Thailand To Shed 'Sex Tourism' Tag Soon

[ozzydom]

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report has pegged the number of female prostitutes in the country at 2 lakh.

can someone enlighten me? how much is 2 lakh.?

thaisabai

1 lakh is 100,000 so 2 lakh would be 200,000.

are they serious ?....... 2 million would be closer, between bkk and pattaya there must be 100,000 + alone , and thats a conservative number , thai culture seems to be similar to the infamous " casting couch", ..a favour for a fiver so to speak , sure there are many thai girls who wouldn't dream of doing sexual favours instead of paying a debt or to advance there careers,.. but i dont know any !.. i read recently that it was a thai tradition to give a "respected guest " the oldest daughter for the evening,... can anyone shed a little more light on this????????,..... very interesting

I thought that was eskimos. :jap:

[HeavyDrinker]

I have been married to a Thai for 12 years.

Congratulations. I shall buy you a hat which states this fact just so everyone knows it.

I could tell you how long I've been married for but that's neither here nor there and is utterly meaningless but if you think that makes you special then you go on thinking it.

Almost all of my friends are Thai, as I cannot abide the 'types' of Westerners, male and female who make up the expat community here. Your being a case in point.

Wow! What a well balanced chap you seem to be, managing to judge a whole community of people you don't know, off hand (albeit illiterately).

Frankly you haven't bought anything to the debate really, other than try to make yourself look like you are some pillar of the community.

Either you have something to say or you lack the mental tools to debate in a sensible and mature manner and all you can do is bang on about how perfect you are and how vile everyone else it.

I think you need a reality check.

Your 'aw diddums' speaks volumes about you. as does your nik. Now off you pop for another Chang and a grope.

I'm afraid your posts here speak a lot more about you than mine do about me.

Edited August 21, 2011 by HeavyDrinker

[GooEng]

Actually I regularly travel from China to Bangkok.

All the flights are fully booked, and not by western sexpats

Some people really need to realize times are changing

Times maybe changing but Thailand isn't and won't!!!!

chinese sexpats/tourists then is it?

[Kananga]

Having lived on Phuket for 15 years, I have yet to see a Thai man/men slobbering over some tart in a bar/walking hand in hand with a girl young enough to be her granddaughter on every soi/beach/bar to the consternation of a holidaying family,

I see it almost nightly.

You obviously live with your head in a bucket or never mix socially with Thais.

and me. I'm sick of the way this island's sex trade has proliferated to even the quietest corners of the island (Rawai, once so lovely and peaceful).

Aw diddums.

Supply and demand I'm afraid.

If it's too much for you then move elsewhere.

Thailand is a living breathing country where people need to make a living no matter how.

If that upsets your world vision, then there are plenty of corners of the world untouched by such atrocities.

I have been married to a Thai for 12 years. Almost all of my friends are Thai, as I cannot abide the 'types' of Westerners, male and female who make up the expat community here. Your being a case in point.

Your line 'where people need to make a living no matter how'. What? Even selling their arse/children's <deleted>/labour?

Your 'aw diddums' speaks volumes about you. as does your nik. Now off you pop for another Chang and a grope.

You cannot abide the type of westerners who make up the expat community, yet you are part of that expat community? If you cant abide yourself what hope do we have?

Far more disturbingly, it takes a certain 'type' to bring paedophillic sodomy to an argument. I personally can't think of anyone who would abide that, even Westerners who engage in sexual activity with another consenting adult while on their holidays. The faster this post and those willing to openly discuss such a heinous crime are shut down the better. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Ulysses G.]

This kind of government social engineering is made all the more funny by the fact that 80 to 90 percent of the sex trade is for the benefit of and used by Thai men. But I suppose that segment will not be going away.

Christ I get sick and bloody tired of this stupid 'mostly used by Thai men' (sic) CRAP

Maybe you do, but that does not change the fact that it is TRUE.

[Junglejumbo]

Prices are already rising in the main spots. Cost of short time hotels and off fees also on the up, at least in Bangkok.

