Thread: Minister wants all tourists tagged to improve safety.

Thailand's tourism minister said on Tuesday that identification wristbands would be distributed to tourists following the murder of two British backpackers earlier this month that has raised fresh concerns over tourist safety.

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said she had approached hotels over the idea of handing out wristbands to help identify tourists that get lost or into trouble.

"When tourists check-in to a hotel they will be given a wristband with a serial number that matches their ID and shows the contact details of the resort they are staying in so that if they're out partying late and, for example, get drunk or lost, they can be easily assisted," Kobkarn told Reuters. "The next step would be some sort of electronic tracking device but this has not yet been discussed in detail."

She added that a "buddy system", pairing tourists with a local minder at tourist destinations, was also being discussed.

The bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found on a beach on the southern island of Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, on September 15. Post-mortem examinations by Thailand's forensics department showed Witheridge died from severe head wounds and Miller died from drowning and blows to the head.

Almost three weeks after the murder police are no closer to an arrest as frustration mounts over the lack of a breakthrough.

Kobkarn admitted the wristband idea has already met with some resistance. "Most people welcome the idea but some hotels are concerned that tourists may not want to wear the wristbands."

Limiting party hours on some of Thailand's islands and imposing restrictions over where beach parties can be held were also being considered, said Kobkarn. The idea is unlikely to go down well with hoards of young backpackers who travel to Thailand each year in search of sun, sea and a good time.

Authorities have expressed concern over the murders' impact on tourism, which accounts for nearly 10% of GDP.

Thailand is still under martial law after a May 22 coup, something that has made many tourists think twice about traveling to the country.

The tourism industry has yet to recover from a slump in visitors due to months of sometimes violent street protests that left nearly 30 people dead. Tourists arriving in Thailand fell 11.9% in August from a year earlier after a 10.9% drop in July.

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Post British backpacker deaths, Thai tourism minister wants wristbands for tourists, party curfews | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

what happens if you take of the armband?

Maybe immigration can tattoo their foreheads with a nice big letter "T", in yellow.....

It would be hard, even for a people as inherently stupid, unfeeling, lacking in common sense and empathy and as far removed from reality as the Thai, to come up with a more ridiculous, insulting, unworkable and denigrating proposal than this.

It is beyond laughable and speaks volumes about the stupidity of these people that firstly, a person in high office could formulate such an idea and secondly, the press could report it with a straight face.

Thai minders, wristbands and electronic tags.

Monkeys, the lot of them.

Originally Posted by Gipsy

Maybe immigration can tattoo their foreheads with a nice big letter "T", in yellow.....

Great idea! And maybe tattoo a bar code with their contact information on it, just below the "T", then buy 20,000 baht Chinese scanners for every policeman.

The wrist bands will not be so bad. The shooting with a tranquilizer dart before hand is gonna hurt like hell though......

Now the bad guys will have to carry knives to cut off the wristbands after they murder tourists. Bet there will be complaints about that as well.

BTW, this Tourism Minister is the fucking moron they just sent to KT to defuse the situation.

You gotta laugh if someone gets lost.

If someone gets murdered surely the murderer would just take it off you and burn it.

Davis beat me to it.

"The next step would be some sort of electronic tracking device"

This would be accompanied by "catch and release" policy?

Its going to be real good for Tourism.

They could inject one of those things (sorry don't know the word in English) like they do on dogs and cats.

"Good Morning, Sir!" "Welcome to the Oriental Hotel. As part of your check-in, we are giving you this complimentary tourist wristband so that we can later identify your battered corpse at the (abrupt) end of your holiday. Enjoy Thailand!"

Sure winner....no doubt at all.

Originally Posted by taxexile

a person in high office could formulate such an idea

not if you think of it from their perspective.

the contract to supply these devices and the price levied on tourists because they have to have one

They would be more discrete and possibly more helpful if instead of wristbands they made them toetags....

^They come later...two-part program.

Apparently they are quite wide to allow the Thai script that says "Smile to this person and do not rape, kill, drug, rob, run over, cheat, or serve bad food to them as they are Farang.

Also useful for letting your killer know which hotel room to go and clean out after they kill you.

pink ones for poofs

Originally Posted by taxexile

It is beyond laughable and speaks volumes about the stupidity of these people that firstly, a person in high office could formulate such an idea and secondly, the press could report it with a straight face.

All too true...
But you might remember who is calling the shots these days.

This general clumsy atmosphere of suppression and control leads to bizarre thought.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Better to tell everyone that they will put plain clothes policemen at every beach party?

The idea is for less crime, not more.....

Screw the arm band, let me carry my gun here. After 20 years or so of carrying one it took a while to get used to being neutered.

Originally Posted by BobR

Screw the arm band, let me carry my gun here. After 20 years or so of carrying one it took a while to get used to being neutered.

Yeah that works

This would seem to fuck up ablelour/ fozzys thread in the lounge. They really are devoid of rational thought and lateral thinking, Just when you think they couldn't possibly be any more retarded they come out with all guns blazing, as if to re confirm the national trait for stupidity

Dumbest fuckwits in the world.

Is it something they eat, do you think?

I could well understand such an initiative might be offered by some autistic durian peddler after they had consumed a belt of Lao Khao and formed a committee of likeminded soi hags spitting out rancid betel juice with one eye on some soap opera featuring the usual cast of poofs, arch criminals, white skinned molls and a clown or two but to come from an alleged Minister of State is incomprehensible.

This silly bit of nonsense is so typical of Thai management in that no one has the balls to tell their boss they are out of their fucking tiny little minds.

Hence this shite. Even the dimmest tourist has more nous than this cretinous Thai bag for food.

Always count on the Thai to give us a laugh, eh?

" oh excuse me, Mr Somchai rapist taxi driver waiting at the end of this desert island trail at 4 o'clock in the morning, I appear to be a bit pissed and disorientated so could you please read my wrist band and take me to my hotel poste haste. I shall remunerate you richly once I remember what country I'm in."

But it's all ok in a few months or so when we have worked out the details it will be all electronic and retrieval will be a smooth process and automatic because all the hotels in Thailand catering for the 14 million tourists or so will have staff who will track you over 24 hours wherever you might be and once we learn how the pixie dust works we will come to collect you wherever you are. Yes, I know this might seem a bit of a stretch in our tourist safety measure charter, particularly when we can't organise a fucking automated pedestrian crossing system anywhere in our fucking country but it will happen.

Did I say the dumbest fucks in the entire universe?