Impolite behaviour in Thailand is Strictly not allowed

SIMON BURROWES, the ''rude'' Briton, may have jetted out Thailand at the weekend but the Country now has another case of cultural conflict between officialdom and a tourist.

The media in Australia is devoting large amount of airtime and online space to the case of Melbourne mother-of-four Annice Smoel, 36.

According to reports, she was arrested in Patong because of a petty bar prank that went wrong, has been in limbo for 17 days without her passport, and now faces a long jail term.



The Bar Prank over a Bar Mat. it cost about aud$60 because it's made in Australia.

somehow the bar mat found it's way into the accused personal bag and was spotted by an undercover policemen on the premises.






However, according to the report in the Herald times comment by Bar Owner is that Ms Smoel ''went ballistic'' at the time of the incident, abusing officers all the way up to the local chief of police.


The detail of the incident as reported in the herald sun is here

The connection of this incident to the Burrowes affair lies in the ''rude'' abuse of authorities.

''Impolite behavior'' is simply not acceptable in Thailand

Visitors need to be told that before they arrive.While bad language and anger are tolerated these days in many Western countries, they are not condoned in Thailand and usually only compound the problem for any tourist in trouble.

The issue for the tourism industry in Thailand is to find a way to solve this problem. Marketing campaigns designed to draw visitors back pale in the face of this kind of publicity.

Clearly the Burrowes case, which has been widely reported in Britain, and the Smoel case, are catastrophic news for tourism.



We have helpful hints, from our Travel Thailand website
Social Etiquette in Thailand.. - see our printable document called Dos' and don'ts ...

from our Thai Culture section:

Social Ettiquette in Thailand - Criticsim and remember "Mai-Ben-Rai" Objections and conflicts are to be avoided at all cost.

This is not to say that the rights and wrongs have been clearly established in either case. Nor are they ever likely to be. The more important point is that when a tourist loses his or her temper with a Thai official, real damage is done to tourism.

The cultural chasm between tourists who fail to understand they are in a different country, with different rules of behavior, and officials who never tolerate anger and insults, remains immense. It makes sense to consider introducing a Tourist Court, where justice can be administered quickly, so tourists can be allowed to return to their own countries rapidly if they accept the court's ruling.

it's pretty simple .. Politeness is why so many like to go and it's taken very seriously if you do otherwise, obvious the people that depend on Tourims are forgiving but there are limits

Remember around 700,000 Australians visit Thailand last year ..