said:

It’s a place to stop for fuel is all it’s good for anymore 

But I would still have to drive that winding road to get there. Even 20 years ago that was stressful. 

[steven100]

pot head heaven for the begpackers who got sick of Khaosan road.  

[roo860]

31 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

But I would still have to drive that winding road to get there. Even 20 years ago that was stressful. 

The alternative route via Samoeng is much less busy, no minibuses, it's about 50km longer.

[Sydebolle]

This Farang-bashing is getting worse by the day; yesterday's cover page on "www.aseannow.com" had only and exclusively the following articles as teasers on top of their newsletter. 

 

Needless to say that any crowd has its problematic members but the internet would explode, if they would list the Thais in the same pro-rata as the alien, dirty farang and whatever else these non-Thais are called. 

Be warned, it seems to get worse and worse and worse ......

 

[Harrisfan]

4 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

This Farang-bashing is getting worse by the day; yesterday's cover page on "www.aseannow.com" had only and exclusively the following articles as teasers on top of their newsletter. 

 

Needless to say that any crowd has its problematic members but the internet would explode, if they would list the Thais in the same pro-rata as the alien, dirty farang and whatever else these non-Thais are called. 

Be warned, it seems to get worse and worse and worse ......

 

Low class farangs

[Olof Karlsson]

84 shops for cannabis in one street. What to expact?

[bamnutsak]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In 2022

 

It should be embarrassing for RTP officials to use two-year-old stats.

 

Surely 2024 stats are available.

 

 

[carlyai]

1 hour ago, novacova said:

It’s a place to stop for fuel is all it’s good for anymore 

If you had an EV you wouldn't have to stop for fuel. 🙂

[steven100]

5 minutes ago, carlyai said:

If you had an EV you wouldn't have to stop for fuel. 🙂

or a horse 

[Watawattana]

6 minutes ago, carlyai said:

If you had an EV you wouldn't have to stop for fuel. 🙂

Or you wouldn't get there as it had run out of charge as insufficient charging infrastructure.

[Watawattana]

The breakdown by nationality isn't complete, but there doesn't seem to be a massive Israeli bias in the figures to justify the bashing they get?

[JonnyF]

19 minutes ago, carlyai said:

If you had an EV you wouldn't have to stop for fuel. 🙂

 

Yes you would.

 

And it would take you 20-30 times as long to "fill up".

 

Assuming you could find a charging station of course. 😄

[JonnyF]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Among those detained, 13 were Israeli visitors for immigration infractions, according to local police reports.

 

So 0.8%.

 

Hardly a significant proportion. 

 

I wonder how many were Brits and Aussies. 😄

[NorthernRyland]

4 hours ago, Tailwagsdog said:

What's the big attraction in Pai ??

It's been colonized by a few groups of people and has become a getaway of sorts for them. Tourists outnumber the locals so it's become their own city in some regards.

[NorthernRyland]

54 minutes ago, Watawattana said:

The breakdown by nationality isn't complete, but there doesn't seem to be a massive Israeli bias in the figures to justify the bashing they get?

It's general bad behavior that doesn't result in arrests. If they come in to a shop and complain then haggle the price aggressively this doesn't get them arrested and produce stats but the locals take notice.

[kingstonkid]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

In 2022, Pai district in Mae Hong Son saw the arrest of over 1,600 foreigners mostly for traffic and immigration violations. Among those detained, 13 were Israeli visitors for immigration infractions, according to local police reports.

 

Police Major General Songkrit Ontakrai, Mae Hong Son's police commander, has responded to rumors on social media about difficulties with unruly Israeli tourists. He clarified that, in total, 1,634 foreigners were arrested over the year, out of which 27 were for immigration issues. Despite claims of thousands of Israeli tourists, Pai's capacity of 3,257 rental rooms means these numbers are overstated, the officer explained.

 

“Residents generally do not experience significant issues with Israeli visitors,” assured Maj. Gen. Songkrit. A recent inspection of tourist areas and businesses found no Israeli or foreign ownership; instead, all establishments were owned by locals.

 

 

In addition, officials urged tourists to avoid public disturbances, including smoking and drinking in public. A night patrol on February 22 led to 10 arrests for smoking cannabis disruptively on Pai Walking Street, a location featuring 84 licensed cannabis shops.

 

In related news, four Israeli men were deported following disruptive behavior at Pai Hospital. Their actions, described on the Facebook page AggressiveDoctor, left the medical staff feeling unsafe and exhausted. The arrests underscore the ongoing challenge of maintaining order amid growing tourist numbers in the region, reported The Thaiger.

 

-- 2025-02-24

 

 

Just like anywhere you can get over-touristed,  Florida comes to mind with Sporing break.  eventually, the people become too rowdy and break too many rules.  Eventually, the herd needs to be culled.  Pai may be at that point now as far as locals are concerned.  As far as Businesses it may be a different story.

[cmsally]

I think Israelis are probably just the tip of the iceberg; it is the  behaviour in general of many people.

I have had various tourist businesses here during the past 30 years. This is the first year I have had to proactively (multiple times) lecture people on how to not inconvenience others. I am having to tell them things which are basically common sense, it is insane.

People with good manners stick out from the crowd because there are so few of them.

[recom273]

84 weed shops! 
 

When I first went there (only visited twice) I dont think there were 84 buildings in the village.

[Nick Carter icp]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

It's general bad behavior that doesn't result in arrests. If they come in to a shop and complain then haggle the price aggressively this doesn't get them arrested and produce stats but the locals take notice.

 

  

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

It's general bad behavior that doesn't result in arrests. If they come in to a shop and complain then haggle the price aggressively this doesn't get them arrested and produce stats but the locals take notice.

 

   Locals get annoyed because they cannot overcharge Israelis  because they  wont accept their over inflated prices ??