Is Pattaya proving to be bullet proof to high season slumps?

[BestB]

31 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

Open this evening at 10pm.

Some stalls, take a good look around????

 

[geisha]

Yes it’s  quieter. (Friends who live in Phuket say the same thing.)  I’ve been twice lately to Central Festival where it wasn’t crowded. Maybe half of the regulars have move down to terminal 21 . Even MK in Central was nearly empty where usually you have to  queue. Jomtien is specially empty. The beach road restauarants are looking quite miserable. After all, Christmas is next week and it should be the busiest time of the year. I’m going to terminal 21 this weekend to have a look . Let’s  face it, Thailand isn’t so fashionable any more, exchange is bad, and the infrastructure non existant. The world knows that’s its one of the most dangerous countries in the world for road accidents , there’s a lot to put normal tourists off. 

[janclaes47]

25 minutes ago, geisha said:

Yes it’s  quieter. (Friends who live in Phuket say the same thing.)  I’ve been twice lately to Central Festival where it wasn’t crowded. Maybe half of the regulars have move down to terminal 21 . Even MK in Central was nearly empty where usually you have to  queue. Jomtien is specially empty. The beach road restauarants are looking quite miserable. After all, Christmas is next week and it should be the busiest time of the year. I’m going to terminal 21 this weekend to have a look . Let’s  face it, Thailand isn’t so fashionable any more, exchange is bad, and the infrastructure non existant. The world knows that’s its one of the most dangerous countries in the world for road accidents , there’s a lot to put normal tourists off. 

I can agree wholeheartedly with your post, as you will notice from my post earlier in this thread.

 

i live here more than 2 decades, and in the last 10 years I have noticed that westerner high season last about 2 - 3 weeks.

 

So since Christmas is on a Tuesday this year, which mean that most westerners will have holiday without taking up vacation days starting 22 - 25 December, I think we will see a large increase of western tourist starting 23 December, and see them disappear again on 7 or 8 January

[Destiny1990]

How are the crowds at terminal 21?that might be a good indicator if the city is bussy or dead..

[madmen]

Central is quite but the food court is totally packed out.

Soi bukaho is slowly filling with the bigger bars eg cnr Diana and bukaho hard to get a seat

[janclaes47]

2 minutes ago, madmen said:

Central is quite but the food court is totally packed out.

Soi bukaho is slowly filling with the bigger bars eg cnr Diana and bukaho hard to get a seat

Tourists are not regular customers of a food court, neither are Buakhow visitors.

 

So in short, the cheap charlies are in town.

[SheungWan]

1 hour ago, BestB said:

Some stalls, take a good look around????

 

I did. Its not closed.

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by SheungWan

[SheungWan]

30 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

Tourists are not regular customers of a food court, neither are Buakhow visitors.

So in short, the cheap charlies are in town.

How about the open air food court on Pattaya Klang opposite Leng Kee?

[johng]

I did. Its not closed.
 

I love the "do not parking" sign where everyone parks [emoji39]

[janclaes47]

7 hours ago, SheungWan said:

I did. Its not closed.

 

Wow, doesn't that look busy. NOT

[LomSak27]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

- DAN ABOUT THAILAND 2018-2018-12-19

 Gee its from Dan the man, I bet lots of people are going to believe this ... 

 

[mike787]

Pattaya is a family resort place based on everyones observations the bars are empty and the ladies need support from us farang...good thing Western union is operational...LOL

[maechanman]

Well I wandered down Beach Rd yesterday between 11am and midday then back along the beach in the direction of Walking St.

 

There were hardly any people on the beach until I got to around the Central Rd area where it looked a bit busier but nowhere near what it should be for this time of year.

 

I also noticed that the number of Chinese looked well down this year as compared to recent times, not as many parasailing as usual.

 

 

 

[Nyezhov]

Guess its time for me to head out there and liven things up

[FunkyDunky58]

Slump? What slump? The TAT keeps telling us things are improving! I have friends who visited Pattaya recently and they said it's dead. I've seen a photo of a practically deserted Bangla road in Patong. I went to Hua Hin last week and Soi 80 and Soi Binterban (or however you spell it) had virtually no tourists there. In Cha Am its the same. Saturday night a week before Christmas and its a ghost town. I feel sorry for all the people who depend on the tourist trade. I until recently jointly ran a massage and hairdressing business and have seen takings drop from 400-500k in the high season months to 100-200k over the past 2-3 years. Its dire. I have many friends running guesthouses, bars, restaurants and its the same all over. I don't think things have any chance of improving until Thailand gets out from under the thumb of this unelected Junta government.

[observer90210]

Look at it from the good side....slow business, means more tables available at restaurants, employees will be more attentive to your needs and not overworked, less trafic...makes people a bit more humble and not take foreigners for granted, easier to bargain prices and much more.....

 

......unfortunately many cannot handle good fate, good business and good money. They need a knock on the head to get realistic, more respectful towards foreigners and stop ripping off and cheating the good visitors or retirees who chose to be in Thailand.

