Is it April 1st already?

Sabai. Just talk.

Sounds a little extreme... I understand the concept, but what would it take for a perp to cut the damn thing off or the limb it's attached to...

Hope it doesn't go this route...

It starts to become public,

http://www.lefigaro.fr/voyages/2014/09/30/30003-20140930ARTFIG00178-la-thailande-veut-doter-les-touristes-de-bracelets-d-identification.php

I noticed it on LinkedIn as well.

Well done minister!

Thailand is a very safe country. I have been here 2 years and I haven't so much as seen any trouble. The only problems here in Thailand appear to happen in the places most people know to avoid anyway - Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok. I am sorry for anyone who gets into trouble here or gets hurt but it doesn't take a genius to work out that there is a certain risk to going to Pattaya and getting extremely drunk. The same would apply to a tourist visiting England, don't go to St Annes in Nottingham and get extremely drunk or try to purchase drugs in Moss Side in Manchester. It is of course not ideal but at the same time, getting in trouble in Thailand seems entirely avoidable to me.

I agree, I would feel much safer living in a house I had built on her parents land for my 50 year old wife with 4 kids from 5 different Thai fathers and a scar made by a chain saw running up to her belly button. Next to the rice paddy I could sit there and drink Archer beer all day with no one I could communicate with, let alone intelligently while watching the dogs, chickens and ducks roaming around the village eating the scraps. Nothing like the view of a rice paddy to put one at ease. The other good thing is if you went missing (after the Thai BF turned up) you wouldn't make the headlines as no one would know you were there.

It's definitely why I moved to Thailand but I am still working on the retirement plan as I don't have enough money yet to build the house and support the kids yabba habit.......

God forbid that the law is up held, can you imagine the stress involved.....

Typical over reaction. Tomorrow morning, after a good nights sleep, the Sports Minister will wish he had not said this. We have all been there at one time or another. Just tired of reporters asking for a quick solution, for which is there not one.

“The next step would be some sort of electronic tracking device but this has not yet been discussed in detail.”

Oh, this will be a paradise for tourists, treated as criminals with electronic devices.

Are these people serious coming up with ideas like that?

This is what it becomes when you buy your post instead of earning it with knowledge and education.

They don't realise one bit tourists will not enter if they are getting monitored or singled out.

The height of stupidity and ignorance.

Good idea to give a wristband to tourists.

In Europe we do the same by cattle, dogs and cats.
Maybe also take DNA for the databank. Or another solution injects a chip with ID info.

In hotels and resorts in Turkey and Brazil I like a wristband, because it means “free food and free drinks”. In that case I want even 2 bands.

I suppose that this tourists every moment of the day remember of the danger in Thailand and it make them more scary than lucky.

Tourists will not return to the dangerous Thailand.

Rather than tagging the tourists, isn't it better to get the police to do their duties properly? If the law is really hard on criminals and the law enforcers are serious on their jobs, perpetrators will think twice before committing a crime.

Get used an the idea..........

The sheer stupidity of these cretinous people is utterly immeasurable. In the equation of life that philosophers the world over have tried to factor over the millennia I doubt any would or could possibly believe there could be a people so devoid of intelligence, logic and common sense as the Thai.

I actually believe microbes have more intelligence.

Logging, monitoring and controlling an annual transient population of between 16 - 20 million foreigners by a country that has yet to implement a single functioning controlled pedestrian crossing anywhere in its land?

Dictionaries will need amendment in defining degrees of imbecility courtesy of the Thai.

UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS!!!

It should all start with a stable political system and the tackling of corruption to under cover programs to make sure they catch those corrupt authorities to having visible police monitoring areas by foot, bicycle or horse (tourist areas and party areas) etc...

There's so much more that must be done internally...they cannot provide safety to tourists by focusing on the tourist themselves! What they speak of will push the tourist away...not bring them back.

Why would I go to a country as a tourist where I must wear a wristband for my security?!

My eye's are wide open now and I don't like what I see.

