Opinion: Pattaya's bar and nightlife image is dead - operators must change or face extinction

[rooster59]

Opinion: Pattaya's bar and nightlife image is dead - operators must change or face extinction

 

Image: PPTV

 

News coming out of Pattaya leaves an inescapable conclusion. 

 

The image of Thailand's number one seaside resort as a place for bars and nightlife is over. 

 

And if bar owners don't accept the reality that they have to change they face the inevitable - going bust.

 

PPTV repeated details contained in other reports quoting Damrongkiet Pinitkarn, secretary of the entertainment and tourism industry association in Pattaya. 

 

Apart from the Indian market it was all doom and gloom - tourism was down up to 40% compared to last year, tourists were increasingly going to competitors like Vietnam where they could get more for their money. 

 

Even the Chinese who are still coming to Pattaya - never great visitors to the bars anyway - are even shunning normal hotels in increasing numbers. 

 

Many are opting to rent houses and pool villas and go in for self-catering, said Damrongkiet. 

 

He suggested that the outlook was bleak and that owners of beer bars, pubs and discos need to reinvent themselves or go under. 

 

It was clear - Pattaya as a hub of nightlife entertainment is no more. There are not enough visitors to support this and the resort needs to change its image or face extinction. 

 

Damrongkiet - apart from mentioning Indian visitors - did mention one crumb of comfort. 

 

Plans to develop the Eastern Economic Corridor could see tourists return in the future. 

 

But with infrastructure like the high speed train and improvements to local transport not coming until at least 2023 it remains to be seen if businesses in Pattaya can survive before things improve.

 

For many unable to weather the storm it will be adjust now or die.

 

Source: PPTV

 

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[scubascuba3]

This sounds like it's been written by a barfly expat annoyed at beer and girl prices

[4MyEgo]

Change, oh no, "lose of face" is not changeable, it's inbuilt ! ! !

 

If they had any business sense, they could have a happy hour discounted drinks, even buy one get one free, but nope, it's all about going for the lot, then going bust.

[WalkingOrders]

I don't ever go out anymore , but were the deckchairs usually full at night?

[z42]

There are plenty of bars and clubs that do just fine. The baht will not stay as strong forever.

Sex sells, always has and always will. But for sure some of the bars and clubs that don't change their M.O probably will fold first

[Puchaiyank]

Pattaya's decline must be confusing for young underage girls being pushed by their parents to go forth and send back money...

[Nyezhov]

Guess I need to go there one last time.

[tlandtday]

Development of the eastern corridor with unregulated industry will do nothing but chase real tourists away due to china like pollution who are they kidding?

[RedPill]

I don't understand ... 5 years of 'Family Resort' messaging & efforts and now bar's and nightlife not up?

 

Why? Isn't this inline with the message/plan? This should be positive to all and a mission accomplished

 

The only thing still missing is the demolishing of the right side of Walking Street, as there were talks about just 3 years back.

 

 

 

 

 

[bkk6060]

There are too many bars just like there are too many restaurants.

Even on crowded weekends, walk past one crowded bar and 3 that are not.

Just like there are over 12,000 housing units for sale.

The place went mad from over building.

Most residents I know however do not care about any of this as they have their bars and consistent list of girls they see.  Most if not all rarely go to the identified "entertainment areas".

[sunnyboy2018]

22 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Pattaya's decline must be confusing for young underage girls being pushed by their parents to go forth and send back money...

Not many people need pushing out of the hell that is village life. The cities function as a liberating experience for the girls and they benefit enormously,  as do we. Your comment regarding underage girls is nonsense.  Pattaya nightlife is highly policed. Unlike the in the UK where child sex abuse has gone unhindered,  with the knowledge of the police for decades. Start by googling Rotherham.

[sunnyboy2018]

21 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Guess I need to go there one last time.

555 You know it makes sense!

[sunnyboy2018]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Change, oh no, "lose of face" is not changeable, it's inbuilt ! ! !

 

If they had any business sense, they could have a happy hour discounted drinks, even buy one get one free, but nope, it's all about going for the lot, then going bust.

There are loads of happy hours and two for one places! Have you ever been to Pattaya?

[RedPill]

7 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

There are loads of happy hours and two for one places! Have you ever been to Pattaya?

Not the point, the big picture is much bigger and more clear 

 

Question should be: Have you been to Pattaya 10 years ago compared to today ... then you see, everyone can see.

 

 

[DannyCarlton]

13 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

There are loads of happy hours and two for one places! Have you ever been to Pattaya?

