Entertainment tourism: Pattaya for Europeans is over - 30% down this year, official

[spoon1967]

9 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Sex tourism is not something the new generation is so keen on anywhere.

Thais or Expats /visitors

[Bastos60]

9 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Sex tourism is not something the new generation is so keen on anywhere.

i wasn't keen on sex tourism either before the age of 40. I was actually pretty disgusted with the thai sex tourism before the age of 36, I even never considered going there on holiday. I ended up there just on pure coincidence because there were no cheap flights to the Caribbean and took a gamble going to Thailand. 

The strength of the Thai baht is really hurting Europeans,  Holidays to LOS have become 40% more expensive,  on my first trips the average exchange rate was on average 48 baht, on my last trip it was 35 baht and it is going towards 32 baht to the euro by end of the year. Last year I already predicted it going to be near 29 baht during the next 5 years (now 4 years), so that is become pretty real. 

 

 

[marcusarelus]

1 minute ago, Bastos60 said:

i wasn't keen on sex tourism either before the age of 40. I was actually pretty disgusted with the thai sex tourism before the age of 36, I even never considered going there on holiday. I ended up there just on pure coincidence because there were no cheap flights to the Caribbean and took a gamble going to Thailand. 

The strength of the Thai baht is really hurting Europeans,  Holidays to LOS have become 40% more expensive,  on my first trips the average exchange rate was on average 48 baht, on my last trip it was 35 baht and it is going towards 32 baht to the euro by end of the year. Last year I already predicted it going to be near 29 baht during the next 5 years (now 4 years), so that is become pretty real. 

You talking about the $dollar?  Do you have a prediction service?  

[brewsterbudgen]

Are we surprised about that? This is the result of many year of policy and repression against the sex industries. Let's talk clear: in Pattaya we came for just a single reason and we well know what it is. 
All the rest of the entertainment, shopping centers amusement sites and so on.... are just a side dish. Obviously it also has something to do with the strong Baht, the high food pricing in supermarket specially the imported food (despite the strong Baht) etc.. 

"Repression against the sex industries"? Last time I looked there was still lots of sex on offer. Raids and clamp-downs are nothing new.

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[Bastos60]

57 minutes ago, mindfulness said:

the Show is Over Folks, welcome to Vietnam where your $ £ & € will go further. 

They also have ‘entertainment’. 

the last what I have heard was that entertainment was far more expensive then Thailand.

[ThomasThBKK]

https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-embassy-warns-passengers-of-jail-fine-for-e-cigarettes-1.1562670799388

 

Don't worry, arabs will stop coming soon too then we outnumber them again 

 ????

[marcusarelus]

1 minute ago, Kim J said:

Where are you going now? The thread is about European visitors this year, not Brit's two years ago!!

Incidentally the UK makes up less than 10% of the population of Europe, so again to imply that this years 30% drop in numbers currently being discussed is due to the Baht - GBP exchange rate two years ago is utterly delusional.

No it doesn't.  European tourism is off because of a decline in the Euro and the pound together.  Lets say three years ago 100 Brits vacationed in Pattaya.  Two years ago 50 and this year 20.  The rest are from other parts of Europe or he might have meant European descent.    

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

"Repression against the sex industries"? Last time I looked there was still lots of sex on offer. Raids and clamp-downs are nothing new.

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Last I remember was Thaksin making the go go's put tops on.  How many years ago was that?  

[spoon1967]

Lots of good and bad comments on this thread, one regarding the nightmare of owning a Condo that turns into a hotel for Chinese tourists, hence I will never buy, I will always rent - it gets bad, move.

 

Yes Pattaya had changed, you must move with the times, Soi7 and 8 were my all day and night drinking places 12 years ago, now it's New Plaza, Bukhoew, MIT, the odd visit to LK, Soi 6 and Diana, I'm more than happy to wonder around.  

 

As for the Indians and Chinese, they're not big spenders in the 'bar scene" , they sit on 6 in groups with a bottle of water, often brought with them, don't know why the staff don't move them on. The Chinese, will never do the bar scene, they come in tour groups with family, they'll walk around but I don't see any in the main bar areas drinking.  

 

The places mentioned above are the "new" expat Soi 7, 8 and Walking street, for us older guys anyway.

