TRAVEL MONITOR
As tourism booms, An Old 'Crisis may resurface
- Published: 13/02/2012 at 08:29 AM
- Newspaper section: Business
As Thailand's tourism industry gets set to soar again, a regional meeting on the global AIDS pandemic organised here last week has refocused attention on a rarely discussed subject: the extent to which Thailand's nightlife and entertainment industry contributes to the global spread of HIV/AIDS.
Although the Thai tourism industry robustly touts its contribution to economic growth, jobs and foreign exchange earnings, through copious statistics, far less data is available about how more than 20 million visitors, especially those who will be here purely for the nightlife, could potentially worsen an already bleak situation.
Reports presented at the Asia-Pacific High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Assessment of Progress against Commitments in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Development Goals made clear the link between prostitution and HIV epidemic.
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About the author
- Writer: Imtiaz Muqbil
- Position: Executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire
