Italian Embassy apologises after Bangkok BTS row involving student tourists

The Italian Embassy in Bangkok issued a trilingual statement on Saturday, 25 July, apologising to the Thai public after a video showing a confrontation between a group of Italian teenage tourists and a Thai commuter on the BTS Skytrain went viral.

The embassy said it "expresses its deep regret over the incident and strongly condemns the inappropriate behaviour of a group of Italian underage tourists participating in a school educational trip", according to the statement, posted on its official Facebook page at around 11.30am.

It added that the group's conduct did not represent the Italian people or reflect the values of mutual respect, friendship, and courtesy that underpin relations between Italy and Thailand.

The confrontation was filmed by a Thai passenger and first shared on TikTok on Thursday, 23 July, before spreading rapidly across Thai social media. The footage shows the woman asking a group of foreign teenagers, who were talking loudly inside the carriage, to lower their voices, telling them, "In Thailand we don't scream."

According to footage described in regional reporting, a passenger replied, "Sorry for bringing money to your country." TOC's review of the video shows the remark was made by an adult accompanying the group, who appears older than the students and was visible on screen at the time.

Her exact role, whether teacher, chaperone, or otherwise, has not been independently confirmed. The Thai woman accused the group of having no manners, and the exchange descended into a volley of insults, with her briefly losing her composure during the argument.

The confrontation reportedly took place at around 7pm aboard a Silom Line train travelling towards Sala Daeng station. The woman who recorded the footage said the dispute began after she politely asked the teenagers to speak more quietly.

Separate accounts described rude gestures, including a middle finger, directed at the woman after she raised the noise issue. Online commentators identified the group as Italian secondary school students on a cultural exchange programme, though their nationality, identities, and ages could not be independently verified.

By 24 July, hundreds of Thai social media users had flooded the Italian Embassy's Facebook page, demanding an investigation and public accountability. The backlash grew large enough that the embassy disabled comments on parts of its page, while the video amassed millions of views online; some users also left messages on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's social media accounts.

TravellingFox Estate INPSieme, the Italian agency that organised the trip, issued its own apology on 24 July. The agency said the students' conduct "does not reflect the values we have held and promoted", attributing the behaviour to "momentary excitement" while stressing this was not an excuse.

It acknowledged that many of the students involved were minors and that travelling abroad could sometimes lead to excessively boisterous behaviour in public. The agency's statement did not directly address the remark made by the adult accompanying the group.

The embassy's statement on 25 July was accompanied by a 95-second video in which four student representatives apologised directly to the Thai public. One representative said they were extremely sorry and acknowledged that money could not buy respect. Another apologised in Thai and English for the group's actions on the train.

A third representative said the students did not condone the behaviour shown in the video, confirmed those involved would be sent back to Italy as soon as possible, and said the group would receive further guidance on respecting local culture. The statement closed with an appeal for forgiveness from the Thai community. Neither the embassy's written statement nor the student video addressed the conduct of the accompanying adult specifically.

Public reaction on social media

Comments quickly outpaced the embassy's official statement, with thousands of Thai social media users reacting on Facebook, many writing in Thai, English, and Italian.

A significant number of commenters said they were willing to forgive the students but stressed that an institutional apology was not enough. "As a Thai, I choose to forgive," wrote one commenter, while another said Thai people wanted "those all groups to apologise sincerely" rather than have others speak for them.

Several commenters objected to representatives apologising on the students' behalf. One wrote that the school should "bring out the boy who showed his middle finger" and the individual who made the "bringing money" remark to apologise directly. Another said an apology "should come from the source," not the embassy.

Several commenters had separately alleged that an adult accompanying the group, whom some described as a teacher, made the "bringing money" remark.

TOC's own review of the footage supports that an adult was responsible for the comment, though her specific role could not be independently confirmed. A number of comments additionally alleged that members of the group made a racially mocking hand gesture during the confrontation.

Criticism was not limited to the students. Several Italian commenters, including some identifying themselves as residents of Thailand, said the response reflected a wider failure by Italian schools and families to teach respect for host cultures.

Others took a harder line, with one commenter suggesting a ten-year visa ban so the students would "understand that being allowed to visit another country is something that should be appreciated." A handful of comments called for the group to be sent home immediately and barred from returning.

Not all reaction was pointed. Alongside the criticism, the thread carried a running joke about pineapple on pizza, with numerous commenters offering to "accept only Hawaiian pizza" as an apology, and others promising, in jest, to break spaghetti before boiling it.

Several commenters also questioned the sincerity of the video apology, suggesting it looked like a response to public pressure rather than genuine remorse, while others accepted it as a reasonable first step given the students' age. Some noted that the apology video did not mention the adult's remark at all.

The incident has renewed wider discussion in Thailand about tourist conduct and public etiquette, following a series of viral disputes involving foreign visitors in recent years.