Pattaya beach "back to being a major tourist attraction": So where are all the tourists!?

[Jiggo]

1 hour ago, alzack said:

It was so nice in 1967. I went back next time in 2017, (50 years later) what a crappy place it is now

Most places where, Then........

[CanuckThai]

You have to admit, it's good fun and entertainment reading about the new, exciting and uber successful ideas/projects.  Bob and weave, smile and wave...be thankful we're only guests in this far, far away land.  .....holy fick, what have I done,  double whiskey please

[ToddinChonburi]

They were all in Jomtein just trashing the place.

[pattayadon]

Come on now... I walked the Pattaya sidewalk on Saturday and Sunday as I do several times a week. The only thing different was the volleyball game and they were NOT tourists. It was a Thai-company picnic of sorts, Certainly not tourists.  Dear head honchos: The word is out that Pattaya Beach has open sewers running into the bay.  Why Russians and a few Chinese continue to swim here is mysterious to all of us.  Although the sand project is looking good, the water is still highly polluted.  eeeewww!   Good luck with the new sand!! 

[Kwasaki]

Somewhere better than a cesspit.

[connda]

Must be "Happiest To the People" reporting.  Veracity matters not as long as the Thai populace is happy, happy, happy! 

[lamyai3]

5 hours ago, Burl Ives said:

Re replacing the sand and reclaiming the beach, have the learn-ed Generals never heard of longshore drift which can be controlled by the use of Groynes? I remember as a kid going to beaches in the South West of England where these had been deployed successfully for years, but of course a permanent solution would not fill the back pocket!

Plenty of groins in Pattaya, but these don't fit the business model...

[peterb17]

I repeat why is anyone concerned - what does it matter to your lives? 

 

Pattaya is is what it is - attracts millions of tourists- earns a huge amount of cash for central government ( sadly not much is returned to City Hall ) 

 

Why is that when anything to do with Pattaya attracts the bashing fraternity- maybe their lives are concerned with watching the rice grow and of course gazing out onto lovely vistas . Oh there is a lovely mountain! It’s the same boring view everyday .

Pattaya changes all the time - always a new restaurant, a festival, how many tour buses going to Rubberland , another wine dinner, another party , fireworks, some new promotion at the Hilton , we had a Christmas party ( very weird with Santa and turkey) at Holiday Inn last week 

Its a fun city . 

 

 

 

 

[Media1]

In 4 months it will be a semi rubbish dump which the rats have also added in the rental contract clause.

[fullcave]

10 hours ago, mok199 said:

Today was one of the worst days I have seen ever,with thousands of Chinese cueing for their free parasial, hoardes of tour guide staff yelling and screaming and blocking the pathway,tour buses triple parked , hundreds of cans of 2 stroke fuel getting mixed on the sand, hundereds of loud power boats with the driver reving the engines to create extra noise....ya its paradise baby

Quality tourists. ?

[swanny321]

 

  ''It's the 'exchange rate', stupid! 

[balo]

The pictures are from the Northern beach of Pattaya , towards Naklua .  You do not see many tourists on a normal day here , that's why I like to exercise in this area. 

 

 I watched them work for the last 6 months bringing in the sand and right now it looks rather nice , but just wait , within 2 months it will look like the rest of the beaches, dirty,  unless they take it serious and start cleaning on a weekly basis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gerrit2561]

10 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I know! TAT will promote Pattaya as a family resort.

Oh, errr...

 

 

My last presence on that veach was 2015. Young daughter in the sea and immediately skin irritation all around. Keep up the good work officials, and please do publish objective water quality statistics. Typhoid bay.

[Miss Pickle]

Indians Arabs and Chinese don't go to the beach !

[ftpjtm]

7 hours ago, NextStationBangkok said:

The first picture is a dead body ?

No, it's a dead high rise condo.

[SOTIRIOS]

...those stacked sandbags...or whatever they are...are extremely unattractive....

[terryofcrete]

I just do not understand how any city authority could leave the pathway from  beach road into walking street in such a dangerous state...I am amazed no one has been killed by a vehicle whilst trying to negotiate the obstacle course that is the ”footpath” to use a loose description. I give up hope of ever seeing an acceptable walking space.. There is a definite lack of grey matter in evidence in those in charge . Third world is not an adequate description of the maintenance of pathways. 

[fullcave]

Oh boy, another hair brained project to line the pockets of officials.

[Booboo101]

That is the most unattractive beach I’ve ever seen, is that their answer to an eroding beach, a load of sandbags ?

if I saw this photo in a holiday brochure I would definitely avoid it !

[Thian]

What is the material used on that waterbarrier? Are those concrete rocks or sandbags? 

 

I think 400 million is a lot for this,  i hope it lasts for 100 years, we'll see.

[sambum]

15 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I know! TAT will promote Pattaya as a family resort.

Oh, errr...

 

 

And tourist figures are up by 12/14 %  from last  month/year - oh never mind - who believes all that bull poo anyway - apart from the obvious :- 

 

[Siamsys]

I just visited Pattaya at the beginning of July for the first time in several years. I used to love it there and even talked of retiring there. But now it is overrun by hoards of low-class Chinese and Indian tour groups that make the streets impassable and completely undesirable. I couldn't wait to leave, and I likely won't be going back. I also noticed a decided drop in the number of other Western tourists there who have apparently decided the same and voted with their feet. (Pattaya wasn't the only place I noticed this.) It's a shame that Thailand has allowed tourist areas to be overrun by countless throngs. They have definitely gone for quantity rather than quality. And it shows. It's a shame. Time to look for greener pastures and better places to spend my vacation and retirement dollars.

