Are they negative, positive, or not there at all?
Introduction
Asia’s tourism industry has developed immensely during the past 30 years, Thailand’s tourism also benefited from the growing interest in the Asian countries. Over the past twenty years Thailand has had one of the most rapid growing economic growth rates of any developing country in the world. The tourism revenue of $4 billion each year allowed Thailand to turn up as the economic leader in the Third world. Officials have said that the success of their tourism industry is mainly thanks to the ‘uniqueness’ of the Thai people, many attractions around the country and the friendliness and hospitality, no word is spoken about the sex tourism that brings many of the tourists to this country (Bishop, p. 67).
Each year Thailand is visited by millions of tourists from around the world. However, many people do not know that 60% of the visitors are male and that an astonishing 70% of those males are sex tourists. Thailand however does not seem to recognize the ongoing sex tourism in its country, the fact that sex tourism is being ignored can be explained by the following. The worldwide tourism industry believes that the success of a country in tourism can be measured by economic factors. All other factors are not taken into consideration; this is why it is believed that it is in the best interest of any country to censor the factors that have a potential negative effect concerning tourism. We could say that most of the general public does not even know about sex tourism and is only confronted with it when going to a destination where it takes place, a destination such as Thailand.
The purpose of this paper is to give a deeper insight of the impacts that sex tourism leaves behind in Thailand. Over the years many solutions have been found that were supposed to decrease sex tourism, all have been found not to be the main solution and the problem lives on. It is hard to find out the impacts that sex tourism leaves behind, because of the nature of the Thai people. They don’t show much emotion to the public and never show weakness since this is seen as one of the biggest mistakes you could make in their culture. What can be read in this essay is what kind of impacts sex tourism leaves behind, are they all negative, or are they maybe also positive, and, is there anything being done about the negative impacts?
Sex tourism
What exactly is ‘sex tourism’, often it refers to tourists who travel to specific destinations with the goals of purchasing services of local women and men. There are different varieties of sex tourism; it can range from illegal brothels to pornography, erotic phone calls, street prostitution or call girls (Nuttavuthisit 2007). Sex tourism is primarily done by men that come from more developed countries to underdeveloped countries such as Thailand. However, women from developed countries are also starting to travel with the goal of pursuing sex tourism, but visit different countries such as Brazil and the Dominican Republic (Herold 2001).
In the last few years internet has been very convenient for marketing sex tourism and is accountable for the rise in sex tourism. Different websites provide sex seekers information on other sex tourists. They are able to find information on sexual exploits with detailed information on prices of sex establishments in different destinations and how to approach prostitutes. There are also sex tour travel agents that have their own guides and brochures with information on different sex destinations (Chow-White, 2006).
There are many different descriptions of sex tourism, which one is the right one is for you to too decide. The most basic and most often used one is that sex tourism could be defined as a person travelling exclusively in search of sex; they often do this with pre-purchased packages that include the companionship of a local woman at a destination.
Another definition is that sex tourism is a travel experience where a crucial element of the holiday is that the tourists buy sexual services of the local population (Piscitelli, 2001). Sex tourism often gives the image of red light districts, exploitation and prostitution, but is often very different. Chris Ryan (2001) argues that tourists travel for a plethora of reasons which includes leisure, culture or business. However that as sexual beings the tourists could get into a situation where they find themselves in sexual or romantic encounters during their travel (Ryan, 2001). In less words, Ryan says that it is often a coincidence that these men have sexual encounters with locals. This description of sex tourism is in my opinion the one that is not correct at all, research shows that many of these men go to destinations with a clear goal; to have sexual encounters with a local.
Sex tourism in Thailand
Sex tourism in some countries is promoted as actual sex tourism, for example in the Philippines. However in Thailand sex tourism is illegal and therefor ca not be promoted by the Thailand Tourism Authority. No one knows exactly where sex tourism started in Thailand, many say that it has its roots in Buddhism, or that it all started because of the informal handling of sexuality, they even say that the Chinese guest-workers imported it from their home country. The only fact that is true is that prostitution started to really get popular around the Vietnam War and has been increasing every year from then on.
The statistics concerning sex tourism in Thailand are very vague. It is said that one third of the sex workers are minors. However, there are no exact numbers that indicate how many Thai woman and children are actually working in the business.
