Thailand has begun a campaign to attract international tourists, and especially Japanese travelers, using the popularity of homegrown productions of "boys' love," or BL dramas, as a drawcard.
At the Mini Thai Festival held in Osaka in early June, two booths were set up by video distributors in the "Thai BL" corner, dragging throngs of people away from street food stalls and an exhibition of the combat sport Muay Thai. The Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT, handed out pamphlets on Thai BL.
Known in Thailand as "Y series" — a reference to the Japanese yaoi fiction that features homoerotic relationships between male characters and provided the inspiration for BL dramas — the productions were once looked upon with prejudice but have gained acceptance due to their potential to function as a cultural export.