Video: Pattaya ghost town...Coronavirus decimates tourism as staff go home for high season

[webfact]

Video: Pattaya ghost town...Coronavirus decimates tourism as staff go home for high season

 

Thai caption: Businesses close - monthly salaries cut

 

A video posted on YouTube by Thai media 77kaoded showed the terrible state of tourism in Pattaya in the wake of the Chinese not travelling due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

 

Despite it being a beautiful, breezy day of clear skies down on the Eastern Seaboard there was barely a tourist in sight. 

 

And this was supposed to be high season.

 

Sohotown - usually bustling with Chinese tourists spending money - was all but deserted. 

 

There were just a few stragglers down at Pattaya port and the pier wondering where everyone had got to. 

 

Picture: 77kaoded

 

Kilometers of pristine sand laid down especially for the tourists was empty. There were just a couple of farangs on the beach spoilt for choice for where to sit down.

 

Except there was no one to service them 

 

Great rows of beach loungers - usually filled with people enjoying the weather and the seafood - were almost completely bereft of people. 

 

A solitary pigeon waddled about for scraps - but there were none. 

 

Chinese lanterns fluttered in the light wind - a reminder that the Chinese Year of the Rat will likely be remembered for a rat that jumped ship. 

 

In the bay, lonely speedboats for Koh Larn were lapped by the waters - their owners were not even there.

 

Guide Kritthisak Kanlomsumaso, 45, said it was terrible for him and other guides. Many had just gone home as there was nothing to do. 

 

Businesses like restaurants that cater to Chinese tour groups were paying staff half wages. 

 

Some had sent their staff home for a month as well. 

 

Hotels that cater to the Chinese were all but empty. 

 

High season in Pattaya was nothing more than a ghost town. 

 

77kaoded said this was all because of the travel restrictions placed by the Chinese government on their citizens after the outbreak of the coronavirus. 

 

Source: 77kaoded

 

 

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[khwaibah]

No BF and ST&LT at rock bottom.????

[bluesofa]

7 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

No BF and ST&LT at rock bottom.????

Does that make it a buyer's market - or will the logic state that the price has now tripled to make up for the lack of victims?

 

[NCC1701A]

i hope all my girlfriends are OK on Soi 6.

 

 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Does that make it a buyer's market - or will the logic state that the price has now tripled to make up for the lack of victims?

 

Free samples on offer...............

[bendejo]

If they keep calling it a ghost town the Chinese are going to be afraid to go there.

 

 

 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

i hope all my girlfriends are OK on Soi 6.

 

 

The three that remember you are all asking for the money you promised you would send......

[shadowofacloud]

They should try promoting it as an adventure tourism destination, sorta like trips to Chernobyl.

 

Dress the bar girls as mutants, the ladyboys as giant coronaviruses and ferry tourists around in armored cars.

[Jane Dough]

14 minutes ago, shadowofacloud said:

They should try promoting it as an adventure tourism destination, sorta like trips to Chernobyl.

 

Dress the bar girls as mutants, the ladyboys as giant coronaviruses and ferry tourists around in armored cars.

I think you are onto something there.

 

Contact the TAT on their "Durian Kit-Kat" hotline.

 

Rooster

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

A solitary pigeon waddled about for scraps - but there were none.

I find it hard to believe things could get this bad! Who's eating the scraps then?

[JomtienRay]

There are plenty of farang tourists in Jomtien.. 

[tifino]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

state of tourism in Pattaya in the wake of the Chinese not travelling due to the coronavirus outbreak

or? - in reality:

... (state of tourism in Pattaya in the wake of the Chinese not travelling due to) it 

[Rimmer]

Off topic removed

[Beggar]

Just sit down somewhere and relax with some cool Corona Extra beer. Just look for signs where you can get Corona. 

[chiman]

Serves them right, they were too afraid to make it safe by blocking tourist who were potentially going to carry the virus.  

 

If they had done the smart thing at more or less the right time, making Thailand a safe zone for people, then people would be coming and out spending money.  

[Genericnic]

This is what happens when a large part of your economy is tied to a one trick pony and the pony comes up lame. 

 

David

[CNXexpat]

Beside the fact that the beaches are not empty because the Chinese don´t come - they prefer white skin and never lay on the beach - it´s really bad for the Thais working in restaurants, hotels, etc. Many of them lose their jobs.

[Brigante7]

It's a buyers market out there. A case of Corona is half price but it's delivered by a chinese guy so you take your chances.

 

 

 

Brigante7.

[Gweiloman]

This just goes to show what most people have known all along - it as the Chinese tourists keeping the tourism industry in Pattaya afloat. 
 

The typical expat does not venture out on a daily basis and even if they did, their spending is minuscule on the overall scheme of things. The number of visiting sexpats have also been dropping over the years and not helped by the depreciation of their own currency. 
 

For businesses able to hang in there, it will recover once the whole crisis blows over. Sadly though, I don’t think many can survive but they will be replaced by others when the time is right. 

[bender92]

4 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

i hope all my girlfriends are OK on Soi 6.

 

 

You spelled boyfriends wrong.

[Georgie65]

It's Gods will... LM<deleted>AO!!!!!!

[GaryAdriaenssens]

So it's only that evil virus that causes this....? Just wondering..... ????

[Leaver]

3 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

it as the Chinese tourists keeping the tourism industry in Pattaya afloat.

Don't you mean they stopped the sinking ship from sinking quicker?

 

4 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

The typical expat does not venture out on a daily basis and even if they did, their spending is minuscule on the overall scheme of things. 

I disagree.  Chinese tourists do not buy property, cars, motorbikes, TV's, white good etc.  They don't do week shops at Big C, for example.  They don't have a Thai partner, which is usually supported by the expat, which in turn supports a family in Issan.  They don't have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank, or bring in 65,000 baht a month, every month. 

 

An expat is a 24/7/365 part of the Thai economy, not a 2 week part of the tourism industry. 

 

8 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

For businesses able to hang in there, it will recover once the whole crisis blows over.

Recover to what benchmark?  2010, 2012, 2014? 

 

9 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Sadly though, I don’t think many can survive but they will be replaced by others when the time is right. 

Even the ones that can survive, are selling.  The "time will not be right" in the future because Thailand has out priced itself in the South East Asia tourism market.

 

Yes, the Chinese and Indian package holiday market will bounce back, but for westerners, the writing is on the wall here.

[GeorgeCross]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Despite it being a beautiful, breezy day of clear skies down on the Eastern Seaboard there was barely a tourist in sight. 

 

errr, have another look at those pictures - it was a horrible smoggy day with AQI up over 150.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by GeorgeCross

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Leaver said:

An expat is a 24/7/365 part of the Thai economy, not a 2 week part of the tourism industry. 

Although would you say 26x 2week tourists, spend more than one Expat? Or it is simply easier to get many more tourists?

[spiekerjozef]

So this means the low season has officially started?

[alex8912]

5 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

errr, have another look at those pictures - it was a horrible smoggy day with AQI up over 150.

 

 

 

 

Exactly. And they only mention pristine sand and left out absolutely filthy sea water. 

[RotBenz8888]

Condo market hysterical as usual?

[MaxLee]

8 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

So this means the low season has officially started?

Not so loud, or our leaders will slip in more Chinese tourists though proxy scans to make up for the tourist revenue numbers 

[outsider]

There ya go dear Great Esteemed Leader. Keep your borders open and continue to welcome the Chinese.