Thailand’s resort town of Pattaya is still a center of international sex tourism. Since the coronavirus is no longer an obstacle to travel, hundreds of thousands of men from all over the world are again flocking to the country in search of women and sex.
Go-go bars, seedy massage parlors and plenty of open-air beer stalls with scantily clad young women: All this is part of the draw for sex tourists of all ages, here in the coastal metropolis of Pattaya on Thailand’s west coast. After a pandemic pause, sex tourism is returning to what passes for normal here.
One German tourist sums it up for the camera: “Why are we all here? Here you get more sex for less money!” A younger German doesn’t agree: “I’m not looking for sex here, I’m looking for love,” says Stefan, complaining that his numerous conquests are always after his money in the end.
The “red light vacationers” have been waiting for two years: Pattaya’s huge entertainment district lay completely fallow due to Covid-19. For the city’s approximately 60,000 sex workers, this was a threatening situation. Because the Thai state generates billions in tax revenue from the sex business, but prostitution is officially banned, those working in the trade were excluded from all government aid programs. Take sex worker Aom, for example. She became pregnant by a German client who initially swore to stand by her, before abandoning her with the baby. Now Aom is using a lawyer to try to at least enforce child support payments, while she continues to work in the sex trade. “I’m done with German clients,” she says.
The documentary delves into Pattaya’s red-light scene — and documents a lot of hypocrisy. Some German sex tourists convince themselves that their payments ensure the survival of impoverished Thai families. One restaurant owner from northern Germany tells the filmmakers that the girls only stand on the side of the road in such short skirts because of the warm weather here.
Tour operators also earn money from the sex business, even if they don’t like to talk about it. All of them have Pattaya in their program. German tour operators are proud of the fact that they have signed a commitment to take action against child prostitution. But who monitors that?
The coronavirus lockdown massively aggravated the problem of abuse. In the red-light district of Pattaya, where according to local officials there is no longer any prostitution of minors, the film team comes across evidence of pedophilia crimes. And a German national who is still able to leave the country shortly after his arrest. How can this be? When it comes to this important issue, is international cooperation actually delivering?
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