Pattaya reinvented: has 'Happy Zone' helped Thailand's 'sex capital' clean up its act?

Meanwhile, Japan wants to increase its after-dark offerings, but only if they don’t include dancing

BY MERCEDES HUTTON

 

Picture: Reuters/File photo

 

Nestled on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 100km from Bangkok, Pattaya is one of Asia’s most popular tourist attractions, ranking number eight on of the list of top 20 destinations across Asia by international overnight arrivals, according to Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2017. It is also notorious as Thailand’s sex capital, an unwanted epithet the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has worked hard to dispel.

 

And it has worked, or so says Tanes Petsuwan, TAT’s deputy governor for marketing communications. Speaking to travel industry publication TTG Asia in June, he announced, “Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers.”

 

The resort city’s seedy reputation is said to have originated during the Vietnam war, when American troops stationed in the region started to visit what was then a sleepy fishing village, becoming so taken by the local hospitality that they returned in ever greater numbers. As they did so, R&R establishments sprang up to cater to the GIs’ every need and the Pattaya we recognise today was born – by 2012, men outnumbered women in the city, with almost six men for every four women, according to numbers provided to Reuters by TAT.

 

Full story: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2156631/pattaya-reinvented-has-happy-zone-helped-thailands

 

-- South China Morning Post 2018-2018-07-25

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

“Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers.”

The local ladyboys are ecstatic. Upscale pockets to pick.

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

has 'Happy Zone' helped Thailand's 'sex capital' clean up its act?

Nope. Now lets look at the weather.......

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Pattaya is one of Asia’s most popular tourist attractions

Yes, and this is the reason:

 

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

It is also notorious as Thailand’s sex capital

 

"Welcome, bring the family".

 

6 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Nope. Now lets look at the weather.......

Yeah, whether this BS will last for just one week, or the full month.

 

18 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Nope. Now lets look at the weather.......

Wet and windy with stray dogs in the sois??????

???

The authorities are trying to turn Thailand into one big upscale destination. More five star hotels, and more upscale restaurants. One thing they are forgetting is that high end tourists want good service. And good English, Mandarin, or other languages, that are expected in a high end resort. 

 

There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists. The very first thing would be to repeal the anti faring wine bill, that was passed by a few very corrupt senators way back when, to protect an anemic local wine industry. They are losing billions of dollars a year in revenue, that would be had from a 100% wine duty, instead of 460%. The five star hotels would have major wine events, and the entire industry would flourish here. 

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at of one of those high end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir. Wait a minute. You have 100 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 10,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wine? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High end tourists have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service. 

 

But again, the lack of vision, combined with a naive, surly, silly, churlish, and ignorant sense of nationalism, bites the country in the butt. And again, who is the loser? The Thai people. The entire country is suffering from a decline in Western tourism. They are trying to make up for that with the Chinese tourist, the vast majority of whom are low end tourists. And that will not change. It is a permanent declining trend. For a hundred valid reasons. 

49 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

The authorities are trying to turn Thailand into one big upscale destination. More five star hotels, and more upscale restaurants. One thing they are forgetting is that high end tourists want good service. And good English, Mandarin, or other languages, that are expected in a high end resort. 

 

There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists. The very first thing would be to repeal the anti faring wine bill, that was passed by a few very corrupt senators way back when, to protect an anemic local wine industry. They are losing billions of dollars a year in revenue, that would be had from a 100% wine duty, instead of 460%. The five star hotels would have major wine events, and the entire industry would flourish here. 

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at of one of those high end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir. Wait a minute. You have 100 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 10,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wine? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High end tourists have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service. 

But again, the lack of vision, combined with a naive, surly, silly, churlish, and ignorant sense of nationalism, bites the country in the butt. And again, who is the loser? The Thai people. 

The entire country is suffering from a declining tourism industry. And that will not change. It is a permanent declining trend. For a hundred valid reasons. 

The whole 'wine' industry here seems to be more and more geared towards the fruit wine thing. 85% mix of imported mixtures of whatever with 15% fruit juice, usually pear juice, from what I can gather but no info on where the pear juice? comes from.

Some of the bottles have the 'fruit wine' note on the back lable in print so small you need to use a magnifying glass to read it. 