 

I still love the place, not as many young beauties as before, but plenty if you look, always the odd diamond sitting in a quiet bar somewhere.

[roadrunner32]

8 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

"Repression against the sex industries"? Last time I looked there was still lots of sex on offer. Raids and clamp-downs are nothing new.

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Of course the sex offer is not completely over, and it never will be luckily But nothing to do, with what it was years ago. Don't trust of the appearances, Pattaya has changed a lot

[Hans Donnerborg]

Strong Thai currency as cause. Well, yes, part of the explanation.
But an explanation for me is also sterile soulless concrete buildings.
The lifeless streets you create in the capital when you remove the human aspect, the stalls.
I don't travel 10000 km's to look at concrete, I can see that at home.
Then there are things that have not been mentioned, at least not much.
Modern leftist beliefs and educational values.
Chinese tourists are evidence of systematized social perception on the left. Here is Sin City no go.
Moralizing attitudes and values in eg. Europe for decades has begun to make its mark. Men are no longer men; but something softly educationally influenced. In such mentalities, Sin City is also no go.
We see homosexuals in many places in Europe. The modern pedagogy means that many boys do not develop into something that knows how to handle women.

[brewsterbudgen]

Of course the sex offer is not completely over, and it never will be luckily But nothing to do, with what it was years ago. Don't trust of the appearances, Pattaya has changed a lot

Sure it's changed. I first started going there in 2005 and the old timers were moaning it had changed for the worse. Plus ça change, plus c'est même chose. Excuse my French.

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[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that compared to last year there are between 20 and 30% less tourists this low season.  

 

He said that it was obvious to anyone - beer bars, nightclubs, pubs and other bars were all but empty

At last the truth is out, we've been saying it for months, the baht value & Pattayas flogged to death bars have had their day... tourists are looking for more for less money elsewhere.

Thaiand you shot yourselves in the foot... even the bar girls are jumping ship & going to other Asian countries to ply their trade!

[Inn Between]

Assuming the Thai (i.e. reverse) approach to the rules of supply and demand are being applied, prices must be skyrocketing for goods and services at Pattaya's entertainment venues. We all know it's the responsibility of the few tourists who come to make up the difference for the many who are wisely staying away. 

[Roy Baht]

5 hours ago, NightSky said:

I believe the rulers are striving for, i.e...

 

- to clean up Thailand's image

- to attract only wealthier tourists (higher quality, fewer numbers)

- to increase the overall wealth of Thais

- to increase tax collection and reporting

 

The problem is how they are addressing these issues will only lead to the rich Thais getting richer and the poor getting poorer etc.

 

"Rich Thais getting richer and the poor getting poorer" isn't a bug, it's a feature.  It's not "the problem," it's the goal. The rest is just window dressing.

[sead]

And guess who is going to look for a new work......

[marcusarelus]

1 hour ago, BestB said:

What kind of silly question is that? Of course he knows more . He does not live in Pattaya but comes over once a month to do some shopping so he is an expert on how many Chinese there are and how busy Pattaya really is.

 

Beats other experts who are in UK telling us how busy Pattaya really is ????????

Kim wrote, "My own observations would put the more traditional Pattaya sex tourists in a very small minority currently." I asked him how many.  

 

I made no comment on how many sex tourists were in Pattaya this low season.  In general over the past two years shopping and dining and what not I've observed that the majority of Brits left a couple of years ago as evidenced by not seeing them dining and shopping where they used to dine and shop.  

[Krataiboy]

2 hours ago, adammike said:

You also need to understand that smoking is not tolerated anymore not just by the authorities but the population in general, they need to enforce the no smoking in public places not relax them.

I don't claim, as you do, to know what "the population in general, " feels on the subject of smoking in public places (Presumably, you can cite some Thai statistics to back up your claim?).

 

Notwithstanding, I have a sneaking sympathy for smokers - addicted to a drug as powerfully addictive as heroin - in a country like Thailand, where the alternative of vaping has been banned along with smoking in public places (and at home, if current Government proposals are implemented).

 

The great outdoors is the last refuge of a dying  - often literally, slowly - breed of drug addicts who deserve to be treated with the same humanity and understanding as people hooked on "hard" drugs like heroin and cocaine.

[Uptooyoo]

11 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Sex tourism is not something the new generation is so keen on anywhere.