[ttrd]

12 hours ago, tomas557 said:

Nice beach, but I assume one has to be an experienced skydiver to enter the water.

Looks like the idea was to move the Focus away from the Scumbags to the Sandbags....

[StayinThailand2much]

13 hours ago, alzack said:

You didn't mention the other 99% in the sex parlors 

It was an ironic remark, as, for example, the TAT wants people believe that tourists come to Thailand just for the 'temples'...

[Daveyh]

Hmm? .............. I think the damage has been done long ago & no matter what they do to improve Pattaya's image of clean beaches with pristine sand it's "way past it's sell by date" as it's now known worldwide how bad the water quality is. Even now after all the local media hype the water is still the main problem, which has not been addressed & the majority of people know the problems associated with untreated sewage. I stopped going to Pattaya Beach more than 10yrs ago because of the quality of the water & aggressive beach vendors. Since then, over the years, the errosion of the beach has been another issue & left until the "last minute" to try to reverse it. Sadly, by the look of things it will never ever become a "world class" resort to attract quality tourists again as European's seem to have voted with their feet & gone elsewhere. The trend here seems to be large package tours now from China, India, Pakistan, Korea & other Asian countries, plus some Russians that have stayed since their currency collapsed, who all really have the same enviromental problems in their own countries to even considering changing there habits whilst on holiday here! This is causing further damage to the environment & their tour buses are blocking the streets with their fumes polluting the air is appalling ....... I could hardly breath walking in 2nd road the other evening & at the same time I was also trying to avoid large piles of stinking rubbish too ............ infact it was a mixture of both, I was choking from this, plus the diesel fumes from the buses that I had to retreat to Central Plaza to get away from it all. Pattaya has become far too overcrowded, the streets & sidewalks have become more of an obstacle course due to even more vendors "cramming in every nook & cranny" to set up shop. The downtown environment is really bad & it's getting worse ........... the arrival soon of "Terminal 21'' looks immpressive, but it will not change things. Just another place to visit & enjoy the free air conditioning & eye candy ........ & why not? Not a lot more that Pattaya has to offer these days .................. I really do not see things improving anytime soon. I personally think the changes made to Pattaya has ruined it & it will be many years before it rises from the ashes again, but City Hall need to get everything right to achieve this .............. I am not holding my breath.   

[faraday]

"According to Director Pornpen, foreign tourist arrivals edged up by 11.6 percent year -on-year."

 

Yes love, of course.

[chicowoodduck]

Well, I have noticed a least one major improvement...the number of folks sleeping on the beach on the wee hours of the morning....?

 

Last week I counted over 72 beach bums sacked out for the night....lol....that is progress in the making...say it loud and proud!?

 

 

[The Deerhunter]

16 hours ago, Lupatria said:

400 million baht spent on sand...

Who the heck is hiding behind the alias Mr. Sandman now?

Kinda makes one suspect that the sand contractor might have friends in high places or even be one and the same person.

[Hoppyone]

23 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Strange that, no families on the beach, must have been out enjoying a spot of jet skiing or running from light fingered ladyboys.

No all the tourist still asleep from night before

[Kerryd]

20 hours ago, tomas557 said:

Why do the airliners charge high season prices from Europe if it is low season?

 

July - August has always been high season for flights to Thailand from Europe.

In the "West", the prime holiday season is the Summer as that is when the schools (in many places) are let out and people like to take their holidays. Airlines (like gas stations) like to hike their prices (but blame the increases on some other BS). 

However, in many "hot" destinations, they see larger influxes of tourists when it is the winter time in the "cold" countries. A lot of people like to escape the cold and travel to places like Mexico, Hawaii, Florida, Thailand or Egypt during the "winter" months.
I visited Egypt in the summertime, there were still hordes of people there but according to the tour guides the numbers were no where near what they are like during the "winter". They said most tourists avoid Egypt in the summertime because it is just too hot. (It was very hot. And humid. But I didn't care. And for the most part, the crowds weren't that bad so I was able to zip around and take crap loads of pics at every site I visited.)
 

You used to really be able to tell the difference when walking down Soi 7 for example. In the "high" season (winter time in the Northern Hemisphere), Soi 7 would be jampacked full of tourists and even the little "side bars" set up in parking areas and dead end side streets would be doing a roaring business. 

But as Winter turns to Spring, business starts drying up. Suddenly a lot of those little "side bars" are shutting down (and their "owners" are trying to dump them on some other sucker in the hopes of maybe making some of their money back). Even the bigger bars on the main Soi start looking pretty empty during the weeknights.

 

When I was still in the army I used to volunteer to do "duty" over the Christmas/New Years period and then take my holidays in Jan/Feb as ticket prices usually went down after the big holiday rush ended. Thailand would be (seemingly) overflowing with tourists at that time.

But again, with the change in demographics, it seems that for many businesses in Thailand, especially in the "fun" places, it is turning into "Low" season all year round.