Some say you can tell by the customs sticker colour, the one on the top over the cork, then again they are easy to change I reckon.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The resort city’s seedy reputation is said to have originated during the Vietnam war, when American troops stationed in the region started to visit what was then a sleepy fishing village, becoming so taken by the local hospitality that they returned in ever greater numbers.

That's a frequently cited myth.  Yes, Pattaya's reputation grew during the Vietnam war, but it was a destination frequented by German tourists prior to the war.

Pattaya'' Regurgitated''.....but the good news is we are just like Miami ''same same but different''

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by mok199
speliings

1 hour ago, webfact said:

And it has worked, or so says Tanes Petsuwan, TAT’s deputy governor for marketing communications. Speaking to travel industry publication TTG Asia in June, he announced, “Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers.”

I am absolutely speechless, what is this guy smokin.

 

My first response to this idiot would be to walk him down soi 6 and after his happy ending in Horny Bar - sack him

Nope. As of 11am this morning it's still a happy ending zone.

 

BTW, Bangkok is the sex capital of Thailand. Just sayin'.

2 minutes ago, Darcula said:

Nope. As of 11am this morning it's still a happy ending zone.

 

BTW, Bangkok is the sex capital of Thailand. Just sayin'.

I thought the capital of Thailand was 'T'?

 

Off topic post discussing the price of wine has been removed

3 hours ago, zaphod reborn said:

That's a frequently cited myth.  Yes, Pattaya's reputation grew during the Vietnam war, but it was a destination frequented by German tourists prior to the war.

 

Sorry, this is B.S. Officially the Vietnam War started in 1955 and the Germans where still recovering from WW II and definitely not traveling to Pattaya, prior to 55.

2 minutes ago, Deli said:

 

Sorry, this is B.S. Officially the Vietnam War started in 1955 and the Germans where still recovering from WW II and definitely not traveling to Pattaya, prior to 55.

yup, they traveled to Argentina around that time.

The smutty ambiguities were overlooked in the reinvention ..

 

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by Justgrazing
Sp

2 hours ago, Darcula said:

Nope. As of 11am this morning it's still a happy ending zone.

 

BTW, Bangkok is the sex capital of Thailand. Just sayin'.

After all, the song goes "One night in Bangkok leaves a hard man humble", not "One night in Pattaya".

But as I like to say, "one night in Bangkok can make a hard man humble but one night in Pattaya can make a hard man crumble" !

Still wondering why places like Amsterdam don't seem to have the same bad rep as Pattaya. Amsterdam, where (in the Red Light district) the women sit (or stand) in huge windows wearing skimpy lingerie, inside of rooms that have just a bed in them and you can find live, full penetration sex shows (no "fake" acts) run on movie theatre type stages. Where you sit down at a cafe and they hand you a menu detailing the different types of marijuana and hash available and give you a dirty look if you only want a coffee.

 

Copenhagen apparently has quite the "sex trade" as well. I'm told that a lot of the really gross "underground" porn comes from there, from back in the days of 8mm films.

Yet Copenhagen doesn't have the rep Pattaya does. Many large German cities have very active "poof strasses" - streets that are shielded from public view (but not blocked from public access) which are full of hookers and bars. I remember poking my head into a couple of those streets just to see what was going on and it looked like a smaller version of the Red Light district in Amsterdam. A lot of cities had those little "strasses", not just the big ones.
Some had entire apartment buildings that were nothing but one big brothel, like the "Eros Center" on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg where you go down into the parking area under the building and there are 70-80 (or more) women dressed in white bras, panties and shoes. I remember that while they were mostly young (early to late 20s or thereabouts), they were varied in shape and size and almost every single one of them was blonde (I think on purpose, by dye or wig or maybe natural). The deal was, you wandered around the parking area checking out the different "models" then when you found one you liked you took the elevator up to her room.

Budapest has developed a seedy reputation as well (going back to the end of the Soviet Union). Lots of underground "sex shops" using women imported from across Russia (or former Soviet client states). That is (or was) one of those places where you'd better keep your wits about you if you go out drinking in some "seedier" establishments (one of which was called the Bangkok Nightclub but that was as close to being Asian as it got.)
Still, doesn't get the bad rep that Pattaya does.

Singapore used to have a bad reputation back in the 50s. Dad told me one time about the "Street of Queers" as it was called back then (he was in the Merchant Marine at the time). Not sure what things are like there these days. Rumour has it there's a couple places in nearby countries that maybe be worse than Pattaya as well (for a couple of reasons).

