As Thailand cracks down on foreigners, a tourist paradise reconsiders its welcome

As tourists step off the pier on Thailand’s Koh Phangan island, they’re greeted by a sales pitch tailored to outsiders — billboards touting luxury beachfront plots or clifftop villas as high-yield investments, a message repeated along the palm-fringed roads winding up into the hills.

This tiny tropical island of fewer than 10,000 is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, welcoming more than one million overseas visitors a year. But locals say a surge in internationally run businesses and land ownership is reshaping it beyond recognition, breeding resentment toward some foreigners that has spread across the country.

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“All the projects we see up on the hillside belong to foreigners. There are so many new villas being built,” Preecha Thongyad, a Koh Phangan-born real estate investor said as he pointed to clusters of magazine-worthy villas. “It wasn’t like this before. In the past, when you looked at the hills, they were still green.”

Thailand has spent decades selling itself as a paradise where foreigners can arrive with few questions asked. Generous visas, permissive attitudes and a budget-friendly tourism industry built around coconut-lined beaches and free-spirited nightlife have turned the “Land of Smiles” into one of the world’s most-visited destinations.

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Now, the country is confronting the consequences of that success.

From the lush beaches of its southern islands to its frenetic capital, protests have sprung up in recent months under the slogan “Take Back Thailand.” They underscore local anxiety about what happens when foreigners exploit the rules to stay-long and profit from their own economic activities, particularly on tourist islands where resources are finite.

The resentment is entangled with mounting exasperation toward visitors perceived as disrespectful, fueled by examples that have gone viral on social media. Italian tourists filmed shouting at a Thai woman on a sky train in the capital, and a video of an Israeli woman telling staff at a cafe that “my money built your country” have both sparked outrage.

On Koh Phangan, a haven for free-spirited travelers drawn by its Full Moon parties, yoga retreats and anything-goes atmosphere, Israelis now make up the largest share of tourists. Their rising numbers have been matched with intense scrutiny, as global anger increases over the war in Gaza.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul — whose conservative party was elected in February on a Thailand-first platform, capitalizing on nationalistic sentiments in the wake of the country’s renewed conflict with Cambodia — has cast serious concerns about the overseas influence, framing it as a threat to both national and economic security.

His government has overseen a widespread operation examining thousands of businesses with dubious foreign-Thai ownership structures in a crackdown known as the “Phangan model” that has expanded into seven provinces and led to more than 110 arrests and dozens of warrants.


It’s also spilled into the country’s immigration policy, with the government slashing visa-free entry for most nationalities from 60 to 30 days, effective last month, making it harder for foreigners to abuse tourist visas for long-term stays or to set up businesses.

“Ultimately, foreigners are the ones who control the companies. We need to fix this,” Anutin said in May, after joining a police raid on villas with illegal ownership structures that were linked to Israelis on Koh Phangan.

Thailand’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with the sector employing around 4 million people and contributing up to one-fifth of gross domestic product. Some of the most popular destinations are concentrated in a southern cluster of verdant islands that includes Phuket, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui and coastal province Krabi.

Thailand protects certain domestic businesses from foreign competition. As such, foreigners are restricted from majority ownership of tourism-related businesses, including hotels and restaurants, unless they obtain explicit permission or qualify for exemptions. Foreigners are also subject to strict rules on property and land ownership.

A common workaround used by foreigners is to partner with locals who are listed as majority shareholders on paper without having made genuine investment — a practice that is illegal. Companies are founded in a similar manner in order to purchase land that is usually reserved for local ownership.

Nationally, the number of new companies with foreign shareholdings of up to 49.99% almost doubled in 2022 from the previous year, according to government data shared with Bloomberg News. Growth continued at 48% in 2023 and 11% in 2024, before contracting 18% last year.

“Not every case involves a nominee structure,” said Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director general of the Department of Business Development. “But this is the high-risk group.”