I suspect that with ailing economies in the West and soon China, a loss of good looking young girls or men the industry will diminish naturally. Internet should take over as it has in London and and other big cities.

Cost in Bangkok is already about the same in northern England (if including all the fees such as two drinks, off fee and short time hotel) and more than in Eastern Europe by about 25%.

[digibum]

I left Pattaya years ago because the sex was too expensive. Good girls are cheaper. That's why they call them good girls.

Good one Kerry! If God made women to work for sex like in Pattaya he would have inserted a slot for the coins on the side and a Tachometer.

I think a man who has to resort to buying it is surely a desparate man. Why spend thousands on airfares and accomadation simply just to have 5 minutes with a woman. I guess a desparate person in desparate times will do just about anything.

I don't spend any money on airfare because I live in Thailand. Sex with two good looking 18 year old uni girls costs less than dinner for one at a decent restaurant. So most nights when I go out I weigh the relative merits of each experience. Paying for women simply gives me the option of saying goodbye without tears. Nor do I feel the least bit guilty as I am helping with their education. They win, Thailand wins and I win.

As the immortal warlock, Charlie Sheen, once said, "I don't pay prostitutes for sex. I pay them to leave in the morning."

[EyesWideOpen]

This kind of government social engineering is made all the more funny by the fact that 80 to 90 percent of the sex trade is for the benefit of and used by Thai men. But I suppose that segment will not be going away.

Christ I get sick and bloody tired of this stupid 'mostly used by Thai men' (sic) CRAP to excuse your ignorance of THAI social mores, to whit, the Thais save all and sundry, foreign families included, from the unedifying spectacle of some drunken old fart parading his prostitute in public. And yes, it may seem hypocritical, but I'm grateful for their discretion.

Having lived on Phuket for 15 years, I have yet to see a Thai man/men slobbering over some tart in a bar/walking hand in hand with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter on every soi/beach/bar to the consternation of a holidaying family, and me. I'm sick of the way this island's sex trade has proliferated to even the quietest corners of the island (Rawai, once so lovely and peaceful).

So take your bloody viagara and sod off to Sinoukville. I'm sure they're even more desperate for your money than the chicks from the sticks here. Flame away!

Not sure where to start on this one..... I detest hypocrisy in all forms. Thailand likes to put up the face of prostitution as being the fat old farang fart proudly walking down the street with a gogo dancer. The illusion being that Thais do not participate in this business, and it is the evil farangs that are doing this. The simple reality for anybody who has spent time here with eyes open is that most of the prostitution occurring is run by Thais, for the benefit of Thai men. You could certainly argue the point that the business model for Thai men is more discrete. I really love the Thai solution for that. All the Thai short time hotels , which are all over Thailand by the way, have drive in parking spaces for your car, with a curtain that goes across it to hide your car. Apparently this is to protect you from your angry Thai wife who is looking to find you while you are boinking the mia noi........

You really need to log some off island time. 15 years on a island may have clouded your judgment and perception.........................

[Boss]

What is 2 Lakh ??? Wife dont know....

[HeavyDrinker]

What is 2 Lakh ??? Wife dont know....

I wouldn't have her worry! It's nothing edible.

You really need to log some off island time. 15 years on a island may have clouded your judgment and perception........................

Well put.

Edited August 21, 2011 by HeavyDrinker

[Dag]

The Hub of Sex....only one they have got right and they wanna get rid of it........thats so Thai.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[ginjag]

The Hub of Sex....only one they have got right and they wanna get rid of it........thats so Thai.

To replace it we shall have the HUB of screaming kids. imagine you get them on some flights, then when you get to the airport and resorts they are there screaming on the beach in hotels running around the foyer, and charging around swim pools. as in the song " wouldn't it be lovely".

Having said that I love well behaved kids, the are so much nicer,

[elektrified]

Pattaya is the place that has given Thailand the bad reputation as the sex capital of the world. Why don't they start by bulldozing and cleaning that place up. Start arresting and charging the bargirls working in prostitution and thier clients send out a very clear and positive message to the sex tourists that this illegal act will no longer be tolerated. The sex tourists will stop comming after they starting spending time in the BKK Hilton. (Prostitution is after all illegal)

Are you crazy? They need to ramp up with more bars if anything.

