Who hasn’t dream of going to Thailand on holidays? A destination that offers first class hotels at a bargain price, beautiful beaches, a wide range of leisure activities and some of the biggest parties around the world... Tourism is having a massive affect on Thailand but, at what price? The documentary screened by the BBC ‘Thailand: Tourism and the Truth’ try to give answers to this question.
After touching down in Pucket, the host Stacey Dooley stays in one hotel of the island, where enjoys first class facilities for only 30£ per night. Massive swimming pools, luxury rooms, no-end to sight free buffets, and tropical cocktails make a dream vacation that, unfortunately, ends as soon as the working day starts for the hotel’s workers. The staff usually works around 8 hours per day, 6 days per week. The maids earn 4.5£ per day, which means, approximately, 80£ over the legal minimum wage. Although the hotel provides to the staff accommodation in a shared room, food and transport, they almost scratch a living, as it is usual that a worker supports an entire family.
In spite of the economic growth in Thailand, there are huge inequalities between rural and urban areas, that’s why it can be seen an important rural flight to those areas improved by tourism. The most of the people who decide to emigrate to find a job in the tourism sector, leave their families in other regions and support them in the distance, by sending them the money earned at the hotel. In the particular case of the maids, plenty of them are mothers who can spend even two years without see their children.
Some of the hotel workers, who earn a bit more money than maids, can afford to rent accommodation by their own. They prefer to live outside the hotel because they can enjoy more freedom as visits at the accommodation for staff provided by the hotel are not allowed. The problem here is that, because of the massive tourism, rentals in the town are really expensive for the locals so they just can rent domestic properties far away from city centre and in a inadequate sanitation. Rats, cockroaches, unpaved streets... is the other side of the coin when it is offered a luxury holiday at bargain prices.
Tourists takeover the island
More than 3 million tourists from all over the world visit Pucket island every year, which is almost 10 tourists for every local. Bearing in mind this figures, is easy realize until what extend tourists takeover, literally, the little island of Pucket.
To accommodate so much tourism, investors are building hotels in areas traditionally occupied by local communities. The documentary shows the case of a fisher’s community who arrived in Pucket from China 400 years ago. The lack of rights and the no knowledge of the land’s law among the locals are making things easier for the investors while the locals are seeing how their lifestyle is threaten due to the loose of their land.
Other significant case shown in the documentary is the popular Full Moon party, which takes place every month in a tiny island called Ko Phangan that is “invaded” by a plage of young people, who are eager for party, alcohol and tecno music: over 30.000 people takeover the island in the main season of holidays.
Providing that health centres are far away from the beach where the party takes place and there aren’t enough resources to take care of all tourists, lots of locals volunteer in order to help those drunk or stoned tourists needed from medical attention. In sptite of the effords, the resources of the tiny island are not enough and it’s not new to hear about tourist’s deaths every year during the celebration of the Full Moon party in the island.
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