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New Thai tourism strategy: ‘I Hate Thailand’

In this undated image made from a video produced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a fictional British tourist talks to a policeman after losing his bag on a beach in Thailand. A video called "I Hate Thailand," which drew more than 1 million views within days of being posted, turned out to be produced by Thailand's tourism authority, using a strategy of reverse psychology to attract tourists after the country's image was battered by a military coup in May and the brutal murders of two British tourists on an idyllic beach in September. (AP Photo/Tourism Authority of Thailand)
In this undated image made from a video produced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a fictional British tourist talks to a policeman after losing his bag on a beach in Thailand. A video called "I Hate Thailand," which drew more than 1 million views within days of being posted, turned out to be produced by Thailand's tourism authority, using a strategy of reverse psychology to attract tourists after the country's image was battered by a military coup in May and the brutal murders of two British tourists on an idyllic beach in September. (AP Photo/Tourism Authority of Thailand) In this undated image made from a video produced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a fictional British tourist talks to a policeman after losing his bag on a beach in Thailand. A video called "I Hate Thailand," which drew more than 1 million views within days of being posted, turned out to be produced by Thailand's tourism authority, using a strategy of reverse psychology to attract tourists after the country's image was battered by a military coup in May and the brutal murders of two British tourists on an idyllic beach in September. (AP Photo/Tourism Authority of Thailand)

By Associated Press 2 min read

BANGKOK (AP) – It’s been a bad year for tourism in Thailand, and at first glance it looked like a new YouTube video was adding to the misery.

The video called “I Hate Thailand” drew more than 1 million views within days of being posted last week.

But it turned out the clip was produced by Thailand’s tourism authority, using a counterintuitive strategy to attract tourists after the country’s image was battered by a military coup in May and the brutal murders of two British tourists on an idyllic beach in September.

The 5-minute video shows an angry British tourist on a beach. He introduces himself as James and says his bag was stolen: “I hate this place. I hate Thailand,” he tells a handheld camera. After mouthing off to a policeman, he meets an attractive Thai woman and finds reasons to like Thailand. In the end, the unshaven, bare-chested foreigner cleans up, puts on clothes, befriends the locals and gets his bag back – wallet, passport and all.

Several Thai newspapers reported the video as a real news item last week, prompting the Tourism Authority of Thailand to issue a press release Monday saying it was behind what it called the “romantic-comedy short film.”