Thank you Thailand for opening my eyes.

there is no security in this wrist band only identity (assuming that the perp leaves it with your body)

could start a trophy murderer collecting wrist bands

The sheer stupidity of these cretinous people is utterly immeasurable. In the equation of life that philosophers the world over have tried to factor over the millennia I doubt any would or could possibly believe there could be a people so devoid of intelligence, logic and common sense as the Thai.

I actually believe microbes have more intelligence.

Logging, monitoring and controlling an annual transient population of between 16 - 20 million foreigners by a country that has yet to implement a single functioning controlled pedestrian crossing anywhere in its land?

Dictionaries will need amendment in defining degrees of imbecility courtesy of the Thai.

UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS!!!

It should all start with a stable political system and the tackling of corruption to under cover programs to make sure they catch those corrupt authorities to having visible police monitoring areas by foot, bicycle or horse (tourist areas and party areas) etc...

There's so much more that must be done internally...they cannot provide safety to tourists by focusing on the tourist themselves! What they speak of will push the tourist away...not bring them back.

Why would I go to a country as a tourist where I must wear a wristband for my security?!

My eye's are wide open now and I don't like what I see.

Thank you Thailand for opening my eyes.

there is no security in this wrist band only identity (assuming that the perp leaves it with your body)

could start a trophy murderer collecting wrist bands

Get used an the idea..........

Well, if they want to destroy tourism completely, that will put the final nail in the coffin.

Tagging tourists . . . !

I can see it now . . . go through immigration, get your passport stamped & then . . . 'this way prease.... next!'

It's not April Fools Day is it?

Get used an the idea..........

My Grandparents wore something like that back in 1944 and NOT by choice.

If the clown who came up with this was from a first world country, he would now be apologizing and unemployed.

That's a great idea....til the local minder goes postal and kills his "buddy".

This will make tourists flock here, maybe they can make it like a souvenir and sell it to tourists

UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS!!!

It should all start with a stable political system and the tackling of corruption to under cover programs to make sure they catch those corrupt authorities to having visible police monitoring areas by foot, bicycle or horse (tourist areas and party areas) etc...

There's so much more that must be done internally...they cannot provide safety to tourists by focusing on the tourist themselves! What they speak of will push the tourist away...not bring them back.

Why would I go to a country as a tourist where I must wear a wristband for my security?!

My eye's are wide open now and I don't like what I see.

Thank you Thailand for opening my eyes.

this wrist band is not for security security just identity after death (assuming that the perp leaves the wrist band with the body)

could cut it of and use it as a sick trophy, so the statement by the minister saying it will help tourists is rubbish this stupid plan has just not been thought out

so no wrist band same as KHO TAO and the poor young couple there

and still all they worry about is money from tourism it will serve the Thai nation right if the tourist figures drop like a stone i for one say they desreve it they should of addressed corruption long ago, the final straw is the poor couple murdered and the lack luster way the police farce accused everyone exept Thai

Finally i totally agree with your 2nd paragraph this another nail in the coffin of tourism not good for me as i have a guest house

Thai stupidity way beyond belief for any body with even half a brain

UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS!!!

It should all start with a stable political system and the tackling of corruption to under cover programs to make sure they catch those corrupt authorities to having visible police monitoring areas by foot, bicycle or horse (tourist areas and party areas) etc...

There's so much more that must be done internally...they cannot provide safety to tourists by focusing on the tourist themselves! What they speak of will push the tourist away...not bring them back.

Why would I go to a country as a tourist where I must wear a wristband for my security?!

My eye's are wide open now and I don't like what I see.

Thank you Thailand for opening my eyes.

this wrist band is not for security security just identity after death (assuming that the perp leaves the wrist band with the body)

could cut it of and use it as a sick trophy, so the statement by the minister saying it will help tourists is rubbish this stupid plan has just not been thought out

so no wrist band same as KHO TAO and the poor young couple there

and still all they worry about is money from tourism it will serve the Thai nation right if the tourist figures drop like a stone i for one say they desreve it they should of addressed corruption long ago, the final straw is the poor couple murdered and the lack luster way the police farce accused everyone exept Thai

Finally i totally agree with your 2nd paragraph this another nail in the coffin of tourism not good for me as i have a guest house

Thai stupidity way beyond belief for any body with even half a brain

An alternative system that really would make Tourists safer would be to require any Thai wanting to enter a resort area apply for a colored wristband which he or she must wear at all times while in the Resort Area.

