In assuming most men going on holiday alone to Thailand, are going to have sex with prostituted women or men?

[Grennie]

It is estimated that about 1% of Thailand's GDP is earned through sexual exploitation tourism.

In 2003 (the last year for which full figures are available) some 545,000 British residents arrived on visits. If you remove the children, and the British citizens visiting for business or reasons other than a holiday, you arrive at about 489,000—314,000 men and 175,000 women. That is 139,000 more British men than women coming to Thailand for a holiday—a gap of 28 per cent.

In no other international holiday destination, is there such a big difference in the number of women and men travelling there. There is no obvious reason for this apart from prostitution.

So Grennie

If there were 100 lone male travellers to Thailand, what percentage would you say were there for sex? Not just strip clubs - which is bad enough but actual sex?

10%, 50%, 90%

How would you define that percentage by age?

No wait - oops sorry - I have it wrong way round
Fucking hate threads about threads ....

Ah, Then I take the compliment back!

well the plural of anecdote is not data.

nonetheless..........

See - data is good.
Raw data is fantastic.
Grouped data is good - if it's grouped sensibly.

Then you can look at it and make conclusions. Or you can generalise from a bit of it without thinking deeper about it.

The only data worth considering are sourced and referenced data.
Which these aren't.

Like - what's the gender mix in diving holidays?
Couples / single people.
Golfing holidays?
Temple tours?

And you have missed the opportunity to have a discussion on the appalling sex industry.

Or are you assuming most men just want sex?

no just that men pay for sex way more than women do. 1 out of 10. MOst of them in their 20s to 30s so it isn't just gross old men just lazy sleazy men

*UK figures for post

Also men who just want to golf... do they really need to go all the way to Thailand?

True - but saying men pay for sex and women don't is not the same as saying that most men go somewhere for sex.

YABU I think - I have been to Thailand several times with my brother and his friends, travelling as a group. All of them were pretty disgusted with Phuket/pat pong etc and found it pretty embarrassing. They actually did go for the beaches, temples, food, climbing etc. thinking of the split our our group it was 2 women and 5 men.

it is pretty grim over there in places, I would be interested to see the stats for other nations (particularly Sweden and Germany)

What was funny was that DB met his fiancé when we were in koh samui one year, she is Australian Korean - they have travelled all over Asia together and they regularly get comments from Western women suggesting that DB is a scum bag and has bought a local girl for the night (particularly bad in Cambodia for some reason) last trip SIL to be got so pissed off she she told one gobby British women, who was talking about her and DB (in front of SIL) assuming she didn't speak English, to fuck off and take her assumptions about Asian women with her (in her broad Aussie accent) - she is awesome!

It's the same as saying most black men in London are gang members. Or criminals.

Which you would be slated for on here. Without data.

YANBU. I dare say there are men who don't go for prostitutes, or who don't for a few years anyway, or who go to "make friends" with the friendly locals, or even to get a wife (Aberdeen has lots of men married to Thai women, incredibly common). The Thai women who work in my local nail bar are great, they told me they met their then boyfriends in Thailand when they came for holidays, and how they all aspired to get a British boyfriend, because Thai men all wanted younger women and British men were tall and kind (that might also have included richer). They may have been generalising of course.

However I do find it seedy and I do look upon men of a certain age who travel alone or in small groups repeatedly to Thailand as being sleazy. I defriended one recently on FB who waxed lyrical about his recent annual holiday alone to Thailand. Yes, he visited the temples, but he also talked about the friendly locals and getting great massages...

Don't know about all men but certainly the handful that I have known have gone for sex yes!

Surely it depends which part of Thailand. Last year I went (with Dh and dc) to a very quite part of Thailand known for good diving. There were a reasonable number of male only groups there to go diving. I didn't for one minute think they were there for anything else (there was no nightlife nearby and we saw no signs of drugs or a sex trade)

Probably. My husband has been several times with friends. Don't necessarily think he was with prostitutes but who knows TBH. I choose to trust him though.

My friend's husband occasionally has to go to Bangkok for work. Genuine work. He finds it absolutely mortifying because he knows exactly what people are probably thinking.

broncoo what reason does your DH give for repeatedly going to Thailand with friends and without you?

This is why Asia just does not appeal to me. I'm sure it's beautiful but my overriding impression is one of sex and sleaze. Yuck

"This is why Asia just does not appeal to me. I'm sure it's beautiful but my overriding impression is one of sex and sleaze. Yuck "

Jings, what a shame. Asia is such a huge area with ancient cultures and wonderful people. What a way to write off a whole massive land area and billions of people.

mrsterry

He has went with his football team to an annual organised footie tournament.

I've also went to Vietnam with friends without the husband and travelled to Malaysia on my own without him - managed to avoid being a sex tourist.

Nearly 2/3 of the worlds population live in Asia, how delightful to write off more than half the people living on earth as exuding "sex and sleaze".

Went to Bangkok with my ex. The minute we stepped out of the hotel touts on the street were trying to take us to Patpong.

This is why Asia just does not appeal to me .... overriding impression is one of sex and sleaze

Yeah that is right the whole fucking continent is just one seething brothel.
I despair .....