General Reports

[QUOTE=Chukar;1610230]I would like to know what percentage of the ladies the members have been with in Thailand speak basic English. None of the reports I have read have indicated communication with their providers being a problem, so can I assume? Most of the girls speak some English? I recently went to Medillon, Co and most of the ladies did not speak English, but many people warned about this on the Forum.
[/QUOTE]In the many years I have been traveling to Thailand, I may have had a few times a WG which did not speak even basic English. Most of these times it was well outside of the usual places where farang go and even then I managed easily as long as you don't want anything special. All the girls I got from the Soi Cowboy agogo clubs were sufficiently fluent in English for my purpose. I once got a farmfresh girl at Annies who did not speak English at all, but the mamasan warned me beforehand and it turned out to be no problem.

As this is a question rather than a report. Has anyone ascertained to where the Stickman is moving after he retires or sells his seminal and excellent website? I'll sincerely miss his commentary. Stick was the true successor to the immortal Trink (Bangkok Eye's filling a slightly different role). I and many, many others will miss him tremendously.

[QUOTE=Naughty;1619375]As this is a question rather than a report. Has anyone ascertained to where the Stickman is moving after he retires or sells his seminal and excellent website? I'll sincerely miss his commentary. Stick was the true successor to the immortal Trink (Bangkok Eye's filling a slightly different role). I and many, many others will miss him tremendously.[/QUOTE]Why not just email him and ask instead of relying on hearsay?

Prayuth vowed to "prevent and solve the problem of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], migrants entering the country illegally (and) tourism that focuses on sex and #.

If he is serious what could mean for the action in Thailand?

Prayuth vowed to "prevent and solve the problem of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], migrants entering the country illegally (and) tourism that focuses on sex and #.

If he is serious what could mean for the action in Thailand?

[QUOTE=JpSlicky;1619933]Prayuth vowed to "prevent and solve the problem of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], migrants entering the country illegally (and) tourism that focuses on sex and #.

If he is serious what could mean for the action in Thailand?[/QUOTE]My guess? It could mean anything, everything or nothing or even something completely different or in-between this all.

There are no answers to such questions.

The junta's moral underpinning is a brand of puritanical paternalism. A clean-up is in full swing intended to purge the informal economy of unregistered labour, smuggling, prostitution, gambling and drug-dealing.

It will be interesting to see what really happens.

[quote=jpslicky;1619933]prayuth vowed to "prevent and solve the problem of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], migrants entering the country illegally (and) tourism that focuses on sex and #.

if he is serious what could mean for the action in thailand?[/quote]the reference is to illegal **** sex tourism, not legal normal sex tourism:

[url]http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/thai-coup-leader-gen-prayuth-chanocha-outlines-policies-52935925-in-1.html[/url]

thailand's status re trafficking was recently downgraded by the usa. all the above quote & comment adds up to is poli speak in order to rectify that situation. iow, as usual, it's about the bottom line.

the effect on thailand's pussy industry to foreigners? that brings in some 5 to 10 percent of annual gdp since decades ago? none.

btw, according to a members' report earlier this year, it was historicly actually thaksin who was tougher on our hobby than their political opponents. so, if that is true, you should be happy he is not in power atm.

stated in the article was and tourism that focuses on sex and children. if the word "and" was substituted with "with" i would breath a bit easier as with all members of.

this forum, i sincerely wish him well in catching and jailing ****s in thailand.

tourism in thailand will certainly suffer along with the people who depend on the sex industry, and things could pick up in angels city. something this big however could.

just be driven underground and the local police would have to expend more efforts to control.

i personally hope pink pearl is correct.

[QUOTE=JpSlicky;1620130]The junta's moral underpinning is a brand of puritanical paternalism. A clean-up is in full swing intended to purge the informal economy of unregistered labour, smuggling, prostitution, gambling and drug-dealing.

It will be interesting to see what really happens.[/QUOTE]I couldn't find the source of this anywhere, but what's the "informal economy"? The illegal?

Prostitution has been around since the garden of Eden & not a single country has been able to "purge" it yet in thousands of years of human history.

Ditto for illicit substances. How is America's "War on drugs" going? A total flop, I hear. You think the Thais can do a better job?

The American are far more "puritanical" & actually take their public statements they make as much more binding & seriously, rather than for mere "face" effect.

Prostitution is also a booming business in the USA, where it is illegal to both buy & sell. Apparently more American men, per capita, engage in it than in Canada where the business is legal.

