This is the heart-stopping moment a distraught Chinese tourist climbed over the balcony on the 26th floor of a luxury hotel in Thailand.

The guest sparked panic when he clambered onto the safety railing of the balcony at the Hilton Pattaya hotel overlooking the beach.

Footage shows the hefty man scaling the beam on the building's facade as he stood precariously on his perch, with shocked onlookers watching from below on August 9.

Pattaya City police cordoned off the scene as a rescue team set up an air cushion next to the building.

Officers negotiated with the tourist for two hours before convincing him to return to his room.

A Pattaya City Police Station spokesman said the tourist was taken to the station to find the cause of his behaviour.

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand while fighting Communism in Vietnam. Rural families are said to have even dressed their sons as women to cash in on the gold rush.

The handful of bars in the coastal town quickly grew and it is now the world's biggest sex holiday destination, with round-the-clock prostitution and drugs - a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah rife with crime and debauchery.

Government chiefs have attempted to clean up the city but regular violence, depravity and claims of corruption continue to blight its reputation.