Two for one places where you are charged twice the price for one beer and get the second one for free....whether you want it or not. Billabong and Triangle spring to mind. Rip off.

[sunnyboy2018]

The vileness of the music in most Pattaya bars combined with the non stop footie is just awful. No wonder people party at home! Every bar in Pattaya seems to want to be a sports bar combined with nightclub playing the worst MTV and VHM dance chart hits. Pattaya must have the worst music of any city in the world. I do not want to hear torture chamber Techno and banging house where a foul mouthed MC screams:' Get your f*****g hand up b***h b***h b***h! Face down A*** up cos thats the way were gonna <deleted>! This rape music, hip hop, rap  balkan beat, UDM, EDM and the curse of Electro pop reduces virtually every single bar to a cacophony of conformism. Just brainless. Mindless. Unoriginal.  Low intelligence. It panders to the lowest common denominator of taste and intelligence. I think the multi beer bar courts have had their day too. The model does not work anymore.

[RedPill]

3 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

The vileness of the music in most Pattaya bars combined with the non stop footie is just awful. No wonder people party at home! Every bar in Pattaya seems to want to be a sports bar combined with nightclub playing the worst MTV and VHM dance chart hits. Pattaya must have the worst music of any city in the world. I do not want to hear torture chamber Techno and banging house where a foul mouthed MC screams:' Get your f*****g hand up b***h b***h b***h! Face down A*** up cos thats the way were gonna <deleted>! This rape music, hip hop, rap  balkan beat, UDM, EDM and the curse of Electro pop reduces virtually every single bar to a cacophony of conformism. Just brainless. Mindless. Unoriginal.  Low intelligence. It panders to the lowest common denominator of taste and intelligence. I think the multi beer bar courts have had their day too. The model does not work anymore.

Some truth in that also ...

 

[sunnyboy2018]

12 minutes ago, RedPill said:

Not the point, the big picture is much bigger and more clear 

 

Question should be: Have you been to Pattaya 10 years ago compared to today ... then you see, everyone can see.

 

 

Not the point! I was replying to 4MyEgo who did not seem aware of that which he was suggesting as a new idea already existed.

[Ron jeremy]

20 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

There are loads of happy hours and two for one places! Have you ever been to Pattaya?

Who the <deleted> wants to go on vacation and sit beside a bunch of 70 year old drunks that are staring into space?

perhaps other 70 year old drunks staring into space?

i guess the place is dead!

[madmen]

17 minutes ago, RedPill said:

Not the point, the big picture is much bigger and more clear 

 

Question should be: Have you been to Pattaya 10 years ago compared to today ... then you see, everyone can see.

 

 

see what? Bars have been closing and opening all the time. Im here right now and its pumping . I would like to see an admission from all the posters on this thread as to where they are right now..any takers?  Easy to be sitting in some dump of a town in the sticks and pretend your adding value to this topic

 

I could care less about Pattaya as I live in Bangkok so dont have a dog in this fight but Im just reporting what I see. All the baht buses are full and beach rd jammed up with tourists, same with walking st and soi Buhakao

 

The recent fire at the Holiday inn reported 400 bookings ..doesn't sound dead to me 

[Destiny1990]

Just demolish the whole place and transform it in a beautiful seaside park/ marina.

Now its already a ghost town !

[Destiny1990]

5 minutes ago, madmen said:

see what? Bars have been closing and opening all the time. Im here right now and its pumping . I would like to see an admission from all the posters on this thread as to where they are right now..any takers?  Easy to be sitting in some dump of a town in the sticks and pretend your adding value to this topic

 

I could care less about Pattaya as I live in Bangkok so dont have a dog in this fight but Im just reporting what I see. All the baht buses are full and beach rd jammed up with tourists, same with walking st and soi Buhakao

 

The recent fire at the Holiday inn reported 400 bookings ..doesn't sound dead to me 

I saw 20 “hotel guests” standing  outside during the Holiday inn fire.

[sunnyboy2018]

8 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Two for one places where you are charged twice the price for one beer and get the second one for free....whether you want it or not. Billabong and Triangle spring to mind. Rip off.

1) Its not a rip off. Nobody forces you or any other adult to drink there. 2) Whether YOU want it or not  most people go there to take advantage of the offer and do not wish to have 'just one beer'. 3) The Ibar sells imported bottled beer for 39 baht. These are not rip offs these are consumer choices. 4) There are plenty of bars where drinks are modestly priced, service is good and entertainment is free. There are just too many bars that are characterless. Its not all down to money.

