Will Thailand shed its image as a sex tourism destination?

[Scott]

The Thai authorities spend a fair amount of time trying to protect the image of Thailand.   Do you think that Thailand will be successful in shedding its image as a sex tourism destination?

 

Please feel free to leave a comment.

 

Although this link is in the World News Section, it may be of interest to posters:

 

 

 

[Belzybob]

But it will take longer to shed the perception that it is not just morally corrupt.

[jaltsc]

"Will Thailand be successful in shedding its image as a sex tourism destination?"

 

Sure, because as everyone already knows, the cultural attractions employ the most Thais. I've heard over and over in Issan, mothers talking to their daughters: "Learn about culture and then you can be a guide for the tourists and make big money."

 

As long as the sex trade is the road to quick and easy money that goes to support poor families,  "promoters" profiting from the industry, and desperate men who can't buy a decent "date" for a few hundred dollars back in the west, Thailand will remain a sex tourism destination.

 

It's not about the laws of the country (as useless as they are in this trade). It's about the law of supply and demand. As long as there is a big demand, there will be an adequate supply. 

[steven100]

no way.    That's why we're all here ...        

I never came across a Soi Cowboy in Karachi ..   

[otherstuff1957]

The only way to end the image of sex tourism is to end sex tourism.  They only way to do that would be a massive crackdown in Pattaya, Phuket and parts of Bangkok.

 

So, how would they do the crackdown? 

 

Shutting down the bars would just drive the girls (and boys) out into the streets.  Mass arrests of the girls who provide the services would be ineffective if it just resulted in a lecture and a 500฿ fine.  Sending the girls off to re-education camps wouldn't go down too well, so there seems to be no good way to cut off the supply. 

 

Demand, however, could to reduced to a trickle, by arresting a couple of thousand foreign sex tourists!  This action, however would have a very negative effect on the tourist numbers and income! 

[Denim]

Where there is a will there is a way.

 

Here........there is no will so there is no way.

[impulse]

20 minutes ago, jaltsc said:

It's not about the laws of the country (as useless as they are in this trade). It's about the law of supply and demand. As long as there is a big demand, there will be an adequate supply. 

 

The laws could stop it in a heartbeat if they arrested the customers as well as the hookers.  Demand would dry up (or just move elsewhere) after a few name and shame articles back home, plus the added scrutiny of crossing back into the home country after an overseas arrest on prostitution charges shows up tied to the passport.

[klauskunkel]

9 hours ago, Scott said:

The Thai authorities spend a fair amount of time trying to protect the image of Thailand.

The Thai authorities' approach to an issue that irks them is usually a vehement condemnation followed by threatening this or that, then one or two crackdowns with a positive headline and pictures... and then the hot air goes pfffft. Thailand may just be able to change a perception if the authorities learn how to focus and follow-up, and then apply that newfound knowledge...

Personally, I think it is preferable for the authorities to not tackle the sex image yet, but to try and ameliorate Thailand's coup-coup image first.

[stubuzz]

The money made from sex tourism supports a lot of poor families in the north and north-east. Stopping it would be a major blow to the economy.

[worgeordie]

When the traffic in Bangkok is stopped by snow drifts.

regards worgeordie

[worgeordie]

3 minutes ago, stubuzz said:

The money made from sex tourism supports a lot of poor families in the north and north-east. Stopping it would be a major blow to the economy.

and the Police.

regards Worgeordie

[lujanit]

As long as there are very many extremely poor families in Thailand and the fact that Thais' value their family very highly (correctly IMHO) sex work by predominately by young females is not going away.  The money these sex workers send home is in the main part the only income their families have.  You cannot call the income a lot of families receive by share farming a few rai planted with rice a steady income.  Many farmers who live in Isaan can only harvest one crop a year. I am not for a minute saying prostitution by these girls, many of them coerced by their parents is right. 

 

I knew a mamasan a few years ago and she told me that the girls just treat sex as a job, even though they hate fat farangs.  Many of us hate the job we do yet we do it to support ourselves and our family.

 

In all countries where family and personal income is a lot higher prostitution is common place.  It is easy to find paid sex everywhere.

 

Don't any of you who think you don't pay for sex because you are married or in a long term partnership as you are delusional.  As the mamasan in the bar in Westworld says ' the only difference is our prices are posted on the sign hanging on the post (sic)'.

 

I would argue that paying a prostitute is far cheaper if sex is the is the main reason you are in a relationship. Wham, bang, thank-you Ma'am and walk away. No baggage if you use a prostitute.

[NoshowJones]

Although I don't participate in the bar scene, I think Thailand should actually legalise  it, there is nothing wrong with prostitution as long as there is no underage girls involved, no one is getting hurt, and all the people involved are agreeable to what is going on between them.

Edited May 28, 2017 by possum1931

[ezzra]

Yes it will... right after all corruptions and nepotism will be no more and right about the same time when foreigners will be treated equally as the Thai people... Or not....

