chorba Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 very surprising in a Muslim country. It is generally the case that in countries where the main source of income is tourism, prostitution (women, children) develops prolifically regardless of whether it is an official Muslim country or not. They depend on the tourist. The tourist is king. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CXC3000 Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 what an exciting life you must lead because if you go out of your safe western bubble you will see a whole new world what europe just does not have to offer. Thailand was great but i feel the package holidays are probably going to kill it,but im sure the surrounding countries will take over the more laid back travel holiday Sorry, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Africa's the last place I'd want to go (especially South Africa). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppins Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 What is so 'special' about Thailand ? - why do so many Westerners go there ? -. Seems it's mostly men that like to go there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Rock Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 It's a beautiful country. I toured around it a few years ago, the sex industry from what I saw was only situated in a few selected streets in Bangkok and in Pattaya. That leaves a huge country full of amazing ancient ruins, elephants, floating markets, fascinating markets, nomadic tribes and glorious beaches. The people were really friendly and welcoming and the food fantastic. I'd love to go back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Just watching a show on BBC2 and it's raising questions of what may happen to Thailand when the King dies. Does anyone have an opinion or insight on the ramifications of the Kimgs death, will there be a shift in the cultural tolerance, or will the vacuum be filled by someone who recognises the value of the tourism/sex/drug destination it has become?? Cemeeteries throughout the world are full of dead kings. Life will as always carry on without them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillageIdiot Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 It's a beautiful country. I toured around it a few years ago, the sex industry from what I saw was only situated in a few selected streets in Bangkok and in Pattaya. That leaves a huge country full of amazing ancient ruins, elephants, floating markets, fascinating markets, nomadic tribes and glorious beaches. The people were really friendly and welcoming and the food fantastic. I'd love to go back. Where is the "thanks" button... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchViz Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Well drugs and prostitute are not exactly legal are they Not been to Amsterdam then I take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 the sex industry is all over Thailand. The tiniest village has a brothel. Every town has what is called a 'goldfish bowl' - a one way mirror behind which sit dozens or even hundreds of girls wearing numbers on their dresses being gawped at by guys who are nearly all Thais. It's Thais that bankroll the sex industry, not foreigners, although the limited number foreign red-light areas are what is visible to the tourists. Thailand doesn't just get only sex tourists. They get a lot of gap years and younger hedonistic types that want to go to to Ko Pha Ngan Full Moon Party and such. They get a surprisingly high number of families also, who you might think would be put off by the 'sex tourism' tag, especially from Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden, escaping the northern hemisphere winters - there were more Swedish victims of the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami that killed 5,000 people in Thailand than any other foreign nationality, even though it's not a large country. They also get a lot of 'normal' package tourists, the UK isn't so far away that they can't sell 10 day packages typically a tour first to Bangkok for a couple of nights, and then an internal flight to somewhere like Phuket for the beach vacation, for competitive prices. The Thai tourist industry is quite advanced, and caters to all sorts. The growing sector of 'voluntourism' - which only really got going after the 2005 tsunami - is the latest big thing. Middle class families in the west are persuaded to part with large amounts of money, thousands of pounds for a month, to enable their children to waste their time in villages doing 'work' that there is no requirement for them to do. Thailand is not that poor. It's one of the richest countries in south east Asia out of the 10 countries that the region consists of, with some of the best infrastructure you will see anywhere in the region. It's a middle ranking country, not dirt-poor like it used to be. it's also a myth that Thailand 'depends' on tourism. It doesn't, particularly and tourism accounts for only slightly higher share of GDP than tourism in the UK does - about 8%. It has a quite well developed and integrated economy, of which agriculture is the highest foreign exchange earner, but also has considerable industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoowatch Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 It is a myth that Thailand's main income is tourism... that only accounts for ~12% of the country's GDP. It is manufacturing, agriculture and the service industry which each outstrips income from tourism. Just the retail industry alone in Thailand is far larger than tourism. As calliope said, Thailand does NOT depend on tourism, it is just an industry which is more labour intensive and is more spread out around the country. When the present King passes away, the privy council will assemble and offer advice on the next monarch, based on royal tradition, and the parliament may also be consulted. Traditionally, and this is public knowledge in Thailand, it is the eldest son (Prince Vajiralongkorn) and the eldest daughter (Princess Sirindhorn) who are designated as the first to the throne, one of whom will then be crowned as 'Rama X'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 it's less than even 12%, definitely single figures. 12% would be very high, a single point of GDP is a lot when it's tourism sector. Egypt, much more dependent on tourism than Thailand, is only about that, maybe a bit more. a lot of western visitors to Thailand also don't realize that the tourists from the 'white, western' countries are the minority, and there's far more foreign Asian visitors than people from UK, USA, Germany etc. the Thais keep them seperate as they know the tourists from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore etc don't want to stay in the same hotels as the farangs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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