BANGKOK: Thailand vowed on Wednesday (May 6) to tighten oversight of tourists’ behaviour after a series of incidents involving foreigners caught having sex in public, warning they damaged the country’s image.
Tourism is vital to the Southeast Asian nation’s economy but foreign arrivals are yet to return to their pre-COVID highs.
Visitors displaying “inappropriate behaviour”, including illicit drug use, would face prosecution as it “contradicts the beautiful culture of Thailand”, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
The pledge followed an incident on Monday evening on the southern island of Phuket where a couple was found performing a sexual act in a tuk-tuk in a popular tourist area.
Authorities said they were working to revoke the visas of a 41-year-old Spanish man and a 43-year-old Peruvian woman, and then deport and blacklist them.
The pair admitted to the act and were charged under public indecency laws, the government statement said.
Public nudity and sexual acts in public are punishable by a fine up to 5,000 baht (US$155).
The clampdown was “intended to safeguard Thailand’s beautiful cultural values”, according to the prime minister’s office.
Checks by authorities of entertainment venues would also be stricter, it added.
Despite its reputation as a sex tourism destination, Thailand is a mostly socially conservative society where public displays of affection are frowned upon.
But the country also decriminalised cannabis in 2022 and is popular among backpackers and young tourists for its rowdy beach raves.
Last month, a French couple was arrested and deported after footage of them having sex on a Phuket beach spread widely online, according to local media.
Another couple from France was blacklisted and had their visa revoked after a video of the pair having sex in a tuk-tuk in Phuket earlier this year triggered outrage online.
Thailand expects about 33.5 million foreign tourists this year, up from nearly 33 million visitors in 2025, the government has said.
Total tourist arrivals dropped seven per cent in April compared to the same month last year, with visitors from Europe declining nearly 16 per cent that month, according to tourism ministry figures.
