People in countries of Southeastern Asia parts are seeing more scenes of travelers begging for cash to continue the trip around the world.
Begpackers are a new kind of travelers. They are backpackers who travel the world without having enough money, so they end up scraping for trash or begging.
Many of them claim they lost their money and/ debit card and need to eat/return to their home country.
Yet, this growing issue has become a problem in many countries, and Bali decided to round them up and send them back to their respective embassies.
According to Setyo Budiwardoyo, head of Intelligence of the Immigration Department, whenever foreign tourists claim to have run out of funds, they will be sent off to their own embassies who supposedly claim to be protecting their citizens.
These tourists usually come from England, Australia, and Russia.
He explained that they always spend their budget on funding the daily needs to these people, so they will now inform their embassies that there is a citizen of theirs who needs help, and they can be added to their expenses.
In the past, the department helped all the begpackers in the country by providing them with food and shelter. Yet, over time, they became skeptical as some of the foreigners taking advantage of this assistance.
Moreover, Thailand has taken even stricter measures to clamp down on begpackers, and now visitors have to prove they have US $651.00 (£515.50) in cash before entering the country.
Sources:
waterballoon.me
www.unilad.co.uk