Zorro Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 I found this in the Sydney Morning Herald. It claims that sex tourism constitutes 5% of GDP. I am not sure where they get this figure from but if true it does constitute a large slice of the Thai economy. It is midnight at Patong Beach and the tourists - almost all men - are out in force. They spill out from bars on Bangla Road, a stretch of pubs, girlie bars, strip shows and flirting Thai women. Just over three weeks after the tsunami, tourism is starting to pick up in Patong, the so-called cash register of Phuket. But on the beach and in the bars it is a particular type of holidaymaker who have decided not to cancel their trips and instead support the Thai economy, so reliant on tourism. They are not families and rarely couples, but single men. This is partly to do with sex tourism, which accounts for 5 per cent of Thailand's gross domestic product. As usual, plenty of older male foreigners are to be seen hand-in-hand with Thai women. The strip bars are reporting little downturn in trade since the tsunami. Even the transvestite cabaret and gay bars are business-as-usual. "Yes, we are just as busy as before the tsunami," said Toto, a drag queen. Other men who either stayed or did not cancel their holidays in Phuket, where hotel occupancy rates have plummeted from 100 per cent to less than 20 per cent, are not here for the sex tourism but have visited Thailand many times and know people here. Advertisement AdvertisementAmel Alispahic, 28, of Cronulla, arrived a week after the tsunami. Having once visited Thailand nine times in a year - he works for Qantas - cancelling did not cross his mind. "I'm not like the other tourists who see disaster and want to get out of the country," he said, as the music of AC/DC thundered outside the Kangaroo Bar. "A Thai person told me, 'We don't want you Australians to leave. If you go we have nothing to live for'. They respect us more for not running away, not having fear." An Australian hotel owner, who only wanted to be known as Sid, said bookings had started to pick up again, and his hotel was now half full. "Before Christmas there were more families than single blokes, now you see a lot of single blokes floating around and the families are gone. But it is the families that normally stay in the hotels on the beach, and they are the ones that have been hit." Down the road, propped on a bar stool, Thomas Ferguson, 35, from Scotland, said he too was a regular in Thailand. He was due in Patong on December 28 but stayed in Bangkok after the tsunami and then went to Koh Samui, an island off the unaffected Gulf of Thailand coast. But the nightlife there, he said, was "rubbish". "I'll be honest with you," he shouted over the music. "It's the cheap drinking and the good nightlife that I like here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 [color:"blue"] 5 percent is in of itself not very much. [/color] If they sex tourist trade was done away with, and if this figure is accurate, it would not have much impact on the economy of Thailand. Right now there is an active role to dispense with the sex trade. There is also a movement to make prostituion legal. I would like to see the later. It would be beneficial for all 4 groups, [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color] the girls, [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color] the customers, [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color] the business owners, [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color] and the gocernment. [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . [/color] [color:"white"] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color] all together gang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyk Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 More unsubstantiated bilge. If it was done away with it would affect Pattaya and a tiny bit of BKK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lusty Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 I really don't know how it could be eradicated.Even if they closed all the bars there would just be more freelancing going on.When they start arresting Thai girls with faranges without a marriage certificate then you know they mean business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 Thought I read recently that the entre tourist industry accounts for only around 6% of the Thai GDP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 you are correct; Tourism industry counts only for 6% of the Thai GDP. however in the GDP, black markets are not included, that means only figures that are reported and where tax is paid are in the GDP figures. a huge part of the nightlife and sex industry is black market; many bars do not pay taxes or fabricate their accounts and how many prostitutes pay tax on the money they earn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 And create a shortage of foreign English teachers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Probably what urks the gov. ( not just thailand) is the cash( read unrecorded $$) that changes hands and no tax collected on it ( at least not until it is finally spent with a mercnant that keeps some kind of records) they are missing one "link" in the tax chain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-.-.- Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Khun Kong- I have read the six percent figure as well. May have been BBC a few weeks ago reporting on the tsunami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 6% is what TAT says is the percentage that tourism contributes to the Thai GNP. Not just sex tourism, but *ALL* tourism. But that does not include *ANY* of the amounts paid to hookers, and I'm sure many bars 'cook their books' to not show all barfines paid to them. Certainly not all tourism to Thailand is sex related. Many, many families go there, for a variety of experiences. The sex part (percentage wise), while getting much press, is I think much lower, than what most might think, overall. Given that, I suppose I spend maybe 1/2 of my money there, on barfines and payments to girls. Food, drink, hotel, and transportation make up the other half, so approximately one half of what I spend there (or used to ) , is not recorded. That's a lot of $$$. X that by the number of sex tourists, and you're talking some serious money. But would not come close to doubling the total income Thailand receives in outside revenues, from all sources. I would think only maybe another 2% at most, could be realisticlly added on, to represent unaccounted for sex-tourist dollars. And that would include tips to taxi drivers, maids, etc. Am I wrong? I'm just guessing here, with nothing to back it up. Just common reasoning. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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