Tomwit Jarnson, the Thai consul general in Mumbai, thinks that Thailand can become a family tourism destination.  He must be on some kind of medication.

An article in the India Times, Thailand to shed ‘sex tourism’ tag soon, would have you believe that Thailand has cleaned up its precious image.  Not even close.

Sex tourism

This is just another attempt by a Thai Government Official to try to make tourism in Thailand more appealing to families.  Ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime.

Arguably called the Thailand is now deliberately using the family tourism label to shed the sex destination tag, a Thai diplomat said here Friday.

As long as men are willing to pay and women are available to sell, the sex tourism industry in Thailand will continue unabated.  It will most likely grow with the advent of a minimum wage increase that will result in thousand of jobs lost. Where will the women go when there are no more legitimate jobs?

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event organised in Panaji to promote Thailand as a tourism destination, Tomwit Jarnson, the Thai consul general in Mumbai, said family tourism would eventually edge Thailand away from the slur of ‘sex tourism’ in the years to come.

In about 10,000 years to come.  Sex tourism was prevalent when I stationed here in the 70′s and my boss said that sex was readily available when he first came to Thailand in the mid 50′s.  As long as it makes money for Thailand it will continue to be subtly promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand – i.e., The Miss Tiffany competition in Pattaya every year to determine the most beautiful transvestite (lady boy).

“We are trying to project Thailand as a family tourism destination. We are slowly changing the perception of Thailand to the rest of the world,” Jarnson said.

The only change to the rest of the world is that Thailand is also now labeled as the Land of Scams instead of the Land of Smiles.

Jarnson said the Thai food and dance festival in Goa, in association with the Vivanta by Taj hotels and resorts, was just such an attempt to project Thailand as a place steeped in culture, which is quite similar to the culture of the Indian sub-continent and tradition and a rich and diverse culinary palette.

Too bad that the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t promote Thailand as a cultural stop – they only promote the biggest outdoor water fight in Bangkok during the Songkran festival.  Rarely do I see any promotions about the UNESCO World Heritage sites or Buddhism.

“Destination Thailand is an annual event organised by us which helps us reach out to the people of India through our food, music and dance. We are very happy to have the festival in Goa this year where the people of this city will experience the unique characteristics and rich cultural heritage which our country has to offer,” he said.

Too bad that the Tourism Authority of Thailand makes no mention of this “Destination Thailand” on their Amazing Thailand Facebook page.

“We are slowly developing facilities in Thailand which will attract family tourism. We have a lot of Indian families who travel to Thailand,” Jarnson said.

Not with streets crammed with taxis, sidewalks with so many street vendors and prostitutes that you cannot walk along them, and scam artists at almost every major Thai venue.

He further said that the Thailand tourism authorities were trying to project Phuket – which, along with Bangkok and Pattaya, is regarded as the prime sex tourism area in Thailand – as a family tourism destination.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is primarily trying to get people to think that Phuket is an upscale location and is desperately trying to promote this line of bullshit to Europeans.  Thai Government officials must not realize that people are smarter, have access to news, forums, and videos online and can see the jet ski scams on camera, can see the polluted beaches, can see the pesky vendors on the beach, and don’t want to come to Thailand.

Although banned by law, prostitution is common place in the tourism districts of Thailand, which nearly 14 million tourists visit annually — a large chunk of these are single males or male groups of tourists seeking sex or sex-oriented fun.

OK.  Thailand does not have that many tourists – more like 10 million.  And, prostitution is prevalent throughout the entire country – not just in the tourism districts.  Bars, Clubs, and brothels can be found in every city in Thailand and cater to Thais, tourists and expats.

I had to do a Google search for the word “lakh” and found that it means 100,000 – so WHO thinks there are 200,000 female hookers in Thailand.  I would say that the number is greatly underestimated.  There are almost that many hookers in Pattaya alone.  I would think the number is closer to 2 million country wide.  Toss in the number of male prostitutes and you can add another 25%.

I wish Khun Tomwit Jarnson well in his quest to change the mind of the entire world regarding sex tourism, but I seriously doubt that it will happen in the next 1,000 years.

Tags: family tourism hookers india sex trouism tourism authority of thailand