[RedPill]

14 minutes ago, madmen said:

see what? Bars have been closing and opening all the time. Im here right now and its pumping . I would like to see an admission from all the posters on this thread as to where they are right now..any takers?  Easy to be sitting in some dump of a town in the sticks and pretend your adding value to this topic

 

I could care less about Pattaya as I live in Bangkok so dont have a dog in this fight but Im just reporting what I see. All the baht buses are full and beach rd jammed up with tourists, same with walking st and soi Buhakao

 

The recent fire at the Holiday inn reported 400 bookings ..doesn't sound dead to me 

It's imminent and very obvious that bars are slowly but steadily are closing ... it's a declining business. 

That also duo to the fact the girls are smarting up these days ... they also don't want to sit there all night long.

They go online and catch a lot whatever they want, to their own terms. It's a shift in business.

 

Looks what's left in sitting in the bars? Overall? Compared to a few years back?

 

Similar to a Kodak, Video rental shops etc. Time moves on.

 

Today we Netflix and download the girls online ????

 

Of course there always have been closing and openings, non stop. But not in this shift.

 

Go to Rompho market in Jomtien ... for the past 3+ years, you can week after week witness and count the bars closing from back to front.

 

Soi Buhakoa ... did you check 'Action Street' lately?

 

Complete areas are shut down slowly.

 

There are a lot, no need to go into details. Look at the bigger picture.

 

Compare a few years back to today.

 

 

 

[Skallywag]

10 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

Who the <deleted> wants to go on vacation and sit beside a bunch of 70 year old drunks that are staring into space?

perhaps other 70 year old drunks staring into space?

i guess the place is dead!

Hemingways was packed last night, (northern soul pattaya fund raiser)

Am only 62, but a lot of older gals and guys dancing to the Motown sound, nobody staring into space 555

Yet if you walk down Soi Buakhao at almost anytime in the afternoon, you can see many staring into space behind a bottle of Chang.

[madmen]

5 minutes ago, RedPill said:

Go to Rompho market in Jomtien ... for the past 3+ years, you can week after week witness and count the bars closing from back to front.

 

Soi Buhakoa ... did you check 'Action Street' lately?

Rompho and Action st are <deleted> locations and have been dying since opening. Why would anyone go to those bar complexes? You couldn't have picked 2 worst examples. Rompho must have a 50 bars, who the hell thought that would succeed in sleepy jomtien !! and action st looks like a car park 

[DannyCarlton]

7 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Whether YOU want it or not  most people go there to take advantage of the offer and do not wish to have 'just one beer'.

So if you want 3 beers in the Triangle you pay for 4 beers. I call that a rip off. Many tourists go in there not realising the terms and conditions of the bar and feel ripped off when they pay their tab.

[RedPill]

2 minutes ago, madmen said:

Rompho and Action st are <deleted> locations and have been dying since opening. Why would anyone go to those bar complexes? You couldn't have picked 2 worst examples. Rompho must have a 50 bars, who the hell thought that would succeed in sleepy jomtien !! and action st looks like a car park 

 ... Rompho was a great time to be had for many years ... it's just a bar complex as all the others, exactly the same as Pattaya bar complexes ... a bar, a pool table, some chicks, some music and drinks. 

 

Why bad examples, what are we talking about here then? ????

 

They are all looking exactly the same thing, wherever you go.

 

What's the difference?

 

They are mostly empty these days and have ugly girls in there hanging behind a mobile phone

 

 

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

This sounds like it's been written by a barfly expat annoyed at beer and girl prices

Agree.

And BTW tourism in Pattaya is certainly not 40% down ! 

The writer just wrote this BS after reading in another article

that some nightclubs said their number of customers was down 40%.

It's very different! And probably comes from a not well managed venue...

There are discos in Pattaya who right now make very good business 

[Skallywag]

26 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

The vileness of the music in most Pattaya bars combined with the non stop footie is just awful.....Every bar in Pattaya seems to want to be a sports bar combined with nightclub playing the worst MTV and VHM dance chart hits. Pattaya must have the worst music of any city in the world.

No every bar - some have live music that is tolerable and not blasting. 

But agree most bars I would not visit as the music is annoying and too loud

Seems many of the beer bars on second road, soi made in thailand, and soi buakhao have had a new coat of paint or even had their bar stools recovered in 20 years.

Some "hostesses" look like they have been there for 20 years as well  555

Looking very tired and unwelcoming.