BANKOK (Dispatches) -- After months of enduring Israeli tourists snatching his restaurant’s tissues and condiments without permission, hogging seats without paying, and skipping lines, Bob reached his breaking point and decided to no longer welcome them.
Having worked all his life in the hospitality industry, he had never come across such behavior by visitors to the island. Each time he tried to intervene, he was faced with a wave of negative reviews hitting his establishment.
“After I asked one group of Israeli tourists to leave, I received more than 4,000 bad reviews — my restaurant’s rating dropped from 4.8 to 2.2 stars. It’s now been corrected, but that experience was really frustrating,” Bob told Arab News.
In October, his restaurant, Pun Pun Thai Food, a popular establishment on Koh Phangan, a holiday island in southern Thailand, put up a sign making it clear that Israelis were not allowed even past the threshold.
“I hate the repeated behavior I’ve encountered from many Israeli tourists — it happens so often that it led me to put up a ‘No Israel’ sign at my restaurant,” Bob said. “What I’ve experienced isn’t just from one person — it happens repeatedly.”
Over the past few months, such incidents have been increasingly highlighted by the locals, who started to record and share them on social media. In May, an Israeli woman went viral after a Koh Phangan restaurant employee requested that she leave for not respecting the establishment’s rules.
The employee could be heard saying: “You’re not welcome here,” to which the woman replied: “My money builds your country.”
Besides the nuisance that such behavior has become for them, locals are also worried about tourists competing with their businesses by renting out houses, running restaurants, organizing tours, or operating motorbike rental shops without permission.
A group of business owners and island residents recently filed a petition with more than 200 signatures, submitted to the governor of the Surat Thani province, urging action against what they described as “Israeli activities causing distress to local communities.”
Apiwat Sriwatcharaporn, assistant village chief in Koh Phangan, acknowledged the growing concern over foreigners running unlicensed business operations on the island.
“If they just live or travel here, that’s fine,” he said. “But business operations should be done legally.”
According to Thailand’s Immigration Bureau, as of late September, there were 2,627 Israeli applying for visa extensions on the island, out of about 8,000 total foreigners, making Israelis the largest group under scrutiny for potential illegal commercial activity.
Tan, whose family has been operating a business in Koh Phangan, said problems with Israeli visitors are not new. But lately, they have become more noticeable, as more and more of them are visiting.
Some organizations have also brought Israeli terrorist soldiers for rehabilitation in Thailand. According to reports in the Thai state media, some of these groups have been directly linked to the Israeli military industry.
“This has led to fears among locals about why they are here and what they are doing,” Aree said.
“The government’s intention to boost tourism has backfired, creating unintended negative consequences.”