Thai sex tourism is like a fantasy for many of the sex tourists. These pliant girls will do anything, and that is how it is promoted in the unofficial channels. But what is said before, the scale of how big prostitution actually is, is very unclear.
Many organizations working in Thailand are against sex tourism. They know that much of their revenue comes from this kind of tourism and that the loss of income will be dramatically but they would rather lose money than see an increasing rate of diseases and abuse because of the sex trade(Nuttavuthisit, 2007).
Sex tourists
Sex tourists can be divided into three subgroups. Group one are the semi-skilled workers in their early 20’s that look for sexual experiences. Group two are the ordinary guys that are more interested in romance or an actual emotional involvement with one or more women. The last group is the businessmen, in this last group you find men who are looking for sexual experiences that are forbidden in their home country.
The tourist than again can be divided in four different groups. Number one are the men who go on sex tours, these are organized trips which are advertised in their home country. Then there is a group that travels independently but specifically looks for sex at their destination. The third group is looking for a holiday in paradise but have in the back of their mind that this includes doing thing that can’t be done at home or that are forbidden in their home country. The last group are the men that visit Thailand once but keep coming back because they are ‘addicted’ to the hospitality of the Thai and their friendliness, these man are often very lonely in their home country (Green, 2001).
The demand for sex tourism keeps on rising every day, sex tourists often get bored with a destination after visiting it a few times. They then start looking for new destinations with new women. Because of this demand, companies will keep on coming up with different tours and destinations. This is the way that sex tourism is spread globally; people get bored and move to another destination. If a law was made that would stop the sex tourists from booking their holidays, we would see a dramatic decrease of sex tourism in many destinations.
Negative impacts
Thailand, just like many other countries has serious problems regarding sex tourism. However, it has been noticed to be a much bigger problem in Thailand than anywhere else since the sex services seem easy accessible. Sex tourism has become an attraction on its own with red light districts being promoted and recommended in several guidebooks. Even though Thailand’s main source of income comes from sex tourists; Tourism Authority Thailand is still against these businesses mainly because many of the providers of sex tourism have been working these jobs from a very young and unacceptable age (TATnews, 2010).
The demand for sex tourism increases every day, lately younger girls have been used more and more because it is believed that because they are so young they have no sexually transmitted diseases. Clients also find these young children attractive because of their innocence and their vulnerability, which is a horrible but true thought of many pimps that keep hiring these children.
A big negative impact on Thailand’s tourism industry is the fast spreading AIDS. Tourists have been discouraged to visit the country because of the high amount of people with AIDS in Thailand (McCamish, 2002). Thailand is promoted as the sex capital of the world and many people come to the country because of this promotion. However, this brings the danger of AIDS and a higher transmission of this disease from sources that come from Thailand itself but also from many other countries. Off course sex tourism is not the only reason for AIDS spreading through the country this fast, but it is the main reason. The Thai government has even up till this moment not done a lot for this enormous health crisis. The only promotion on trying to prevent this disease was telling everyone to use condoms.
Another impact is that the image of Thailand, the world now sees Thailand as a paradise for sex tourism, because this is what it has been promoted as for numerous years. Because of this image people that are interested in this kind of tourism, and this is why they will keep on visiting the country, making it hard or even impossible to change their ways (Essays UK, 2013).
Positive impacts
Many things can be said about sex tourism, but one positive thing did come out of it. Because of this kind of tourism, normal tourism also started growing. Thailand got more attention in the media, not just because of sex tourism, but also because of its natural attractions. Tourism grew rapidly and the economy grew with it. Much of this is because of sex tourism and the popularity it has with its visitors.
Employment opportunities have also grown because of this, businesses like restaurants, bars, hotels and massage parlors need people to work for them, many of the people working in these places also work in sex tourism, but, hopefully in a few years this will start changing to just one regular job. The sex tourists do not hole up into their hotel for their stay; they also visit other facilities at their destination. They usually spend quite some money which will help other Thai people that don’t work in sex tourism to earn more as well.
When asking sex workers what another positive impact is of the job we get the unique answer of: ‘a better life’. What is seen often in many destinations is that women that work in the sex industry marry their clients that come from the more developed and rich western countries. After marriage they sex workers have a free entrance (visa) into that country and a way out of the life they have been living so far. Those Thai women don’t marry for love, but for a visa and earn entrance to this country not only for themselves but also for any children they might have and an easier access for their other family members (Brennan, 2002).