Wrist Band colors as follows:-

GOLD Has own home, Has Bank Account, Professionally employed, HIV Free, has Thai ID Card

Green Student, Lives with Mum, has part time job, never arrested, HIV Free, Has Thai ID Card

YELLOW Homeless, unemployed, no Bank Account, Has HIV, Has done time.Has Thai ID Card

PINK Ladyboy, transvestite, or homosexual, Lives from day to day, No fixed address. Medical History Unknown, No ID.

Of course the Director of Tourism will need to develop this idea further to make it acceptable to Thai people whilst making the project efficacious resource for resource operators still suffering from the delinquent conduct of Thai politicians.

tagging tourists uc me these thai ministers really don't like the tourist industry and seems they want it to die.!!!

Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul I had assumed that this could be an improvement to the tourist shops and tour companies scheme issue flower pins so they know who gets the commission maybe we could computerize the whole thing. Where airlines issue a "tracking ap" smart on phones and the commission on tourist shop aright up to hospitals could be allocated to the hotel and Airlines that booked them to Thailand. That way all Thai people could more easily profit from purchases to muggings, even funeral costs. Because it will discourage tourists so we will have to maximize profit from the one that come. Sorry I think Khun Kobkarn has missed teh boat with this stupid Idea of scary waist bands and tourist minders(Guides). Has she ever traveled or worked in the travel industry? Or even talked with a non Thai tourist/

Missed the boat is far too kind a turn of phrase here.

Hair brained knee jerking unthinking scandalous ill thought out immature irrelevant - 'at about covers it.

I am speechless at this and literally it made me want to vomit.

Excuse me to any of the audience eating tea that is offended by my writing that last bit.

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Now that several posters have seen fit to make comparison to the Nuremburg laws, might it be time to look at this a little more calmly. Is a tourist ID band at a resort/hotel such a bad idea?

I read on TV several times per year the stories of entire Euro-families getting themselves lost in the jungle, when they wander off the beaten path.

What is wrong with an ID band that helps those Euros who don't have enough sense to realize the hazards of getting lost in the jungle?

Some Thai finds them and can read where they are staying and get them back. If somebody wants to inflict harm, wristband or no will not make a difference.

This isn't entirely the goofy idea it's being made out to be. Nature is pretty tame in Europe and a lot of people have no idea what they are wandering into.

What is wrong whit carrying a business card of your hotel?

just another diversion . the electonic tracking device should go to the possible perpetrator not the victim....

spindoctors at work,watch out!

But they don't need to identify the Thais as they would never commit a crime on a tourist. Maybe tag the burmese as they would certainly be the perp.

Aaaaand the "Koh Tao Handbook of how to not get raped and your face bashed in with a garden hoe" reads:

Rule 1) stay in the party zones only, you enter killzones (rest of Koh Tao) on your own risk.

Rule 2) get into an argument with a family member of the local mafia, call home and say goodbye since basically you are done.
Rule 3) never, ever attempt to disturb a local police officer when in need for help, because they are employees of the people who will kill you anyway.
Rule 4) drop all your valuables in the designated container in your room for easier confiscation by hotel personell after you have been killed.
Rule 5) wear the ugliest and most unsexy dresses you can find, and DON'T even dare to wear makeup to avoid arousing potential killers.
Rule 6) pretend that your marriage, engagement, etc. is an unhappy one to avoid potential killers' jealousy that could lead to your death.
Rule 7) don't wear weapons - makes the killing easier and more fun for your killer.
Rule 8) please be warned that you will be charged with murder if you kill an assailant in self defense. Learn to let go!

Rule 9) please be aware of the fact that the tourist curfew starts at 08:00 p.m. and ends at 07:00 a.m.

Rule 10) give money you would have spent partying during curfew time to the local disco or bar mafiosi in an envelope during day time to keep the Koh Tao economic system in balance.

Many thanks for your support and have a nice holiday!