During recent visits to Dream Boys, it seems that the bar is now focusing on Chinese tourists who come to see the gross and boring shows.
The place has a few stunningly handsome guys, but why is the management ignoring the interests of gay males?
During recent visits to Dream Boys, it seems that the bar is now focusing on Chinese tourists who come to see the gross and boring shows.
The place has a few stunningly handsome guys, but why is the management ignoring the interests of gay males?
"why is the management ignoring the interests of gay males?"
It isn't. It's just focussing on Chinese gay males.
I was talking to the German owner when I was in Bangkok on my last trip He said he had long given up on catering for farang. He told me he would have gone under had it not been for the Chinese.
The trend has been very obvious for the last 2 - 3 years and the only surprise is that the other bar owners have taken so long to follow suit. And since the Chinese so far take the boys off far less frequently than the farang do, booze prices have had to go up to compensate for the reduction in off fees. I still reckon that more than one of the Soi Twilight go-go bars will close its doors within the next 12 months. The business just isn't there any more.Originally Posted by a447
Well I used to visit the shows...but last 3 years NO...Most of the Chinese Tourists in these places are NOT gay..just men and women laughing and making it not comfortable for me...just me I guess...I want to be in the place that is for gays, not husbands and wifes who are straight....I do get that the bars need to make money therefore this is now the norm..anyway, first visit for me to the shows fantastic...2nd and 3rd..nice...but now,,,even the shows are a bore....so I don't go...
Well, according to Wiki, in 2015 27% of all international visitors to Thailand were Chinese.
They are expecting that to increase by almost one million more Chinese in 2016.
As far as Westerners go, Russia accounts for 6.5%, UK accounts for 3.7%, Australia accounts for 3.4%, and US accounts for 3.1%.
So from gay bar owners perspective you have no choice but to cater to the Chinese or go out of business.
The Soi Twilight bars are now mostly similar to the large rip off jewellery stores, souvenir shops and others. They are short stops on organised tours where the Chinese are given a slice of Thai life and their group leaders get commissions at every turn. Obviously some farang, Thais and Asian gays still visit, but they are a dying breed.
If you think sex shows and rip-off joints represent slices of Thai life then you must hang out with a very different group of Thais!
555, I know what you're saying FH and wonder if the mainlanders know that they're being had or maybe this is what they want? I mean day-to-day life among ordinary Thais, the kind that I'm having now, is not that different from my life at home. Generous and kind people who are eager to help, friends and folks with goals, ambitions and problems similar to mine. Perhaps I would want something more exciting as a 5-day tourist than a slice of mundane Thai life?
Sugargrandpa (January 28th, 2017), TaoR (January 21st, 2017)
When the businesses in So I Twilight are open, the place is practically a living museum for gay life in Bangkok.
Certainly a tourist attraction for visitors to Thailand.
Our hotel in Chiang Mai is always 90% plus Chinese and the one we used in Bali in June was much the same- so it's not just Thailand.
Yes, some of the Chinese tourists at Dream Boys are gay men, but there are also quite a few gawking and screaming straight couples, as well as a few straight women groping and occasionally offing the guys.
Yes, I suppose Dream Boys must make money; shows do pull in the Chinese tourists. Maybe it is best for gay males to go before or after the shows and avoid the crowds of tourists.
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