Is your Thai holiday resort built on indigenous land?
by Rina Chandran | @rinachandran | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 27 September 2019 07:32 GMT
As demand for land for hotels and other tourism facilities grows, authorities are targeting indigenous land

BANGKOK, Sept 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thailand's indigenous people risk losing more of their land to hotels and national parks amid an unchecked tourism boom that has marginalised them, human rights groups warned on Friday.

Bangkok was the world's most visited city for a fourth year in 2018, drawing nearly 23 million visitors, according to Mastercard. Many tourists go on to Thailand's sandy beaches in the south and national parks in the north.

As demand for land for hotels and other tourism facilities grows, authorities are targeting indigenous land, said Emilie Pradichit, director of human rights group Manushya Foundation, which this week published a report on Thai indigenous rights.

"Indigenous people do not have legal recognition of their collective and individual land and resource rights, so they are often subject to forced evictions," she said.

"Authorities promise them jobs in the tourism industry, but these do not compensate for the loss of their land," she said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand did not respond to requests for comment.

There are about 6 million indigenous people in Thailand, making up over 9% of the country's population.
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