In LOS about 80 percent of prostitution is purely Thai on Thai. It is practicly a rite of passage for male Thai teens to pop their cherry thus. They don't have the moralistic hangups about it that Westerners often do. Mia noi, second wives, are common in Siam & Thai wives believe males need the outlet of hookers & that is preferable to their spouses having a love affair.

That's the reality of the state of affairs of real life in the real world rather than merely the usual empty media poli speak, which has a longstanding tradition of its own.

The time to start worrying is, if & when, some serious action begins on the ground level, rather than just air releases to the pie in the sky.

[QUOTE=PinkPearl;1620253]The effect on Thailand's pussy industry to foreigners? That brings in some 5 to 10 percent of annual GDP since decades ago? None.
[/QUOTE]Just to quibble a bit; depending on the source, tourism as a whole accounts for between 6% and 10% of the Thai economy. TAT puts it a 7%.

The P4P scene accounts for nowhere near 100% of the tourist trade. Some studies peg it at around 3% of GDP. This may be a reasonable guess, based on the percentage of tourists who are single males. However, when you consider that that represents about half of all Thailand tourism, it seems excessive. I don't think there is an accurate assessment, but overall the P4P scene is a very small part of Thailand's GDP.

Regardless, if the entire foreign P4P industry were eliminated overnight it would certainly put a temporary crimp in the tourism sector, but barely cause a ripple overall. IMHO, mongers traditionally overstate their importance to a given economy.

[QUOTE=Phordphan;1621247]Just to quibble a bit; depending on the source, tourism as a whole accounts for between 6% and 10% of the Thai economy. TAT puts it a 7%.

The P4P scene accounts for nowhere near 100% of the tourist trade. Some studies peg it at around 3% of GDP. This may be a reasonable guess, based on the percentage of tourists who are single males. However, when you consider that that represents about half of all Thailand tourism, it seems excessive. I don't think there is an accurate assessment, but overall the P4P scene is a very small part of Thailand's GDP.

Regardless, if the entire foreign P4P industry were eliminated overnight it would certainly put a temporary crimp in the tourism sector, but barely cause a ripple overall. IMHO, mongers traditionally overstate their importance to a given economy.[/QUOTE]I think the estimated figures are very rough guesses & no one really knows.

"Tourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, directly contributing an estimated 7. 3 percent to Thailand's GDP in 2012. When including the indirect effects of tourism, it accounted for 16.7 percent of Thailand's GDP. " [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand[/URL].

Additionally Thai prostitutes do not just make money in Thailand from foreign tourists in the country, but all over the world. They send / bring much of it back home, but this income is largely not included in Thailand's overall income figures as a nation.

"Even outside of Thailand, a large number of Thai sex workers have been working in European countries and Japan since the 1980's; an estimate of 70,000 Thai women are working in commercial sex in Japan alone (Hornblower 1993). " [URL]http://www.sexarchive.info/IES/thailand.html[/URL].

Not only Europe & Japan, but Singapore, Hong Kong & many other countries. Thailand is known as the "brothel to the world".

"Tourism as a leading economic indicator in term of its importance to the economy is expected to contribute 14.7 percent to the countries Gross Dometic Product (GDP). "

[URL]http://www.thephuketinsider.com/tourism/tourism_impact_on_thailands_economy_by_numbers.php[/URL]#sthash. Rsv2 AvRF. Dpuf.

"That 6 percent is only accumulative of what goes through legally but think about the millions that are not accounted for from street vendors, bar girls, massage parlors, taxis, passage vans, etc. I would guess tourism GDP up to 20 percent.

". 6 percent is the official figure but you are deluded if you think the knock on effect is just this figure even if the disruption only results in just 2 percent drop in GDP, then that's a very serious issue.

". include the money that farangs spend for their Thai wives or girlfriends" or kept women, sponsors & the like.

"Yes, I don't know how they arrive at the the figure and what they say it is, but tourism certainly provides widespread, low-barrier employment and the start up of small businesses. As well tourism is usually a high-profit (cost vs revenue) sector (except of course if people keep building hotels when the market is already saturated). It also generates crucial foreign exchange. Big-time cash cow. ".

"should these contributions by expats suddenly cease, you would have another huge discrepancy in what supports the multitude of people who need it most. Foreigners in one way or another, contribute more to Thailand than they are given credit for much, much more.

"Whatever the official GDP is, the activity provides a lifeline for tens of thousands of Thais that would otherwise go without an income. Many of the activities associated with the tourist trade are filled by illiterate people from impoverished areas that are blocked out of other opportunities.

