Thanks to Englishman ( Ian ), and Dedworth in April, for teling us about this programme
It's part of a series by a 23 year old journalist - Stacey Dooley - and I have to say what we were told was interesting ! Let's not shoot the messenger .
She visited a hotel in the Patong beach area of Phuket, where rooms are 30 GBP / night. Thailand has around 5 times as many foreign tourists as the Philippines, and tourism brings in 50 million GBP / year. We were told there are 10 tourists / 1 local in Phuket, with more staff than rooms in the hotel.
She tried joining the other 28 chambermaids, who are paid 4.50 GBP / day ( 80 p more than the minimum wage). Similar to the Philippines and less than the minimum wage / HOUR ( 5.93 GBP ) in the UK . The girls work 8 hours / day, 6 days a week. Most of them are mothers who can't have their children with them ( lack of accommodation in the staff block ). It was suggested even 1 GBP tip would help - many support whole families on this wage .
Barmaids, we were told, do better on 10 GBP / day, and can afford 40 GBP / month rent for the freedom allowed by basic private accommodation. Sex tourism wasn't mentioned.
Hotel managers appeared sympathetic in front of the cameras, and suggested more staff accommodation might become available.
Ms Dooley met local fishermen / "Sea Gipsies" ,a 2000 - strong community who came from China 400 years ago. The land where they used to live has been reduced to 5% because of hotel development as tourism increased in the past 30 years.
A business man wanted to build a hotel in the last bit of land left - clearly the Sea Gipsies didn't understand title deeds
Ms Dooley secured a meeting with Government officials in Bangkok, and we were told "After Stacey's trip, the Prime Minister personally intervened in the Sea Gipsies' case to make sure it was dealt with fairly" Here was a reminder how different the culture is to our own in the UK. We need to understand and respect this, wherever we visit. Respect for locals seems to have been lost, especially in Thailand, regarded by too many as a paradise for cheap accommodation, sex and alcohol. Thanks again for alerting us to this documentary .