Aren't you the guy who has never been to Thailand?

[scania]

Hey thaisabai, you are not alone.

<deleted> is 2 lakh ;-)

I see many strange things in here all the time but this most be the top of it all ;-)

2 lakh = two lao/Krabi hoo......

Ok they got rid of two of them hahaha

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report has pegged the number of female prostitutes in the country at 2 lakh.

can someone enlighten me? how much is 2 lakh.?

thaisabai

[sotsira]

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report has pegged the number of female prostitutes in the country at 2 lakh.

can someone enlighten me? how much is 2 lakh.?

thaisabai

"A lakh (play /ˈlæk/ lak or /ˈlɑːk/ lahk; also lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 105). It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English."

if there are only 2 lahk working girls, I wonder what the other million or so are called?

Errr ... HiSo?

Yeah, and they're the ones that are causing all this inflation

[bibblies]

One can only look forward with hope to the day that this does happen.

No prostitution = no loser westerners = a much better place to visit and live.

Hopefully in this lifetime and if not then in the lifetime of my daughters.

I was going to reply to this naive post, saying the prostitution is just the SYMPTOM of a huge horrible underlying greed and lack of morals but, just a few posts down, finnomick1 says it all for me...

All joking aside, I was told something this morning that really pee'd me off. A girl from our village who regularly visited our shop with her friends has just been packed off to Pattaya while her ' responsible ' parents lounge around at home jobless drinking 40 degrees Thai whisky and gambling away what baht they have. What's wrong with that did I hear someone say ? Well, she's JUST had her fourteenth birthday -- that's what's wrong. As long as people like this send a schoolgirl to ' work ' in Pattaya, how will Thailand shed it's seedy image ?

Maybe hagler doesn't have experience of these kind of people. But I know too many. They're not starving, yet they would sell their daughters or themselves for silly material goods just for 'face'. It's that willingness to sell themselves (while other poorer countries don't) that brings the sex tourists. The attitude's the cause and it covers everything.

hagler, that's the country you're living in. Whether the sex tourists are here or not, those people will still have the same attitude. Why don't you settle in a nice country where the people don't sell themselves and each other because they're too lazy to work hard or too greedy and silly to do without meaningless consumer goods of the moment?

[bibblies]

...

Having lived on Phuket for 15 years, I have yet to see a Thai man/men slobbering over some tart in a bar/walking hand in hand with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter on every soi/beach/bar to the consternation of a holidaying family, and me. I'm sick of the way this island's sex trade has proliferated to even the quietest corners of the island (Rawai, once so lovely and peaceful).

I've lived in Bangkok for years and I've seen quite a few older Thai men with young tarts, obviously not father-daughter relationships. They're a little better dressed and aren't hand in hand but they're doing essentially the same thing.

I suggest that the reason you see so more westerners than Thais behaving more openly like that in Thailand is the same reason that you don't see many westerners behaving like that in their home towns. Especially somewhere like Phuket, where it's a smaller world. If a place is home to you, you don't want to get caught/seen by anyone you know. The farangs in Phuket have no chance of that happening so they behave differently. Thais in Phuket can't do that. And even if it's not their home town, they'd naturally be more sensitive to comments, being fluent in the language. Farangs couldn't give a crap - if they don't know anyone and don't understand the language, why would they?

[rubl]

Pattaya is a nice place when you know where to go, the best places don't actually cater to sex tourists.

I'm sure Pattaya residents could confirm that.

Most Pattaya residents wouldn't live there for any other reasons than the sex.

What Pattaya residents have to say ?

