{"id":259300,"date":"2025-07-12T15:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T15:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/259300\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T15:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T15:49:13","slug":"foreign-office-issue-urgent-warning-to-british-tourists-in-holiday-hotspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/259300\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Office issue urgent warning to British tourists in holiday hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following a rise in drunk tourists behaving badly in the South East Asian tropical paradise, Thailand&#8217;s authorities have issued new rules for foreigners visiting the picturesque nation<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Loh-Samah-Bay-Phi-Phi-island.jpg\" alt=\"Thailand has some strict laws\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Thailand has some strict laws(Image: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Brits have been warned they could face <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/travel\/travel-news\/i-went-sin-city-pattaya-35512556\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"years in a harsh Thailand prisonLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">years in a harsh Thailand prison<\/a> if they fail to abide by strict new drone regulations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/news\/latest-news\/drug-mule-bella-culley-was-35486768\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Foreign Office issued the urgent warningLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Foreign Office issued the urgent warning<\/a> as thousands are expected to travel to Thailand over the summer months. Other <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/news\/latest-news\/brit-soldiers-fight-life-after-35411972\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"rules in the South East Asian countryLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">rules in the South East Asian country<\/a> surround gambling drinking and public behaviour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The new laws come into force after a rise in drunk badly behaving visitors causing trouble at local venues. Included in the new regulations are rules for tourists planning to fly drones in the picturesque country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The remote controlled air crafts must be registered with Thailand\u2019s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) within 30 days of entering Thailand.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_Walking-Street-pedestrian-zone-nightlife-bars-nightclubs-neon-signs-Pattaya-Chon-Buri-Province.jpg\" alt=\"There has been an increase in badly behaved tourists in Thailand\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>There has been an increase in badly behaved tourists in Thailand(Image: Getty Images\/imageBROKER RM)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The Foreign Office guidance reads: &#8220;It is illegal to fly a drone in Thailand if it is not registered. You must register your drone with Thailand\u2019s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) within 30 days of entering Thailand or purchasing a drone in Thailand even if you do not intend to fly it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;The regulations apply to all drones, including those for recreational use. The fine for an unregistered drone with the NBTC is 100,000 baht or five years imprisonment or both.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">It comes as drug traffickers forced British drug mule suspect Bella May Culley to watch a horrifying video of a man being beheaded and warned she faced the same fate, her lawyer has claimed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The teenage backpacker, from Billingham in County Durham, told her legal team she had fallen under the control of a ruthless criminal gang while on holiday in Thailand. She claimed the drug gang &#8216;branded&#8217; her by burning her arm with a hot iron and threatened to kill her and her family if she did not follow their orders.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_Europe-Germany-Bavaria-View-Of-Drone-Or-Drohne-Mid-Air-Flying.jpg\" alt=\"There are strict drone regulations in Thailand\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>There are strict drone regulations in Thailand(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 18-year-old is set to deny knowingly importing the drugs worth \u00a3200,000 into former Soviet state Georgie and claim she was in fear for her life when she boarded the flight from Bangkok in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The student nurse \u2013 who also said she is pregnant \u2013 also told her lawyer how she texted &#8216;HELP ME&#8217; to her family in a desperate bid for freedom from the gang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Georgian lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia for Bella told <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/news\/35658467\/bella-culley-beheaded-georgia-mule\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"The SunLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">The Sun<\/a>: \u201cThey told her: \u2018We know the addresses of your parents, we know where your 16-year-old brother is.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;They made her watch a video of a man being decapitated and told her: \u2018If you don\u2019t do as you are told, this is what is going to happen to you and your family.\u2019 She felt queasy and almost fainted but they still forced her to watch it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"newslettersLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">newsletters<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a rise in drunk tourists behaving badly in the South East Asian tropical paradise, Thailand&#8217;s authorities have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31239,12,93996,183,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-259300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-drone","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-thailand-holidays","11":"tag-travel","12":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114841057086855510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}