[ivor bigun]

We normaly drive through Pattaya,only parking in central etc,but the other day as we have friends here we walked around,although it did not seem dead ,it did not feel like xmas,which is usually a busy time,but just like any other non holiday period. One thing i did notice was central food court is very expensive,especially compared with T21.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[johng]

That is not a photo at 10 pm but 8 pm

Ok if you say so

[fforest1]

Things are bad very bad and I only see them getting worse much worse...Tourist numbers are down profits are down the girls attitudes are the worst ever....The scams and ripoffs are every where..Prices have gone crazy traffic has gone crazy...The Japaneses the Chinese the Indians are taking over.....The best thing that could happen to this hell hole is be hit by a giant Tsunami......

 

I have been coming to Pattaya for 20 years and retired here..

I figure Pattaya is the perfect place for a old bitter farang like me who hates where he is but wont make any changes to improve his own life...

 

Signed....Mr Sunshine

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by fforest1

[Rimmer]

A baiting post has been removed

[Banana7]

Friends in Koh Chang are reporting that this high season has very few farangs and overall, the number of visitors is lowest in the past 5 years.

[dreaming]

On 12/20/2018 at 3:52 AM, janclaes47 said:

Tourists are not regular customers of a food court, neither are Buakhow visitors.

 

So in short, the cheap charlies are in town.

Central festival food court is all tourists. I doubt one single expat would go there. When its packed it means there are heaps of tourists in town

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I'll be back in Pattaya just after New Year's. I deliberately waited until after Christmas/NY because I remember 2 or 3 Christmases ago, in the days running up to the 24th-25th, there were few bar seats to be had in LK Metro. Soi Buakhao and New Plaza were thronged with visitors, granted, lots of Chinese. Retox, Bake n Brew, Benjamit and Loaf were crowded with tourists and expat residents. Based on reports above and in many other threads, I did not have to worry. However, one definitely has to feel bad for all the local bar owners, food vendors and street hawkers.

 

Pattaya has become less and less attractive the last few years, such that I spend very little time there anymore. Will see what feelings this visit brings.   

[5633572526]

Sorry but I never read anything from Dan about so I didn’t see it

[Chivas]

I left on 17th December after a 1 month trip and have never ever seen the city so devoid of Europeans Brits Aussies and Americans at that time of year

98% were Indians Japanese Koreans and naturally Chinese

Bars empty clubs empty with the odd exception

 

Hotel was less than 1/3rd full....Soi 6 being demolished in May 2020 and redeveloped will hardly help

 

 

Edited December 23, 2018 by Chivas

[BestB]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

I left on 17th December after a 1 month trip and have never ever seen the city so devoid of Europeans Brits Aussies and Americans at that time of year

98% were Indians Japanese Koreans and naturally Chinese

Bars empty clubs empty with the odd exception

 

Hotel was less than 1/3rd full....Soi 6 being demolished in May 2020 and redeveloped will hardly help

 

 

I would not believe every rumor you hear. Just like LK Metro was going to be demolished only never happened.

 

Each building is individually owned, and to have it demolished would require for each owner to sell to a developer and i doubt all owners would be in a rush to offload at cheap price.

 

It may well be the plan, but as i said, without purchasing each and every building this plan will not work.

 

May be if cops intervene and close down every bar in the soi, owners would be more willing to sell up, BUT and its a big BUT, cops get nice thick donations from the soi, so developer would have to beat it 10 fold at least;)

[bkk6060]

On 12/22/2018 at 12:03 PM, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

I'll be back in Pattaya just after New Year's. I deliberately waited until after Christmas/NY because I remember 2 or 3 Christmases ago, in the days running up to the 24th-25th, there were few bar seats to be had in LK Metro. Soi Buakhao and New Plaza were thronged with visitors, granted, lots of Chinese. 

You must have been lost??

LK, SB, and New Plaza have never had "lots of Chinese" or really any for that matter. Especially 2 or 3 years ago....

[bkk6060]

4 minutes ago, BestB said:

I would not believe every rumor you hear. Just like LK Metro was going to be demolished only never happened.

 

Each building is individually owned, and to have it demolished would require for each owner to sell to a developer and i doubt all owners would be in a rush to offload at cheap price.

 

It may well be the plan, but as i said, without purchasing each and every building this plan will not work.

 

May be if cops intervene and close down every bar in the soi, owners would be more willing to sell up, BUT and its a big BUT, cops get nice thick donations from the soi, so developer would have to beat it 10 fold at least;)

The government could easily close it down tomorrow no problem.

Especially with the recent and past underage girls caught there. I am sure there is some catch all fine print about morally inappropriate establishments ????

At some point, I bet WS will be left but a watered down version.

In 20 years nothing will be left and there will be a museum displaying photos and a fake gogo bar for tourists to visit.

I hope I am dead by then.

[Henryford]

On 12/19/2018 at 3:37 PM, madmen said:

I think the free beer came to you in a dream. Thai custom is to increase not decrease when going is slow

No not a dream, i got the free beer, but i tipped the waitress 20 baht.

[BestB]

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

The government could easily close it down tomorrow no problem.

Especially with the recent and past underage girls caught there. I am sure there is some catch all fine print about morally inappropriate establishments ????

At some point, I bet WS will be left but a watered down version.

In 20 years nothing will be left and there will be a museum displaying photos and a fake gogo bar for tourists to visit.

I hope I am dead by then.

Police is the government and bar can be closed down , it does not mean they can take away a building from the owner????