Nearly 70% of some 16,800 companies registered on Koh Phangan and neighboring Koh Samui have foreign co-ownership, led by Israelis and French nationals respectively, Commerce Ministry data show. That compares with about 12% of registered companies nationwide.

Authorities say they’ve identified more than 240 businesses across both islands that have exploited nominee structures, involving foreigners from Russia, Germany, Israel, Switzerland and France, among others. Thousands more are under investigation.

Foreign investors are particularly drawn to the southern islands for their insulation from the periodic political turmoil in Bangkok and distance from conflicts elsewhere in the world, as well as their world-renowned beauty and established tourist economy.

“Because there’s such high global demand for living on the island, a backlash has emerged against those wishing to invest,” said Naruemon Maisopa, president of the Koh Phangan Hotel & Tourism Association. “However these investors come in various forms. Some invest solely for business without giving back to or benefiting the local community, sparking fears among locals they might eventually be pushed out or lose their place in their own home."


On the resort island of Phuket, thousands of Russians arrived after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, creating several enclaves around its wealthier beach communities. Around Karon, Russian restaurants serve borscht and pelmeni alongside cryptocurrency exchanges and tour offices.

The number of villa sales has surged since 2022, when the island’s tourist numbers began to pick up after the pandemic, according to real estate agency Knight Frank Thailand. The Phuket market continues to rely heavily on international buyers and investors, including also from the Middle East and India, it said. Foreigners hold shares in about 35% of some 32,000 companies registered there, led by nationals from Russia, China and the UK, according to the Thai government.

Anutin’s government is also concerned about the potential for nominee arrangements to fuel transnational crime, particularly following the proliferation of scam centers in neighboring countries that used Bangkok as a transit hub for trafficking workers and laundered money through real estate purchases.

In one 2024 case, Thai police busted a Chinese-led scam network in Chonburi — the province home to the resort town of Pattaya known for its night clubs and sex worker industry. The group converted some of the stolen money into cryptocurrency and some to acquire Thai property via firms set up with Thai nominees. Authorities seized more than 152 million baht ($4.5 million) in assets and pursued charges including money-laundering and illegal foreign business activities.

The Commerce Ministry hasn’t turned a blind eye to Thai professionals who act as proxies or make such arrangements possible, either. Officials are examining some 140 accountants at 29 firms who appear as shareholders in more than 2,000 companies with foreign involvement and combined investment of 2.5 billion baht. One accountant was listed as a shareholder in 212 companies.

Thailand’s beaches have also become a refuge for young Israelis, many seeking respite after military service and almost three years of war, like the Russians before them. Their numbers jumped 46% in 2025 to more than 400,000, even as overall foreign arrivals dropped 7%, Tourism Ministry data show.

On Koh Phangan, Israeli influence is apparent. Kosher restaurants offer Hebrew-only menus, and memorials to those killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s ensuing war on Gaza appear on restaurant walls, streetlamps and utility poles.

On one recent sunny afternoon, Srithanu Beach was filled almost entirely with Israeli tourists swimming in the turquoise waters and playing volleyball. The concentration surprised even some visitors from Israel.

“The beaches are amazing. The views are insane. The food is really good. But mentally, I feel like I’m in Israel,” said Sapir, a 30-year-old tourist who asked for her last name to be withheld because she felt the issue was sensitive. “Israelis will come here for months after the army. A lot of Israelis that come back, they’re all like, ‘You have to go there.’”

The sharp rise in their numbers has triggered unease among some locals, who believe Israelis are contributing to a shift on the island that’s damaging their livelihoods.

“They came to build villas and cater to their own people,” said Pattharachai Ruangsiri, a Koh Phangan restaurant owner. “I’m certain the money for the rooms doesn’t pass through here at all or circulate in the Thai economy.”

The opening of Chabad Houses — Orthodox Jewish community centers affiliated with the New York-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement — has become a particular flashpoint, perceived by locals as an effort by Israelis to establish long-term communities. An unlicensed nursery serving Israeli children was shut down earlier this year and several people arrested.

