To start with the quote of the day. In response to a question asked in an interview with the Reuters news agency regarding the role the country’s sex industry played in drawing visitors to Thailand, Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul (note: the minister is a woman) was in complete denial and replied without hesitating:
Tourists don’t come to Thailand for such a thing. They come here for our beautiful culture.
That’s obviously a naive assumption at best. But what is more, she issues an open threat:
We want Thailand to be about quality tourism. We want the sex industry gone.
Wow. In other words, she wants to rid Thailand of its long-established sex industry which, surprise surprise, still largely caters to Thai males, not Western so-called sex tourists.
Because in fact, prostitution – in spite of not being “strictly legal” – has a lively and longer tradition in Thailand than modern-day mass or “sex” tourism and is deeply ingrained in its culture.
If the tourism minister was indeed successful with her foredoomed anti-vice campaign it’s Thai men who would go to the barricades first. Or let’s rather say, Thais would harness their creative talent in order to bypass any restrictive new rules that pose a threat to their accustomed way of life. Easy as that.
So let’s face it, her goal is simply unrealistic. But is it even desirable?
