Foreign tourists caught defecating outside restuarant in Phuket
Restaurant owner calls for more public bathrooms to solve issues
A Thai restaurant owner in Phuket urged the government to consider increasing the number of public bathrooms after foreign tourists defecated outside his business on two separate occasions.
The owner of Salaloy Restaurant, Pananut Asawapitakchon, shared details of the unpleasant incidents on his Facebook account yesterday, May 22. He explained that the incidents occurred twice beforehand, last week and this week, when the restaurant was closed.
Pananut stated that his restaurant normally allows visitors in urgent need of a bathroom to use the facilities inside, regardless of whether they are dining there or not.
He added that he was willing to cover the costs associated with maintaining the toilets, such as water, electricity, cleaning, toilet paper, and soap, as a way to support tourism and the local economy. He believed that offering such access would ultimately benefit his business in the long run.
However, he noted that this approach had its limits. Despite his willingness to offer bathroom access free of charge, the incidents occurred while the restaurant was closed. With no public bathrooms nearby, tourists resorted to defecating outside his premises.
Last week, a foreign tourist was seen defecating in front of the restaurant. This week, the same thing happened again, this time involving a foreign woman. Pananut shared a photo of the latter incident in his post featuring the foreign woman with used tissue papers in her hands.
He expressed concern for his staff, who had to clean up the waste, something far beyond their job description. He also wondered whether other restaurant owners in Phuket were facing similar issues.
Pananut argued that the incidents highlighted a broader problem: a world-class tourist destination like Phuket was failing to meet basic standards in catering for visitors. He called on the relevant government agencies to take the matter seriously, even if it seemed minor.
He concluded his post by acknowledging that the problem was not urgent compared to other issues, but still worthy of attention for future improvement. He wrote…
“The problem is not urgent, but I would like to leave the matter for further improvement. In the meantime, I will continue to collect urine or faeces myself.”
The issue was raised before by Thai netizens after several foreign tourists were previously caught urinating in public places. In some cases, tourists were seen urinating from tuk tuks. Aside from criticising tourists’ reckless behaviour, the public pointed out that the lack of accessible public bathrooms was a contributing factor.
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