Pattaya: City reveals plans for Walking Street - major "mall" style makeover for Thailand's "world class resort"

[bodga]

6 hours ago, Silent Number said:

Bats for the kids.

Thatll  have the Chinese  flooding in!

[Burma Bill]

6 hours ago, redwood1 said:

This picture gives walking street a computer game look....

Yes, possibly for slot machine arcades, casinos etc. for the Chinese!!

[chang1]

21 minutes ago, geisha said:

No one can deny that Pattaya is a dirty ugly traffic over-run  city. All it needs is redoing the roads, nice wide pavements , good lighting, hide those monstrous wires and a total ban on car parking . Total. No buses, motorbikes nothing. Tree lined avenues. A police presence for ambulances  and emergency.
 This would  be cheap to carry out , would change the sleazy  look immediately without changing the businesses run there. Whole cities like this have been changed all over the world. Simple, and looks nice.

"Whole cities like this have been changed all over the world." So why fly to somewhere that is the same as everywhere else? Spain is cheaper and closer.

After my first trip to Thailand, in 2000, I talked about and showed my mates pictures of, the Spaghetti wires, dodgey pavements and other such differences to what is normal in the UK. Shopping did not get a mention. What you describe, as your ideal, to me sounds utterly bland - not somewhere I would travel half way around the world to see.

[randy723]

now all the farang will leave Thailand and go to Fields Ave. where they have a great walking street. and do not have a dictator who knows nothing about running a country

[Buck Slapalot]

That "mall" style, with loads of A Go Go´s.????

[tonysilly]

This is silly.  how about clean beaches.  safe environment and no scams. how about you take care off the tourist??? who needs another mall??? sane same.  the Chinese, Arabs and the Indians in pattaya are going to love the new Mall.  only because it will have a clean toilet for them to <deleted> on.  

[Nanaplaza666]

6 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Should make a proper tourist attraction just like Amsterdam with the windows 

So you can go visit the girl in her room for only 15 minutese for 2000baht ??? No more barfine and longtime ??? All the windows empty because they are out for longtime ??? No more go go's ??? I think your missing the whole point of pattaya , i geuss you better visit Amsterdam in stead of pattaya if you want something like that . Thousands of people walking around making pictures of the girls like it's a frickin zoo . Amsterdam is also not what it was anymore in the good old days . Don't try to change something that works quit well for decades already , maybe just give it a small facelift so it's presentable in daytime as well and there's something to do in the daytime as well as in the nighttime that's all it needs . 

[morrobay]

3 hours ago, bendejo said:

You got it, just like what happened to NYC's Times Square. 

Compare the way it is now to an old Kojak episode, or "Taxi Driver."  Now it's practically an open source piece of Disneyland.

 

 

And the lower East side after gentrification. Glad I saw Tompkins square before.

[kwonitoy]

He stressed that any makeover must ensure that the "special smell and flavor" of Walking Street must be maintained.

 

If you could find the formula for that special smell why you'd be rich beyond your dreams. Bottle it and sell it worldwide

[newnative]

Bury the wires, keep the overhead canopy thing, work on the god-awful ugly, tacky entrance area, and bulldoze that horrible city structure near the entrance. 

[Knocker33]

They should just leave Pattaya alone and build their upmarket family resort down the coast a bit. People forget what made Pattaya in the first place now all they do is slag it down.I f you don’t like it don’t go and certainly don’t winge about living there. You know what is was like when you moved there

[Pedrogaz]

Yippee, more overpriced shopping malls. I'm sure that will bring the tourists rushing to get in.

[johnray]

I don't think I would get in to ''Whopper City'' any more.

[overherebc]

42 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

They just want non sleazy tourists who stay in approved hotels and go to approved attractions.

Bugis street and Johore spring to mind.

[geisha]

So a lot of you think that Pattaya , as it is today , can only exist and thrive because of the sex trade ?? Think again. 

[newnative]

16 minutes ago, Knocker33 said:

They should just leave Pattaya alone and build their upmarket family resort down the coast a bit. People forget what made Pattaya in the first place now all they do is slag it down.I f you don’t like it don’t go and certainly don’t winge about living there. You know what is was like when you moved there

They're already building their 'upmarket family resort'--but up the coast a bit in the north Pattaya, Naklua, and Wong Amat areas.  

[tribalfusion001]

4 minutes ago, geisha said:

So a lot of you think that Pattaya , as it is today , can only exist and thrive because of the sex trade ?? Think again. 

The Chinese came to look at the sleaze in tour groups, the Indians came to find cheap sex, the Arabs came to find cheap sex, the westerners came because they know they can get cheap sex, the Russians came to get drunk on the beach, backpackers never came because it was sleazy. That leaves the Thai's who come for a day trip to the beach from BKK.

[jkcjag]

Why the need to do anything...the place is packed already. There are already enough shopping malls that probably don’t generate as much revenue as Walking Street...

How about convert the malls into nightlife areas instead if they want more revenue. 