I'd never heard of Pattaya before my first trip to Thailand and knew nothing of Thailand's "reputation". That was back in the days before the internet was very big though, and everyone was still using DOS 3.0 (Win95 wouldn't come out until a couple years later.)

Times are changing though. I think the push to bring in more Chinese and Indian tourists is a part of the plan to change the reputation of the place. With fewer tourists from "Western" countries, the sex trade could be diminished significantly. Seems it is already having an affect as a lot of business owners (and not just of bars and go-gos) have been reporting a downturn in their business as the Chinese and Indians are not spending anywhere near as much as the "Westerners" used to.

Makes me wonder what the country will do with all those "18-20" year olds that have a Grade 8 education and aren't qualified to do anything but work in a nail salon or maybe a Family Mart.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers.”

An alternative take .?

There are many good, family friendly, resort towns/cities in Thailand.  

Pattaya isn't one of them. 

Pattaya is what it is, please leave it alone for those of us who love it.

2 hours ago, Deli said:

 

Sorry, this is B.S. Officially the Vietnam War started in 1955 and the Germans where still recovering from WW II and definitely not traveling to Pattaya, prior to 55.

Umm, they're talking about US involvement in the Vietnam war which started in 1960, and didn't become substantial until the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.  I have talked to ex-pats who landed in the 50's, and they relate that almost all the sexpats and tourists prior to '64 were German.  There is a verified written account of this at www.bangkokeyes.com

The Boyz said it all above??? upscale v what is on the other side of the scale? HIGH QUALITY SERVICES? quality taxi drivers? Polite motorbike taxi riders who will not fight or threaten tourists? Or no more seedy joints? Happy Family Bars and clubs ..bring your kids please?

I was in Pattaya in the 60's and hardly any Americans around (except  myself and a few others)

I saw no US military.  The  major foreign influence was German and many signs in German.  There were not huge numbers as the 'entertainment' venues were mostly on side streets.

 

There was only one Western style hotel on Pattaya Klang .  The beach and sea were beautiful. The cost was low and the smiles were real.

 

Through the years-  Pattaya has changed and not for the better.  It is way over developed; poor zoning; the sea is filthy; scams and crime everywhere and an over abundance of ladyboys many who are violent.  The so called 'entertainment' industry is filled now with  up country 'ladies' who could care less about talking with customers and are more interested in looking at 'phones' or watching television.  Why anybody wants to purchase overpriced drinks for them and waste time on being  number 1,000 in the sack is beyond my comprehension. I guess enough booze and beer can make anything look good.

 

The days of the monger are  slowly coming to an end- simply due to economics.  The  service girls will eventually leave and go back to rice farming as the numbers of Western tourists decline being replaced by the Chinese and Indians who don't go to bars/clubs . In addition, the money being spent in upgrading places like North Pattaya will bring more  middle class to upper class Thais for holiday and weekend jaunts  with their families. These people will be more interested in shopping and restaurants and have no interest in the Pattaya sleaze.

 

I stopped going to Pattaya decades ago  except for an occasional day trip .  There are just too many negatives to living in such a place or coming for a holiday.  However, everyone to their own or as we say in Thailand- up to you/

1 hour ago, zaphod reborn said:

Umm, they're talking about US involvement in the Vietnam war which started in 1960, and didn't become substantial until the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.  I have talked to ex-pats who landed in the 50's, and they relate that almost all the sexpats and tourists prior to '64 were German.  There is a verified written account of this at www.bangkokeyes.com

and Pattaya wasn't a fishing village, that was Naklu,  People do really need to get their history right. Sattahip was where most US Military from U Tapao spent their  spare time.  Those from the other US Bases, Takli, Korat, Udon, Ubon went to Bangkok for their local R & R, not Pattaya. 

It's seems a hole has already developed in the Happy Zone layer, probably due to climate change. Its last known location was over a German tourist's head in Banglamung.

 

 

Has Pattaya cleaned up its act ?

I must have had an afternoon nap while that happened.

3 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

yup, they traveled to Argentina around that time.

Yeah.  Via Catholic monastries in Odessa.  Or was that in 1945/46?

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by The Deerhunter

These people hurt nobody.  Leave them be.   The schoolboy fascination with the Thai sex trade is a tad dull. 

Big Joke should be able to answer that question? if he isn't still rolling on the floor?