"I am not justifying working conditions, just making the observation that without the tourism, these people would be further marginalized and suffer greater hardship. As such, the contribution is magnified because these people would become a burden or a source of conflict.

"Anyone with any common sense will know that homes purchased for Thai wives / families and kids sent to school will not be included in tourism revenues. Yet guys start out as tourists, and for the various reasons we all know, will later move to Thailand with their life savings. Combined, that type of spending is absolutely enormous, and is a direct result of tourism. The knock-on effects of foreigners traveling to, then settling in, Thailand are significant indeed. Combined with whatever the direct contribution of tourist cash to GDP -- whether its 5 percent or 10 percent -- the overall amount is staggering relative to Thailand's overall economy. ".

"Well I am estimating that direct tourism is 3.9 percent. I also think there is indirect 'tourism' - the guy who comes here meets a girl and sends her Bt10,000 a month. The person who comes to retire here. People who buy holiday homes. (I wouldn't really count an 'expat' working here as a 'tourism' although it is a grey area (I mean many expats who say own a bar are probably quasi long term tourists). But even say 'Club Med' building a hotel for foreign tourists will have a GDP effect. How much that contributes I don't know so I am guessing US $3 bn / per annum."

"very common to see a "centric" approach on such figures by expats. Especially Westerners who seem to think that without the West Thailand wouldn't exist. ".

"It wouldn't it would be Japanese or more likely German!

[URL]http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/225728-how-much-does-tourism-contribute-to-thai-gdp/[/URL]

[QUOTE=Phordphan]If the entire foreign P4P industry were eliminated overnight it would certainly put a temporary crimp in the tourism sector, but barely cause a ripple overall. IMHO, mongers traditionally overstate their importance to a given economy.[/QUOTE]

My take on this is slightly more nuanced than Mr. Phan's.

As noted elsewhere in this discussion, tourism is generally a high margin business. What I'd like to emphasize is that the subset of the tourist industry catering to naughty boys is particularly high margin. Seriously, how much capital does it take to open a bar on Soi Six in Pattaya? The rundown physical plant in your typical Bangkok oily or soapie was paid off decades ago. Ongoing operating costs are similarly modest. And don't forget that it brings in lots of hard currency.

Finally, and I think this is a key point, consider the WORKERS who make their living catering to the naughty boys who flock to Thailand. The women are almost always from modest backgrounds in rural areas who don't go very far in school. In today's global economy, where there is always a race to bottom when it comes to unskilled labor, this type of worker is very hard to employ. And when they do find work the wages are extremely low.

Mr. Phan is spot on when he notes the naughty boy industry contributes only a fraction of Thailand's GDP. But in my view that small contribution does much to provide a living to Thais who otherwise would be barely getting by. In the current political environment, with the "little people" facing off against the royalists and military, I suspect the latter is willing to at least tolerate the sex trade because they know a crackdown would make things ever harder for the lower end of the populace, and that's a headache they don't need right now.

Bunky

september 17 2014.

thailand's military ruler on wednesday questioned whether tourists in bikinis are safe in the kingdom, in comments following the murder of two britons whose battered bodies were found on a thai island.

david miller, 24, and hannah witheridge, 23, were found dead on the southern island of koh tao on monday, sparking a hunt for their killers. post-mortem examinations were carried out on wednesday after the bodies were brought to bangkok.

but authorities have yet to make an arrest despite questioning several suspects including two british men -- who are believed to have travelled with miller -- and a number of myanmar migrant workers.

"there are always problems with tourist safety. they think our country is beautiful and is safe so they can do whatever they want, they can wear bikinis and walk everywhere," prime minister prayut chan-o-cha, who is also army chief, told government officials.

but "can they be safe in bikinis. unless they are not beautiful?" he said, addressing the issue of tourist safety in a speech broadcast live on television.

his statement appeared to echo others made to reporters on tuesday in which he questioned the behavior of the murder victims as well as the perpetrators.

"the female victim suffered cuts to her head. while the male was beaten on the head. but water found in his lungs suggests he may have died from drowning," he said, adding cuts on miller's hands showed signs of a struggle.

the wounds were inflicted by "a sharp, hard object. and (they were) hit hard with a rock", he added.

a bloodied garden hoe was also found near the crime scene.

Hi guys,

I'm traveling to Thailand next year for a few weeks holiday with my friend. It's to see what would be better Bangkok or Pattaya around The start of July.

Thank you.