“Brits Behaving Badly” situation getting worse in Thailand
Figures revealed by the British government show a huge drop of visitors to Thailand in recent years but a massive rise in arrests especially for drugs.
| Year | Number of visits | Drug Arrests | Total Arrests/ Detentions | Total Deaths | Hospitalisations | Rape and Sexual Assault |
| 2012-13 | 870,164 | 36 | 188 | 389 | 285 | 13 |
| 2013-14 | 906,312 | 29 | 153 | 362 | 267 | 17 |
| 2014-15 | 392,000 | 34 | 160 | 348 | 240 | 7 |
| 2015-16 | 432,000 | 46 | 194 | 374 | 229 | 13 |
The conclusion is clear that the criticism of “Brits behaving badly in Thailand” is an increasingly observable fact.
Also when taken as a percentage far more British people are dying in Thailand and being hospitalized than compared to just three or four years ago.
While the figures worldwide show less overall problems for British embassies and consulates around the world the situation in Thailand is worse.
Percentage wise more British nationals are also facing rape and sexual assault while on holiday in the kingdom.
Thaivisa has obtained official statistics from the years 2012/13 to 2015/16. Stats are from April to March of each relevant period.
From a high of 906,000 visitors in 2013/14 there were only 432,000 British visitors to Thailand in 2015/16.
Yet despite this more than 50% drop in visitors drug arrests soared from 29 to 46 – a massive percentage rise of more than 60%.
Total arrests and detentions of Britons in Thailand was also up a quarter last year compared to 2013/14.
While total deaths of British people in Thailand remains around one per day the figures must be looked at in the light of the number of people here.
Some 374 British people died in Thailand in 2015/16 compared to 362 in 2013/14 when the number of visitors was double.
This could be explained by an increasing number of aging retirees, but the British statistics were not broken down according to age.
The only stat that shows a decrease is hospitalizations but even this represents a massive rise when compared to a few years ago.
However, hospitalizations in the last two years were slightly down.
Rape and sexual assault last year were identical to 2012/13 when there were more than twice as many visitors.
Worldwide the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) reporting under the “British Behavior Abroad” banner indicated that Britons conducted 65 million foreign trips last year.
Thailand rated third in most assists for tourists in trouble behind Spain and the USA.
Thailand was number five in the world, again behind Spain, for the number of British arrests.
It was number three in hospitalizations, tenth for lost passports and sixth worldwide for rape and sexual assault cases.
In deaths reported to the British authorities Thailand ranked number two in the world behind Spain but ahead of neighbors France where many retirees reside.
While indicating there had been a worldwide increase of 5% in arrests and detention of British nationals abroad, it was clear that in Thailand the situation was much worse than just a handful of years ago.
Source: Thai Visa