**************************************************************************************************

Because of my job being in the Eastern Seaboard area, I live in Pattaya. There are some positive points about Pattaya for the farang to live here (other than the commercialized "one hour romance"). You have the best of both worlds--the Thai and Western influence. One can buy inexpensive Thai food down the soi from a food vendor for 30-40 baht vs. being able to go to a great restaurant such as Mantra or one of our 5 star hotels; being able to see a newly released Hollywood movie for half the cost of what it would be in America; and now with Central Shopping Center one doesn't need to go to BKK to shop for those special items. Because it is a "tourist town" it offers more entertainment than a place such as Sri Racha or Chonburri city. Pattaya Bay is picturesque from ones condo (true, don't get too close to see the ugliness) and there is a variety of condos/ villas/ houses to live in. Some sex-aholics don't understand that just because there are sois with go-go girl bars and the "ladies of the night" sit along the Beach Road promenade and there is Walking Street, it doesn't mean everyone who lives in Pattaya is out every night getting a "boom-boom". It is like surfing through ones satellite TV, you choose what you want, you don't have to select the rated R channels.

Hear, hear. On the other hand, I have to look at the forum rules again to check if being reasonable isn't against one of them.

PS I didn't go through all posts, too many. If someone already mentioned the same, I'm willing to apologise

[daboyz1]

Almost everyone I talk to in Dallas doesn't know Thailand from Taiwan and therefore have no idea of Thailand's reputation. For a Thai govt. representative to bring up the subject of needing to change the perception of Thailand will make some curious as to why it needs changing. Sometimes a can of worms is best left unopened.

Laugh. I'm in Dallas as well. Where is your wife from again? Taiwan?

[bibblies]

They did the same thing in the Czech Republic when I lived there. A new mayor was elected in Prague and they completely cleaned up the city, got rid of all the prostitutes on the streets, closed many of the sex clubs and heavily promoted family tourism, culture, history, and so forth. The residents of Prague were getting sick of other Europeans coming over on weekends, drinking until they vomited all over the cobblestone streets, shouting and singing in the streets till all hours of the morning and so forth. The only prostitutes left raised their prices to discourage the cheapskates... They also installed cameras all over the tourist areas to catch drug dealers. Basically it worked. Prague's image was changed over a few month period of time.

I don't know if it will work here. Maybe...

It worked because Prague has hundreds of years of culture, history, beautiful architecture, etc.

Bangkok isn't a beautiful city. It's hot, plain, rammed with traffic. Not much to see compared to other capital cities. See the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaaew, Wat Arun (none of which are outstanding) and you've pretty much seen it all. Lots of restaurants, cheap hotels, shopping - but those are in other countries too. As a city to visit for its own merits, it comes behind a lot of cities in the world. Compare it to Paris, Barcelona, Prague, Athens, even my home city of London. These have many more sights and attractions for families. So I suggest that Bangkok's 'exotic' reputation helps it draw many more tourists than it otherwise would.

[Beetlejuice]

One can only look forward with hope to the day that this does happen.

No prostitution = no loser westerners = a much better place to visit and live.

Hopefully in this lifetime and if not then in the lifetime of my daughters.

I was going to reply to this naive post, saying the prostitution is just the SYMPTOM of a huge horrible underlying greed and lack of morals but, just a few posts down, finnomick1 says it all for me...

All joking aside, I was told something this morning that really pee'd me off. A girl from our village who regularly visited our shop with her friends has just been packed off to Pattaya while her ' responsible ' parents lounge around at home jobless drinking 40 degrees Thai whisky and gambling away what baht they have. What's wrong with that did I hear someone say ? Well, she's JUST had her fourteenth birthday -- that's what's wrong. As long as people like this send a schoolgirl to ' work ' in Pattaya, how will Thailand shed it's seedy image ?

Maybe hagler doesn't have experience of these kind of people. But I know too many. They're not starving, yet they would sell their daughters or themselves for silly material goods just for 'face'. It's that willingness to sell themselves (while other poorer countries don't) that brings the sex tourists. The attitude's the cause and it covers everything.

hagler, that's the country you're living in. Whether the sex tourists are here or not, those people will still have the same attitude. Why don't you settle in a nice country where the people don't sell themselves and each other because they're too lazy to work hard or too greedy and silly to do without meaningless consumer goods of the moment?