 

[lovelomsak]

9 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Yes it will... right after all corruptions and nepotism will be no more

and right about the same time when foreigners will be treated equally

as the Thai people... Or not....

 

You got it right.

  Thailand is what Thailand is the veneer changes but the country will always be the same place doing the same things.

[Orton Rd]

Apart from rice it's almost all they have to sell

[evadgib]

The domestic element dwarfs anything involving f-f-foreigners...

[bartobar]

CULTURE is CULTURE

[reallybigken]

Why?

[imo]

What is wrong with sex?

I think it is time first the whole world gets the same image. Perhaps then sex is seen as a natural thing beyond morals.

signed: "make love, not war"

[AGareth2]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

no way.    That's why we're all here ...        

I never came across a Soi Cowboy in Karachi ..   

you should have tried Lahore on the banks of the Ravi

[elgordo38]

Looking at the results I guess the Pope is really Catholic

[mikebell]

Only when the police force is re-formed.  There was a crackdown on soi 6 whilst a new deal was negotiated.  No customers were allowed upstairs but it was OK to use the short time hotel (which is, coincidentally, police owned.)

[leeneeds]

Having a small head that likes to duck into  moist dark  places, and once entered that place,  the feeling of never wanting to leave and  thrusting ever more into its depths , brings on a release of pure ecstasy why would you ever mess with such pleasure.

 

[darksidedog]

It's a bit of a dilemna for Thailand. Sex tourism brings in a lot of money to the country and keeps lots of people in a job. On the other side of the coin is the face thing and we all know how important that is to people here. My opinion is that the money will win, because that is even more important to them.

Edited May 28, 2017 by darksidedog

[Cadbury]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

The laws could stop it in a heartbeat if they arrested the customers as well as the hookers.  Demand would dry up (or just move elsewhere) after a few name and shame articles back home, plus the added scrutiny of crossing back into the home country after an overseas arrest on prostitution charges shows up tied to the passport.

"...they arrested the customers as well as the hookers". Surely you jest?

 

And just who are "they"?  Presumably you mean the police, those same people who stand most to lose. The police and others in positions of power are not in the slightest bit interested in shutting down the sex industry as they have too much to lose in terms of income and free services. A simple case of too many fingers in the pie and no one wants to kill the Golden Goose....pardon the clichés.

 

Apart from yourself the only other person I know who wants shut down prostitution is Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul. 

The sex industry is part of the Thai economy and there is nothing that can change that.

[impulse]

17 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

And just who are "they"?  Presumably you mean the police, those same people who stand most to lose.

 

Surely you've noticed the drive to cut off the BIB's sources of income by getting rid of street vendors, raiding after hours bars and gambling dens, getting rid of beach vendors and tearing down encroaching buildings?

 

Whether it's real reform, or just diverting the graft into different pockets, I think we've all seen things we never expected to see.

 

BTW,  Just to be clear, I don't recommend shutting down prostitution, nor do I forecast it.   I'm just saying it could be done if they wanted to.

 

Edit:  And I don't believe it would be the doom of Thai tourism, either.  Short term hurt during the transition?  Sure.  But for every sex tourist they lose, they can eventually attract a family that won't come to Thailand currently because of its reputation.  They'll certainly have to up their game to offer activities, attractions and venues that take a lot more organization and work than spreading a pair of legs.

 

Edited May 28, 2017 by impulse

[WhizBang]

17 hours ago, otherstuff1957 said:

The only way to end the image of sex tourism is to end sex tourism.  They only way to do that would be a massive crackdown in Pattaya, Phuket and parts of Bangkok.

 

So, how would they do the crackdown? 

 

Shutting down the bars would just drive the girls (and boys) out into the streets.  Mass arrests of the girls who provide the services would be ineffective if it just resulted in a lecture and a 500฿ fine.  Sending the girls off to re-education camps wouldn't go down too well, so there seems to be no good way to cut off the supply. 

 

Demand, however, could to reduced to a trickle, by arresting a couple of thousand foreign sex tourists!  This action, however would have a very negative effect on the tourist numbers and income! 

 

They cannot limit their crackdown to ONLY foreigners who want to pay for play.  They need to go after the Thais who pay for play too.  The Thai market dwarfs the tourist/foreigner market.  And like everything else in this country, the Thais pay much less than the tourists/foreigners.

 

To shut down all forms of prostitution in this country would hit the economy hard.  Better they should legalize it and make sure everyone involved does so of their own free will and is also free to quite any time they want without coercion or penalty and make sure there are no under age persons employed.

. 

 

[crystal sauce]

No, simply because Thai girls are extremely sexy and they enjoy what they do. I love them.

[Jeremy50]

No. But instead of banning it embrace it. The reputation has been made so, go with it and build on it, make Thailand the undisputed world centre of commercial sex. Though in my opinion, the 5 million or so sex tourists who come here annually, missed the party by at least ten years.