THE country vowed 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 South-East Asian nation’s economy but foreign arrivals are yet to return to their pre-Covid-19 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 on Wednesday.
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 (RM608).
Despite its reputation as a sex tourism destination, Thailand is a mostly socially conservative society where public displays of affection are frowned upon.
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. — AFP