What is being done?
Sex trade is where sex tourism started originally, it made Thailand more popular as a destination because it was accessible and had no laws concerning the sex trade. Prostitution was legal in Thailand until 1960, this changed because the government of Thailand saw that sex tourism was no longer a proper and successful way of improving the economy of the country. This is why in 1960 the parliament came up with the Prostitution Suppression (Prohibition) Act. This act says that it is illegal for every person in Thailand to participate in the sex industry except the clients, for them it is still legal.
The last few years Thailand has been trying to get rid of the brand ‘sex tourism center’ by promoting the country as more of a family tourism destination. They for example promote other activities such as parasailing, bicycling, elephant riding, canoeing and rafting (No author, 2011). Even after the law made in 1960 change is still needed, because the sex industry now works illegal, they have to be more careful but the growth is still there and many sex tourists still visit the country every day. The Thai authorities have been working towards two different approaches for sexual crimes. Number one is to make a stricter framework that legally tackles different elements that have to do with sex crimes such as trafficking, prostitution and sex with minors. The other approach is to work together with civil society groups and local communities to protect and identify the victims so that they can be helped (Fox, 2010).
Even though, a lot of progress has been made over the years; improvement is still needed especially in terms of prosecution and enforcement. NGO’s have been trying to restart projects having to do with sex tourism with the Thai government but have been unsuccessful. The Thai government main focus right now is on promoting the economy and tourism. They made this choice even though a high number of high profile arrests of different foreign pedophiles have been made in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. Many of the NGO workers are very disappointed in the choice the government has taken (Fox, 2010).
Sex tourism is viewed as a problem that takes place in a country, it is being said to be an issue for developing countries or a woman’s issue. No one says it is a problem that has to be addressed to the countries that supply the sex tourists. A different view on this problem is to look at it as if a constant demand from sex tourists. Even though policies over the years have been made, Thailand is powerless because of the continuous demand for sex tourism. It is believed that when the demand stops the supply of women will also stop. A minister in the Prime Minister’s Office in 1999 said “The Thai government does not and will not condone sex tourism. Although sex tours may bring in some foreign currencies, they are against all the moral principles we believe in. The sexual service business is an internal problem that we are trying to curb, but controlling the supply will not help much if the demand keeps pouring in. Thus, demand from foreign male tourists are the cause of the problem, and it should be dealt with in the countries that supply sex tourists” (Hongsakula, 1999).
What we know is that the government did set up certain rules to try to regulate sex tourism in Thailand, but the rules are not as black and white as they should be. Thai officials often keep a blind eye when noticing sex tourism, this could be explained by the fact that those officials probably have family working in tourism and earn money of, of those tourists. I do not think these rules will help, sex tourism will stay. What is said earlier is definitely true, where there is demand, people will provide. Going to the source of the problem, the home of the sex tourists is something that should have been done a lot earlier in history. Now this problem is out of control and is almost impossible to regulate.
Conclusion
Sex tourism will keep on existing as long as tourists keep on looking for sex holidays. I believe it will not ever stop, the government always puts its priority elsewhere, even though it sees its country crumble under the diseases sex tourism brings with it. Yes, sex tourism is illegal and the situation for the Thai has improved; because almost no children are being used and trafficking has decreased in the last years. However, changing a whole country takes time, and as long as not everyone agrees to this plan and starts working with the officials, change will never come.
Thailand knows what is happening in its country. They keep a blind eye and act like the situation is improving, but in reality the situation is the same and the impacts sex tourism makes stay the same or are worse. The sad reality is that everything has become ‘normal’, the Thai people do not find it a shame or weird that women and men work in the sex industry. It is sad that many of the younger women don not marry for love, but the fact is that they do everything willingly and are almost never forced. They are not forced to have sex with these tourists, they are not forced to start a relationship and no one forces them to marry these men.
So, in the end are the impacts positive or negative? The answer stays unclear; sex tourism is a grey area in the tourism industry. Officials cannot help because the government doesn’t stand behind them; the locals are helpless because of the demand that keeps on coming their way and their need to survive. Do you think there is a solution, should the government of Thailand do more or do we need change in the countries that the sex tourists originate from?
