A video of a group of Italian students has sparked widespread anger in Thailand after a passenger asked them to lower their voices on Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain, prompting insults, obscene gestures and the taunt: “Sorry for bringing money to your country.”
The confrontation was captured in a video posted on Thursday, July 23, and reportedly took place at around 7 p.m. on the BTS Silom Line near Sala Daeng station.
The Thai woman who recorded the encounter said she could hear the group shouting before they entered the carriage, despite wearing headphones. Once inside, the students allegedly continued yelling, laughing and playing around, disturbing passengers during the evening journey.
She asked them in English to lower their voices.
One young woman explained that they were students who were struggling to find their route. Another member of the group, who wasn’t visible in the footage, could then be heard responding: “Sorry for bringing money to your country.”
The remark quickly changed the tone of the confrontation.
Italian students confront a Thai passenger after being asked to lower their voices aboard Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain Photo Courtesy Social Media
Another passenger told the woman to “shut the f*** up,” while a male student appeared to make an insulting comment about her mother after she asked where the group was from. Several members of the group were also seen laughing, filming the woman and making obscene hand gestures as they left the train at Sala Daeng.
The exchange wasn’t one-sided. The Thai passenger responded with profanity of her own as the confrontation intensified. An adult traveling with the students also objected to the filming, saying some members of the group were under 18.
Still, the comment about bringing money into Thailand became the defining moment of the video, with many Thais describing it as arrogant and disrespectful toward the country hosting the group.
The footage spread rapidly across TikTok and X. The original TikTok video had attracted about 160,000 views by Friday, while one repost on X surpassed two million views.
The backlash soon reached the Facebook page of the Italian Embassy in Bangkok, where users demanded an investigation and an official response. Comments were later disabled on at least one embassy post.
Claims that 13,000 people commented or reacted to the incident on the embassy’s social media accounts couldn’t be independently verified. As of Saturday, July 25, the embassy had not published a formal statement about the confrontation on its official website.
TravellingFox Estate INPSieme, the Italian tour operator responsible for the educational trip, issued an apology to the Thai public on Friday.
The company said many of the students were minors taking part in a program intended to promote cultural discovery, respect and openness toward their host country. It acknowledged that the excitement of traveling could lead young people to become overly energetic but stressed that this didn’t excuse inappropriate conduct.
“The behavior does not reflect the values we have held and promoted for many years,” the company said, adding that the actions shown in the video didn’t represent most of the students participating in the trip.
The operator said it has organized educational visits to Thailand for more than 20 years and has brought thousands of Italian students to the country. It pledged to continue promoting cultural exchange, mutual respect and personal responsibility.
The incident has also triggered a broader debate about tourism in Thailand, particularly the belief that spending money gives visitors permission to ignore local customs or public etiquette.
For many Thais, the issue was never simply that a group of teenagers was being loud. It was what came next: a request for basic consideration being answered with insults and the suggestion that tourism money should buy tolerance.
The tour operator has apologized. Whether the students, their school or the Italian Embassy will directly address the Thai public remains unanswered.