There are some very good points between the 3 of you, but although you`re all disagreeing, it all amounts to the same thing.

This has all the overtones of the Christian missionary morality beliefs in the biblical sense that have often concluded with dire results in third world countries.

This could be regarded as a one sided argument as to what is right and what is wrong morally.

In Thailand the sex industry creates thousands of jobs for Thai people, it could be regarded as a part of Thailand`s infrastructure, even if this seems inappropriate in the eyes of those of what they consider as Western values. Other countries have their ways of doing things and so does Thailand. So who are we to try and tell them how to run the show?

It`s all fine to suggest that these people, most being of low education and from the underclass's, should be saved from their lives of immorality and sin, but the big question is, saved into what? A new life of poverty, put onto the streets to fend for themselves?

I would be all for taking these girls out of the sex industry, provided there would be better alternatives for them, which at this time, I cannot see any.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Beetlejuice

[sotsira]

[

2 lakh = 2 x 100,000 = 200,000. Lakh (100,000) is an Indian Word, probably derived from Pali.

I think there are probably more than 200,000 hookers in all of Thailand. They may refer to full time vs. part time prostitution.

I agree, my estimation would be around 1 million, considering the population is 60million and approx half are female

minus the under 17,s and over 50's females.

[sotsira]

The West is in economic turmoil. The UK this year has seen the largest number of families holidaying at home for a long time. So where are these family holiday makers going to come from?

Russia, India, Iran, China and Arabic countries.

Now that's a big pool of population to compare with UK or Europe.

[rubl]

The West is in economic turmoil. The UK this year has seen the largest number of families holidaying at home for a long time. So where are these family holiday makers going to come from?

Russia, India, Iran, China and Arabic countries.

Now that's a big pool of population to compare with UK or Europe.

Correct, although in (increasing) order of population it's probably Iran, Russia, Arabic countries, India, China. You might even include Iran in the Arabic countries.

Mind you, for tourism and the population involved in the tourist industry it's a matter of both numbers and spending patterns. All paid for tour groups are less interesting to smaller enterprises than families traveling on their own. To maintain a year round tourist industry you need a healthy mix, not just numbers.

Edited August 21, 2011 by rubl

[sotsira]

^^ Thinking the same thing myself

My question is if one lakh is 100000 and 2 lakh is 200000 how much is 3 lakh?

Easy!

3 lakh = 1 lakh + 2 lakh

[mca]

^^ Thinking the same thing myself

My question is if one lakh is 100000 and 2 lakh is 200000 how much is 3 lakh?

Easy!

3 lakh = 1 lakh + 2 lakh

I always thought it was 4 lakh - 1 lakh. Thanks for putting me straight.

[digibum]

Gotta disagree with those who think these girls don't go into it willingly. Granted, not all, as some are forced, but I also know more than a few Uni students who "freelance" on the weekends for extra spending cash for new phones, etc, and to supplement what they get from their parents. I personally know one who is studying to become a lawyer. 21 years old and drop dead gorgeous. She has an arrangement with 2 separate men, both farang. One she meets for an hour or so on Saturday, the other for an hour or so on Sunday. 8,000 a month from each of them, and she sees absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. Oh, and no, I'm not one of them. I know her because I help her with her English, which is actually very good, and getting better.

Personally, if this is what they want to do, who am I to judge them? On the other hand, there are those who are sold by their parents, or forced into it through economic hardship, and that I do have a problem with.

IMHO I can't help but think that you have got this the wrong way round. Having sex on account of economic hardship is through necessity in having to find the money for food and clothes to live and doing it to be able to afford possessions such as mobiles is purely materialism and not a justified reason!!!!

Parents selling their children to the sex trade is a completely different issue. I don't think you will find much in the way of this in Walking Street as they usually do it willingly (out of necessity in their eyes) to send money home to their families to support them!!