Why can’t they just accept that Pattaya is NOT a world class FAMILY resort, and give up trying to make it one when it’s not necessary...there are plenty of other places in Thailand for families, but only one Pattaya. Many non “family tourists and expats” need the opposite of anywhere that is dominated by families.

[Jenkins9039]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

special smell and flavor

<deleted> and <deleted> then?

[spidermike007]

Thailand has been striving to reach the higher end market for years now. 10 or 15 years ago far more affluent tourists used to come here. The vast majority never returned. Why? A dozen good reasons. They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, many in this region, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine service and selection at fair prices, which rich tourists demand), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned. Rich tourists like to spend money when they travel. And they cannot do that here, as they do not like getting taken for a ride. Most wealthy people are smart with their money. Thailand could be making a fortune on a 25% luxury tax. Instead of the 100% of more, which discourages most people from buying. How many people do you see in the luxury stores here? They are almost always completely empty. Inane. Beyond inane. 

 

The Western tourists started to decline in number, and the genius minds at the TAT decided it was time to "lure" the Chinese and Indians. And they came. They came in droves. But, they did not spend much money. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, jewelers, galleries, spas, massage shops, bars, and countless other businesses suffered, and will continue to suffer from this extreme myopia, on the part of the officials in charge of tourism. Oh well. Can't say they were not warned. Low baht tourists are perhaps the majority who visit Thailand now. Sure, they spend some money in restaurants, and in 7/11. But, that is about it, for some of the super low budget Chinese tours. Not many rich Chinese are not visiting Thailand, for a dozen good reasons. They have too many other options.

 

Quantity over quality is never a good thing, unless you are selling one dollar items at a swap meet. It just lowers the quality of the experience for all. This is an emergency situation. It needs to be dealt with, and it needs a high degree of intelligence and competence. Not something Prayuth or Pipat possess. Someone else needs to handle this, and it needs to be handled yesterday! The neighbors are trying too hard, and making too much effort, and investing money. Thailand is not. It is a real shame, as I find most Thai people to be quite lovely, friendly, warm, helpful and fun to be around. 

 

But a perfect storm has now beset Thai tourism – emerging nearby tourist markets, a high baht, the US-China trade wars and ongoing fallout from the Phuket Boat Tragedy, declining air quality, no improvement of the horrendous traffic safety issues, etc. And now a complete economic shutdown, largely blamed on Covid? 

 

It is the stupendous degree of arrogance, hubris, ignorance, racism, hatred of foreigners, and the stunning lack of vision, on the part of the fabulously incompetent leaders and ministers here. It is really turning off the planet to Thailand. If they could only see how they are perceived. Such ignoramus fools. Now, after years and years of fake nationalist ranting, and insufferable arrogance, they are really starting to pay the price, and they are getting exactly what they so wholeheartedly deserve, which is to be shunned by the planet. Oh well. We sow what we reap. We make the bed, and then we have to lie within it. Just wish the country was not moving backwards, (and was instead moving forward under the leadership of progressive minds) due to a system of meritocracy, and a complete lack of forward looking vision. A nice dream indeed.

[topt]

8 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Bugis street

My thought also. A lot of people seem to want it to be something like Singapore - which I found a little bland last time I was there all be it some years ago.

What they don't seem to grasp, or ignore, is if that happens prices will have an ever increasing trajectory and Pattaya will lose its soul - or gain a completely different one......

That would be a sad day.

[cardinalblue]

Shopping mall design in LOS is for the brain dead...

 

I wonder if they thought about environmental Architectural design In their planning (rhetorical question)?

[umlungu2012]

More pipe dreams. For the time being they have problems putting in new water/sewage/elecric piping and cabling. Maybe focus on that first before conjuring up another stupid idea along the lines of a skyrail etc.

[umlungu2012]

7 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

It is some of the most valuable real estate in the country that is not utilized properly.

I really really like the idea.

Get the bulldozers running tomorrow.

But, should happen around the same time the monorail is completed.

Got it. Never.

[Accidental Tourist]

just old news repeat again and again...still remember the plans of Mr. Pattaya, Alois Fassbinnder.

[geisha]

spidermike007, I think everything you have said is true. The problem with Thailand is that they do not realize what they have done to their country, and what foreigners think of them . I work in tourism, and have seen places turned around for the better, I’m an optimist, but sadly I think Thailand’s best days are long gone.

[umlungu2012]

48 minutes ago, kwonitoy said:

He stressed that any makeover must ensure that the "special smell and flavor" of Walking Street must be maintained.

 

If you could find the formula for that special smell why you'd be rich beyond your dreams. Bottle it and sell it worldwide

A combination of dirty unshowered farang and strawberry-flavoured condoms

[natway09]

So, sterlise it, & what is left ?

Dirty beach, filthy water & 10,000 Thais ready to fleece you.

Some things just need to be left alone.
Pat Phong in Silom is finished as a nightclub area but hundreds of thousands of people

go there just to say they have been.

[Dominion]

Well if they go ahead with this where are they going to get their pocket money from. Will never happen.

[maprao]

I think they will just put a cover over it. A bit like the roof over Nana Plaza. Lol