Prolly true, all yound people i know (westerners, koreans, japanese, singaporeans, thais mostly) are either on a thai island or bkk/chiang mai. I don't know of a single person in my age (mid 30s) that lives or visits pattaya, at all. Personally i've never been there except one time in jomtien to look at a used boat... It's pretty much the only place in thailand i have absolutely no desire to ever visit.