"If it bleeds, it leads." Goes to back to Hearst himself, over a hundred years ago. Get with the business model. We don't like hearing any good news; we claim it's fake.
No. Stories about the horrific crime in Pattaya have always been a media staple, duly decried by readers and victims, or self-imagined victims, accompanied by dire predictions of the coming END of Pattaya tourism, impoverishment, and the rise of the paradise of Cambodia.
There are two types of articles appearing in the Pattaya Mail with regularity: those where business and political leaders decry the decline in tourism and propose ways to improve the situation; and a steadily increasing number of reports of tourists being insulted, assaulted, drugged, robbed and extorted. . . . Pattaya is being inundated with rude obnoxious thugs who do not care about the city or its visitors. . . . They are driving away the tourists and the income and jobs that they bring. Inevitably, this rabble will win as they reduce everyone to their level of poverty. Meanwhile, tourism to Cambodia is increasing by 50% every six months...[emphasis mine]
--Lawrence Neal, "Down on Pattaya," Pattaya Mail, Vol. V No. 5 Friday 31 January 1997 - 6 February 1997
And that was when tourism was a mere trickle compared to what it is today. Pattaya's image hasn't been damaged in the decades ensuing. Evidently, the police and TAT have been doing a fantastic job in crime prevention and image repair.
So, it's quite safe now for our ideal tourist. If only we could see these filling the cafes, we'd have no further complaints. Please talk to your friends and relatives.