Yes, but it's really on how you define, "necessity." The vast, vast majority of the girls working the prostitution game had multiple job opportunities available to them and they simply chose prostitution because it was easy and paid big money. I'm not necessarily saying that Thai girls view the prostitution scene as being without tradeoffs. They know the stigma in Thai society. They know the risks (HIV, getting beat up, killed, etc). They know all of this and they still figure it's easier than working 12 hours a day, six days a week, in a normal job and the money is considerably better.

[digibum]

this news story is much ado about nothing.

the comments were made at an india event... obvviously the speaker was putting a positive family spin for the indian tourism market. most tourists from india are families. you will rarely see an indian in a beer bar, karaoke joint, or massage parlor.

however, i saw a number of groups of indian men negotiating with Walking Street freelancers last weekend.... very amusing.and pathetic because of their attempts to get group sex at discount prices...

It may be true that most Indians come with families but, as they get more affluent, there seem to growing numbers of Indian sex tour groups coming to Thailand. Some massage parlours in Pattaya have started to cater exclusively to these groups and recruit portly masseuses to appeal to Indian guys who are steeped in the tradition of overweight starlets gyrating around in their Bollywood singing and dancing movies. Indian and mainland Chinese middle class groups are probably the fastest growth area for Thai tourism and many of them are now all male groups that you can see in Walking Street, Bangla Road and Soi Cowboy.

I've had to fly some of the flights over from India to BKK for business and it looks not too different than flying LHR to BKK. Lots of single males.

[digibum]

15 pages already, blimey.

The article assumes or paints a picture for the reader that central government could, if it wanted, curtail Thailand's sex industry. Since a large chunk of the profits from this industry go to the local police chiefs and local politicians, it is very unlikely that central government could, so there will not be any change in Thailand's status as an international sex hub in the next 2 or 3 decades.

The easy money of prostitution is too much a part of Thai society now. There was a survey they did with school age kids a few years back and something over 50% of the girls said they wanted a farang boyfriend or husband one day.

That may not seem to fit into the conversation about prostitution but the reality is that even from a young age we're seen as lottery tickets. Even if they closed down Soi Cowboy, Nana, and Pattaya was destroyed by flood these girls would simply migrate to wherever the farangs are.

Simply put, we pump too much money into the Thai economy. While tourism is officially tagged at something like 5% - 7% of GDP, I've always felt that number to be staggeringly inaccurate. That number is made up of hotel bookings, air travel, food, etc. Most of the money we pump into the local economy is under the table. I'm fairly sure that the good folks at the ministry of finance aren't counting the fact that it's farang money supporting some bar girl and her family. In fact, since she doesn't even pay taxes on that money they barely even know she and her family exist. Same goes for all of the bars that keep two sets of books, vendors who sell pirate DVD's, t-shirts, and other crap. None of that money is attributed to tourism.

My guesstimate is that farangs probably contribute 20%+ to the GDP of Thailand when you factor in all of the homes, cars, businesses, etc that are purchased in the name of a Thai on behalf of a farang. Granted, a lot of that isn't straight tourism but it's a more accurate reflection of what us farangs bring to Thailand. And I don't want to suggest that all Thais are bar girls but let's face it . . . most came for the prostitutes and later found girlfriends and/or wives. So if there wasn't that initial hook of Soi Cowboy or Nana or Patong or wherever many of those guys would have never come to Thailand or might not have been drawn to coming back (or moving here).

You can't just turn that off. If Thailand wanted to clean up its image and ban prostitution a lot that money would go with it. Instead of supporting some Thai bar girl guys might start spending more time in Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, etc and supporting their prostitutes. And eventually they would date/marry the local girls there and instead of Mr. Farang sending off a few thousand baht per month to his girlfriend in Thailand he's wiring a few million dong to his girlfriend in Vietnam.

That doesn't mean that Thailand should ignore prostitution but it does mean that you can't simply turn it off. There's too much money involved. You can't make up for that by luring some Chinese or Indian families to Thailand. Thailand would have to undergo some fundamental changes in order to be ready to make the transition and they're not even close.