The impact of tourism Thailand: behind the image VI

Summary: Beautiful scenery, friendly people - Thailand seems an ideal destination - but what doesn't the holiday brochure tell you? Ecotourists take rafts down river, ride elephants, visit Buddhist temples and tribal hill people. But critics say the hill people are treated like 'human zoos' and claim cruelty to the elephants. Most notorious is the problem of sex tourism. The Thai economy now relies on tourists spending -- but how much has been lost in the rust to exploit the visitor invasion?