NAT pushes for a truly global INF-FNI at World Congress in Hungary

Naturist Association Thailand returned on 28 Sptember 2026 from the 40th World Congress of the International Naturist Federation (INF-FNI) in Hungary with progress on several issues that NAT believes are important for making the international naturist movement genuinely global.

More than 80 naturists from around the world gathered in Kecskemét from 24–26 September 2026 for the biennial Congress, which is the highest decision-making body of INF-FNI.

For NAT, the guiding principle throughout the Congress was simple: if INF-FNI is to be a worldwide organisation, its structures, research and activities must increasingly reflect the world beyond its traditional European base.

China and India included in worldwide naturism survey

One of the most significant decisions of the Congress was to proceed with a major professionally conducted worldwide survey of attitudes towards naturism and nude recreation.

NAT strongly supported the project, but insisted that a survey described as worldwide should include China and India.

This matters particularly to NAT. Many NAT members are residents or citizens of these countries, and Thailand is seeing an increasing number of naturist visitors from both India and China. Understanding attitudes towards naturism in these enormous populations is therefore important not only for NAT, but for the future development of naturism internationally.

China and India are now expected to be included in the international research.

The survey is intended to provide reliable evidence that naturist organisations can use in their communication with the public, media and government authorities.

Challenging the “one country, one federation” model

Another issue pursued by NAT concerns the way INF-FNI recognises federations in exceptionally populous countries.

The traditional model assumes that one national federation represents one country. That may work reasonably well in smaller countries, but NAT argued that it becomes problematic when applied to countries with populations of hundreds of millions of people.

India, China, the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan are obvious examples.

NAT’s concern is that the first organisation to obtain recognition should not thereby gain permanent exclusive control of INF-FNI representation throughout an enormous country. A federation calling itself a national federation does not, simply by virtue of its name or by being first, gain “ownership” of that country for INF-FNI purposes.

NAT therefore developed a proposal under which, in exceptionally populous countries, additional federations could be recognised to represent individual states, provinces or regions. These territorial federations would have their own membership, representation and voting rights within INF-FNI.

If they later wished to establish a nationwide umbrella organisation, they could do so, but such an organisation would not take away the representation and voting rights of the regional federations.

The issue became particularly topical following the recognition of the new American federation FUNN-USA. The American case demonstrated why INF-FNI needs clear rules before similar situations arise in other very large countries.

Other federations, the Dutch NFN, the Austrian ONV, the Spanish FEN, and the Brazilian FBrN, now supports NAT’s motion to call an Extraordinary General Assembly to consider changing §5 of the INF-FNI Statutes along these lines.

The Extraordinary General Assembly will likely take place already before the end of October 2026.

Who should recognise new federations?

A related governance issue is also heading towards an Extraordinary General Assembly.

Under the present system, recognition of a new member federation can be decided by the INF-FNI Central Committee. Another group of federations has proposed that this important decision should instead belong to the General Assembly – the federations themselves.

The debate again gained urgency following the rapid admission of FUNN-USA shortly before the World Congress.

If adopted, the change would mean that future decisions to admit a new national or territorial federation would ultimately be made collectively by INF-FNI’s member federations rather than solely by its Central Committee.

For NAT, the two initiatives point in the same direction: creating rules suitable for a genuinely international organisation in which naturism can develop independently in different regions of the world’s largest countries.

Promoting NATCON27

Congress was also an opportunity to introduce international naturist leaders to NATCON27, which will take place at Phuwannalee Resort in Khao Yai from 28 April to 2 May 2027.

All Congress delegates were invited to attend with a special 10 percent VIP discount.

Throughout the meeting, NAT Board Member Tushar Vyas actively promoted NATCON27 and encouraged delegates to experience what has become NAT’s flagship international event and one of the major naturist gatherings outside Europe.

NAT also personally invited Alice DeWet, President of the New Zealand Naturist Federation (NZNF), and her partner to attend NATCON27, with Alice invited to be a keynote speaker.

The invitation reflects NAT’s wish to strengthen direct links between naturist organisations throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Learning from British Naturism

Another useful outcome was closer cooperation with British Naturism.

British Naturism developed considerable experience with online activities during and after the Covid period, creating ways for naturists to participate in community activities even when they could not physically meet.

British Naturism has offered to help NAT explore how some of this experience could be adapted for Thailand.

For NAT, online activities are not intended to replace resorts, events or physical naturist gatherings. They could instead provide another way of keeping members connected between events and involving members who live far from Thailand’s naturist venues.

Business – and friendship

The Congress was not only about statutes, motions and voting.

Delegates exchanged experiences on youth activities, sport, communication, volunteering and ways in which federations can share knowledge and resources. There was also a naturist visit to the Aranykor Wellness Centre, including theatrical sauna sessions and a dance performance for a naturist audience.

And on the final evening came something NATCON veterans immediately recognised: a naked disco.

After three days of meetings, delegates filled the dance floor for a party that brought back happy memories of the dancing and late-night friendships that have become part of the NATCON tradition.

For NAT, those informal relationships are an important part of attending the World Congress. International cooperation is much easier when federation representatives know each other personally rather than simply exchanging emails and voting on motions.

NAT returned from Hungary with new contacts, potential cooperation with other federations, stronger interest in NATCON27 and – most importantly – progress towards our long-standing objective of making the “International” in International Naturist Federation truly international.

Below photos are visible to logged in members of NAT to avoid any controversy in Thailand.