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.

[HollyMiamiFLA]

I went to Amsterdam with DS. We managed to avoid the sex area.

I've been to Asia several times. It's surprisingly easy to avoid the sex areas. It's not so easy to avoid the poverty which exists. Maybe that partly explains the sex industry.

[brooncoo]

I went to Bangkok and marvelled at the river and hustle and bustle. The street markets and food. The floating markets with the kids swimming in the river. The awesome temples and statues. Husband did an amazing bike ride through the city and we had a crazy rickshaw ride. The hotel overlooking the river was fantastic. The sleaze round the night markets was horrible but it is only a part of the city. Would go back no problem.

[Birdo83]

I had an ex from Thailand. He told me poor families actually pimp out their own children to make money. Terrible.

[Destinysdaughter]

I went to Koh Samui and Koh Phangyan a few years ago. There were loads of fat old unattractive western men with Thai girls. It was very open and accepted. I found it very distasteful but it's all about economics. For many young women its the only opportunity they have to make money sadly. There were also a lot of lady boys who were also looking for western boyfriends. It's a different world out there.

On the bright side tho, I wasn't sexually harassed at all as the western guys were there for the Thai girls and the local men didn't approach western women. Unlike India tho where I got hit on by young guys everywhere I went..!

[Destinysdaughter]

However I also saw temples, ate great food, saw waterfalls? Elephants, had a boat trip, did yoga and did a detox. It's definitely not just sex and sleaze, it's a beautiful country with peaceful, kind, spiritual people, very tranquil and beautiful...

[Caitlin17]

Solidgold have you ever been to Amsterdam?

The red light area is a tiny, tiny part of a beautiful , historic city bursting with culture. I've no idea how many times I've been there, with my son as a child and teenager, with my husband and on my own. I go about every 18 months as I buy most of my work clothes from a Dutch designer who I can't find in the UK.

I'd never been in the Red Light district until the first time last year and realised the quickest way to where I wanted to be was to cut through it.

It's not terribly interesting both tourists and locals there and the women are women.

The newly reopened Rijksmuseum was doing far more business and as usual there were long, long queues at Anne Frank's House and the van Gogh musuem.

[Grennie]

Yes Thailand is the destination for many men who want to have sex with children and teenagers. They can't do that so easily in London or Amsterdam. But in Thailand men can easily buy children or underage teenagers to use for sex.

[DebrisSlide]

Why the fuck are people tying to make some gender equivalence argument here. FFS, that's how this stuff gets hidden.

Of course the vast majority of western men going to Thailand are going to get laid. You must be mad to think otherwise. Even those going for golf. Why do you think they go there rather than Portugal? Golf and sex.

Just because you think we're all equal now and making assumptions based on gender is the worst thing eva doesn't make what you think true.

[Grennie]

Caitlin - Just like Thailand, many people go to Amsterdam for positive reasons.

But single men going to Thailand, or stag do's going to Amsterdam, are probably going there for the sex trade.

[IdRatherPlayHereWithAllTheMadM]

wow what an eye opener!

[Caitlin17]

Is Amsterdam particularly a stag destination? I've never been aware of stag groups on Amsterdam flights or in Amsterdam the way there are in say Edinburgh, Dublin, or Tallinn.

[Grennie]

Amsterdam is a stag destination for men who want to use prostituted women. Other places are a destination for men who want to get drunk and have a good time.

[HollyMiamiFLA]

Do you think men on stag do's go there for sex or to see the women in clubs?

Which is bad enough. But do you really think most men on stag do's go for sex?

[Grennie]

They go for the sex industry. Whether to have lap dances, see "sex" shows or have "sex".

[caruthers]

I have been to Amsterdam with friends many times and I haven't had sex there once...and unless my friends have been very quick neither have they because we stick together.

Saying Amsterdam is a place where men go to use prostitutes isn't always true and in fact is probably a minority.

[HollyMiamiFLA]

I'd agree that I would associate Amsterdam and stag dos with the sex industry. Not actual sex but the sex industry.

And I bet some men get pissed off with the assumption that that's what they're going there for.

[AgaPanthers]

"Amsterdam is a stag destination for men who want to use prostituted women. Other places are a destination for men who want to get drunk and have a good time."

One of the stupidest statements in a thread full of stupid statements.

For starters, Amsterdam is world fucking famous for being a place to go smoke marijuana. You go to Amsterdam because you want to smoke dope in public.

Every city in the world has prostitutes, and in somewhere like Prague it would surely be cheaper than Amsterdam.

[jay55]

Prostitution is everywhere, every holiday destination, every business hotel, every citycentre after dark, anywhere with an internet connection.

Men don't need to go all the way to Thailand.

[Grennie]

caruthers - Maybe read the comments? All the comments about Amsterdam have talked about stag dos. Presumably you went there for other reasons.

[caruthers]

No I didn't Grennie I have only gone there for stag do's or work do's.

Have you always had a low opinion of men?

[Selks]

Some ridiculous generalisations on this thread from people I suspect have not travelled much but are happy to buy into stereotypes from the comfort of their armchairs

[Grennie]

Nope, only ones that engage in sex tourism and use prostituted women.

[Grennie]

Selks - Have you not read the comments from people who have spent a lot of time in Thailand and seen lots of men visiting the country for sex tourism?

[AgaPanthers]

"Of course the vast majority of western men going to Thailand are going to get laid. You must be mad to think otherwise. Even those going for golf. Why do you think they go there rather than Portugal? Golf and sex."

There are plenty of reasons to prefer Thailand over Portugal:

much better food
12-month season
much cheaper
better quality accommodation
more diverse tourist attractions
better beaches + diving

I mean you could go to Sharm El Sheikh to do diving, but I've been to Sharm once and I'd certainly never go back, but Thailand is much nicer.

One of my ex-colleagues used to fly to Thailand for a week with his wife - he spent the week in a spa, about the same price as a day in one in the UK.

The budget aspect is particularly important, you can live on a few pounds a day in a country such as Thailand.

[mathanxiety]

It's such a huge and predictable phenomenon that studies have been done for years.

An article that seeks to match numbers to suspicions. Interesting article. While casting a jaundiced eye at claims about the scale of the issue that are not backed up by hard figures it ends up acknowledging that 'Thai tourism' is synonymous with 'sex tourism'.
'A look at the major rich-nation visitors—those from the US, Australia, Europe and Japan—shows that 952,000 more men than women visited Thailand on holiday in 2003, a disparity of 28 per cent. (The 2004 statistics, not yet complete, will show a slight narrowing of this gap, but a leap of overall numbers of around 20 per cent.) This pattern is unique among major tourist destinations. Take, for example, the Caribbean, another popular tropical destination for economy tourism. Here, the disparity runs at 2 or 3 per cent—the only country with a significant gap in favour of men, nearly 11 per cent, is Cuba, the Caribbean country most notorious for sex tourism.'