These days young people would rather stay home and watch porn...no effort needed, no need to socialize. Instant gratification.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Uptooyoo

[kingdong]

10 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

Would new leadership of the Entertainment Industry and Tourism Association of Pattaya help turn things around?

 

- Jeffery Epstein

 

 

 

probably not,but getting the pound back to 75 baht=£1 would be a step in the right direction.

Edited July 11, 2019 by kingdong
spelling error

[BestB]

11 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Kim wrote, "My own observations would put the more traditional Pattaya sex tourists in a very small minority currently." I asked him how many.  

 

I made no comment on how many sex tourists were in Pattaya this low season.  In general over the past two years shopping and dining and what not I've observed that the majority of Brits left a couple of years ago as evidenced by not seeing them dining and shopping where they used to dine and shop.  

Oh do tell how you determine who is a Brit and who is not? And also explain how you arrived at majority ? What were your measuring methods?

[wisperone]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Many are just there to look and some doubt whether Indians have the spending power to make a difference.

What happened to the "Rich Indians" touted in last weeks article?

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, BestB said:

Oh do tell how you determine who is a Brit and who is not? And also explain how you arrived at majority ? What were your measuring methods?

1.  Listening to them talk.  2.  If the Hopf was filled with people speaking with British accents one year and the next year filled with Asian people not speaking English one can assume there has been a change in clientele.  The Hopf is not a very wide place and as you walk back to the toilet it is easy to hear the people talking.  

 

The Hopf seats a couple of hundred people and is a good indicator of what ethnic groups are in town.  

 

Just wondering, did you ask Kim how he figured the sex tourists were in a small minority now?   

Edited July 11, 2019 by marcusarelus

[kingdong]

1 hour ago, Bastos60 said:

the last what I have heard was that entertainment was far more expensive then Thailand.

£64 l/t all in in vietnam,2000 baht 500 b/f thailand same same

[Traubert]

1 hour ago, BestB said:

What kind of silly question is that? Of course he knows more . He does not live in Pattaya but comes over once a month to do some shopping so he is an expert on how many Chinese there are and how busy Pattaya really is.

 

Beats other experts who are in UK telling us how busy Pattaya really is ????????

It's pretty much the same as some expert telling us that Chinese tour groups haven't devolved into FIT's as the Pattaya tourist chief, and the travel agent guy who posts on here, plus myself who travels with them stated.

 

That particular expert who sneered at the very idea, despite eyesight evidence on multiple occasions, not four weeks ago seems to have forgotten that fact and continues to sneer at others.

 

TIT.

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, BestB said:

Oh do tell how you determine who is a Brit and who is not? And also explain how you arrived at majority ? What were your measuring methods?

My Brit pals who used to holiday in Pattaya now holiday in Phnom Penh.

[brewsterbudgen]

My Brit pals who used to holiday in Pattaya now holiday in Phnom Penh.

They'll be back. Phnom Penh is really a shit-hole, although the new Secrets is helping things improve.

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[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, Traubert said:

It's pretty much the same as some expert telling us that Chinese tour groups haven't devolved into FIT's as the Pattaya tourist chief, and the travel agent guy who posts on here, plus myself who travels with them stated.

 

That particular expert who sneered at the very idea, despite eyesight evidence on multiple occasions, not four weeks ago seems to have forgotten that fact and continues to sneer at others.

 

TIT.

I never said how busy Pattaya was now or anything about Chinese tour groups devolving into FIT's you must be talking about someone else.  If you want to bash me kindly provide a quote.  

[CNXexpat]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

I have noticed a lot more Chinese independent travellers, people who book their own flights and hotels.

 

This is in Hua Hin, things are changing. The Chinese appear to go on holiday all year round instead of just the winter high season months.

 

They seem to be keeping the place afloat. These Chinese are nothing like those who came before them on the package tours.

Same in Chiang Mai. And they never sleep in cheap hostels or dorms. Always in the better hostels and hotels. They eat at local restaurants and spend a lot of money. And you never see them drunk. 

[Rocking Robert]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Pattaya only ever had sex to offer, the beach is dirty and the sea is disgusting.

Da Nang has no sex on offer, the beach is beautiful and the sea is clean.

 

And they keep adding new golf courses