← NotTheGlobe
BANGKOK — One of Thailand's leading industrial sectors remains an open secret, with the government continuing to insist that it does not officially exist.
Despite its widespread visibility, substantial employment, and contribution to tourism, Thailand's sex industry remains legally unrecognized — a remarkable achievement for an industry that is apparently everywhere except on paper.
Estimates put the sector at over 200,000 workers and roughly $3–5 billion a year, figures officials describe as "unconfirmed," usually while standing a few streets from where they are being confirmed in real time.
"There is no sex industry in Thailand," said a government spokesman, speaking from what appeared to be a go-go bar in Pattaya. Asked what the establishment behind him was, he described it as "hospitality."
Thailand does have thousands of massage parlours and go-go bars, hundreds of nightlife districts and millions of tourists who seem to have misunderstood what they were doing there.
Officials insist these are all part of the country’s perfectly legitimate entertainment and hospitality sector.
Asked about the women working in the establishments, the spokesman said: "Hospitality professionals."
"And their customers?"
"Tourists."
"And what exactly are they buying?"
"Hospitality."
The industry has operated for decades under a 1996 law banning it outright, a law widely credited with no measurable effect on anything except paperwork, or the several billion dollars a year in question.
Officials declined to comment on the sector, which, according to officials, does not exist.