Tackling Thailand's bum rap
Bangkok's Aussie language media mogul weighs in on the country's bad press. Meanwhile, coverage of that alleged airport extortion scam just won't go away
The world has been warned to stay out of Bangkok's duty-free shops. “If British tourists really want a dangerous country to visit, try Australia, where we regularly dismember foreign tourists on lonely tracts of the outback or on the side streets of Sydney's Chinatown. At least they do it here with a Thai smile.”
That’s the uncharacteristically blunt opinion of Aussie English-language media mogul Andrew Biggs, who vents on all the bad international press Thailand has been getting in today’s Bangkok Post.
“It turns out last year five British tourists were murdered in Thailand out of a total of 12 foreigners,” says Biggs. "When you compare it with the 18 million tourists who came to Thailand last year, a fact slowly emerges that is sure to unnerve even the most hysterical letters-to-the-editor writing Westerner with too much time on his hands -- Thailand is a very safe country for tourists.”
You have to admit, the man with the frustratingly fantastic Thai accent has a point. And Thailand’s reputation as a den of corruption, extortion and violent crime just keeps getting worse.
But hysteria aside, some of the country's bad press is, dare we say, deserved. As of this morning, there were 162 articles on Google News related to that duty-free incident in which a British couple claimed they were the victims of an extortion scam involving Thai airport police. The story has been around for some time, but it just won’t die.
A bit late to the party is the AP, which posted its take on the scam Saturday, of course warning tourists to avoid Bangkok’s duty-free shops. But still, no word on what the government plans to do to tackle this public relations nightmare.
That’s the uncharacteristically blunt opinion of Aussie English-language media mogul Andrew Biggs, who vents on all the bad international press Thailand has been getting in today’s Bangkok Post.
“It turns out last year five British tourists were murdered in Thailand out of a total of 12 foreigners,” says Biggs. "When you compare it with the 18 million tourists who came to Thailand last year, a fact slowly emerges that is sure to unnerve even the most hysterical letters-to-the-editor writing Westerner with too much time on his hands -- Thailand is a very safe country for tourists.”
You have to admit, the man with the frustratingly fantastic Thai accent has a point. And Thailand’s reputation as a den of corruption, extortion and violent crime just keeps getting worse.
But hysteria aside, some of the country's bad press is, dare we say, deserved. As of this morning, there were 162 articles on Google News related to that duty-free incident in which a British couple claimed they were the victims of an extortion scam involving Thai airport police. The story has been around for some time, but it just won’t die.
A bit late to the party is the AP, which posted its take on the scam Saturday, of course warning tourists to avoid Bangkok’s duty-free shops. But still, no word on what the government plans to do to tackle this public relations nightmare.
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