The government has launched an investigation into the expanding network of Chabad Houses — there are seven across Thailand — and other sites including a Jewish cemetery.

But while Israelis may be the target of current frustrations, Jirayudh Sinthuphan, deputy director of the Institute of Asian Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said it’s a cumulative issue. “It isn’t just about Israelis,” he said. “We’ve witnessed similar patterns with arrivals from China, Russia, and India. It’s been building up over time and has just come to a head now.”

Jirayudh also said it comes at a time when an increasingly self-confident Asia is beginning to question what he calls a form of “neo-colonialism.” “It involves young people who leave their home countries to take advantage of the resources and lower cost of living in places like Thailand, Vietnam, or Bali, often without showing much cultural sensitivity,” he said.

Hundreds of Thais gathered to demonstrate outside the Israeli Embassy in early September, in a protest that blended grievances more generally about foreigners muscling in on the tourism sector and rudeness toward locals.

Complaints targeted at Israelis sparked a diplomatic meeting between the Israeli Embassy and the Thai Foreign Ministry. Israeli Ambassador Alona Fisher-Kamm acknowledged the public anger in Thailand but said in media interviews they were receiving a disproportionate amount of attention. She also said she wouldn’t characterize the Thai backlash as antisemitic in nature.

As a society, Thailand places far less focus on the Palestinian cause than many other countries do, and diplomatic relations with Israel have been longstanding, underpinned in part by a large migrant workforce. About 60,000 Thais work in Israel, mostly in agriculture. When Hamas attacked Israel three years ago, sparking the Gaza war, 41 Thais were killed in the immediate aftermath and 31 taken hostage.

Still, the US’s special envoy on antisemitism said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned by rising antisemitic rhetoric in Thailand.”

A Bloomberg reporter seeking comment was denied entry to Chabad Houses on Koh Phangan and Phuket in July. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, the director of the Chabad of Thailand, declined requests for an interview. The Israeli Embassy said the ambassador wasn’t available.

Chaim Noy, a professor at Bar-Ilan University’s School of Communication in Ramat Gan, Israel, said that for Israelis traveling abroad, a Chabad House can serve as a “home away from home,” especially as the Gaza war makes them feel increasingly secluded and gravitate toward each other.

“Israelis are feeling considerably less welcomed everywhere. The more alienated they would feel, the more they would want to feel at home somewhere,” Noy said. “If there’s any trouble, Israelis would firstly go to a Chabad House rather than to a Thai official or to the Israeli Embassy.”

Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said the government encourages foreigners to invest in the country but only if they “operate in full compliance with the law.”

Over the past few months, he’s led several raids on hotels across the southern island tourist hot spots. Bloomberg News accompanied him on three such inspections in Phuket in July, when authorities ordered hotel managers to hand over their licenses as guests carrying beach bags stood aside. The hotels had links to Russian and Chinese nationals and were were suspected of operating illegally.

“This is our land, we shouldn't let foreign entities simply come in and run things. Thailand must remain Thai,” Polapee said in an interview. Later in Krabi, he met with authorities investigating allegations that a British national controlled about two billion baht of land through multiple companies and nominee structures.

Alongside the crackdown, the government also tightened deportation rules at the end of August, marking it easier to eject foreigners on grounds of being deemed a threat to public order or after breaking Thai law. An Israeli national convicted for threatening a zoo owner over a ‘Free Palestine’ banner became the first to be evicted under the rules. Days later, the zoo owner’s French partner was also ordered to leave the country for causing disturbances and fostering divisions based on race and religion.

As the monsoon season comes to a close and peak tourist season approaches, Thailand's southern beaches are again preparing to welcome millions of visitors.

“The people of Koh Phangan have always been known for their warmth and hospitality,” said Naruemon, the president of the island’s hotel and tourism body. “Locals are now becoming more discerning about the kind of people and partners they welcome into their community, something they hadn’t really considered in the past.”