Some comments on Franciscass and Giotto's posts
For some time Stickman has written about complaints from bar managers regarding the difficulty bars have attracting and retaining girls and that the demand for coyote dancers outstrips supply. Similarly he has chronicled the decline on Soi 33. One of my previous post also detailed that birth rates in Thailand have been declining for decades. No doubt this is having a significant impact on the number of young ladies seeking employment in the sex industry; and of course Thailand's strong economy is a factor.
Many sources state tourism is booming in Thailand, and Bangkok in particular. I mentioned in previous posts that international tourism data ranks Bangkok as the third most visited destination in the world after London and Paris. The following tables are national visitor data provided by the Department of Tourism data from the Government of Thailand.
Total visitors.
Year change.
2012 22, 303, 065 +15. 98 %
2011 19, 230, 470 +20. 67 %
2010 15, 936, 400 +12. 63 %
2009 14, 149, 841. 2.98 %
2008 14, 584, 220 +0. 83 %
2007 14, 464, 228 +4. 65 %
2006 13, 821, 802 +20. 01 %
2005 11, 516, 936. 1.15%
Visitors by country or territory.
Rank Country or territory 2012.
1 China 2, 789, 345.
2 Malaysia 2, 560, 963.
3 Japan 1, 371, 253.
4 Russia 1, 317, 387.
5 South Korea 1, 169, 131.
6 India 1, 015, 865.
7 Laos 951, 090.
8 Australia 930, 599.
9 United Kingdom 870, 164.
10 Singapore 821, 056.
11 United States 767, 420.
12 Germany 681, 566.
13 Vietnam 617, 804.
14 France 572, 996.
15 Hong Kong 472, 699.
16 Indonesia 448, 748.
17 Cambodia 424, 766.
18 Taiwan 394, 475.
19 Sweden 350, 565.
20 Philippines 288, 889.
It is notable that visitors from China, Japan and South Korea total 5, 329, 863, while visitors from Australia, United Kingdom, United States, Germany and France total 3, 822, 745; and if Russian visitors are added to the visitors from the preceding five countries the total only reaches 5, 140, 132, which is still less than the total visitors from the three East Asian countries. Most visitors from Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Philippines probably visit Thailand for reason other than tourism per se; though young women from these countries may be seeking employment in the sex industry. On my last trip I had sex with a girl from a Nana Plaza bar whom I am convinced was undocumented and from Cambodia.
Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy and the oily / soapy massage parlors are not the primary attractions for most tourists; and assuming the number of mongers from East Asia is proportional to the mongers from the other six countries listed above over half of the mongers would be East Asians. M personal observations are consistent with these data. On my most recent trip in December I was struck by the large number of tourists who had nothing to do with the mongering scene and the large number of East Asians at Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy.
Gentlemen, the times they are a changing.