Pattaya: Grim picture for future of resort as post pandemic optimism dries up

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, how241 said:

Russia has just started giving out a vaccine that supposedly  works well with no side effects.

Russia seems more intent on poisoning everyone these days so I may pass on that one.

[kingstonkid]

Walking street owners are not worried about things.  Most of them have owned the buildings so long that they have made their money out of the properties and if the mortgage gets too bad they can walk away and still wealthy.

 

Pattaya was going down hill slowly anyway this just sped the demises up.  

 

Let's face it Thais are not interested in the bars and the bar girls. The walking street scene is just something to look at.

 

The only way they can resurrect  Walking Street is with a complete face lift and change to business that are family friendly they need to find a way to attract Thai's.

 

[Lacessit]

Thailand has a lot to offer tourists, retirees and expats who work here or use it as a base. However, unless the military government can purge itself of the xenophobia which has foreigners jumping through quite onerous visa conditions, life could get very ugly for the average Thai.

Domestic tourism is not the answer. Thais are not big spenders when they go on holidays, and a party of half a dozen is quite happy to occupy a single hotel room.

I used to go to a male masseur in Chiang Mai who was very good at sorting out the kinks in my ageing body. He has had to close up shop, too few customers to pay the rent. He has retrained as a hairdresser, but is still struggling.

It's not just Pattaya, it's over most of Thailand.

[how241]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Russia seems more intent on poisoning everyone these days so I may pass on that one.

A few unrelated and possibly unproven cases is hardly 'everyone'  but OK -- I get your point.

[johng]

2 minutes ago, how241 said:

Russia has just started giving out a vaccine that supposedly  works well with no side effects.

Wow  lets hope they can work their miracle on HIV,Dengue fever,Chikungunya and Ebola too.

[tribalfusion001]

2 minutes ago, how241 said:

A few unrelated and possibly unproven cases is hardly 'everyone'  but OK -- I get your point.

Vlad has a track record of poisoning enemies, so any vaccine coming out of Russia needs scrutiny and extensive testing, same applies to all of the other vaccines being developed.

[barney42bb]

Karma... Simple As.

[how241]

3 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Walking street owners are not worried about things.  Most of them have owned the buildings so long that they have made their money out of the properties and if the mortgage gets too bad they can walk away and still wealthy.

 

Pattaya was going down hill slowly anyway this just sped the demises up.  

 

Let's face it Thais are not interested in the bars and the bar girls. The walking street scene is just something to look at.

 

The only way they can resurrect  Walking Street is with a complete face lift and change to business that are family friendly they need to find a way to attract Thai's.

 

All Thailand needs to do a start advertising about the extremely low virus numbers and open up the borders.  Once it gets cold again, around Nov-Dec.,  many will return to Thailand for all the reasons that have brought tourists here for years.  Warm winters and friendly people. Most of the world cannot walk down the beach in the winter and enjoy the sunshine. 

[tribalfusion001]

2 minutes ago, how241 said:

All Thailand needs to do a start advertising about the extremely low virus numbers and open up the borders.  Once it gets cold again, around Nov-Dec.,  many will return to Thailand for all the reasons that have brought tourists here for years.  Warm winters and friendly people. Most of the world cannot walk down the beach in the winter and enjoy the sunshine. 

With or without quarantine? Huge numbers won't be coming with 2 week quarantine involved and the Thai government doesn't want foreigners coming and infecting them.

[bluesofa]

13 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Won't be the only thing dried up .. 

I should imagine a few peaches are going the same way ..

Bit of a prune really.

[oxforddiver]

Unfortunately there is additional bad news, and that is that as businesses close, in large numbers, there is less and less reason for tourists to come here, when eventually they are allowed to come. I have a feeling that this 'break point' may come and when it does there will be little cash around for new start ups, little desire to do so, and little that is tempting to report in social media which will bring in the droves of non existent wealthy tourists.

The places that really attract the tourists are not the very rich resorts, where people do like to stay, but the little Mum & Dad places that are personal and friendly which are there to be discovered. It takes many years of general prosperity for that 'scene' to develop in enough volume to tempt, especially by word of mouth, the ad hoc tourism sector that Thailand is used to and has not recognised and has been rather callously and roughly handled by various Govt departments. To tempt back any kind of tourism it would seem to be important to wind back the over strict visa regulations and immigration fog, and to stop the extortion of tourists, to re educate the Thai people, especially those in the hospitality industry, the captains, to concentrate on the good that the tourists do rather than the bad. There are bad tourists all over the world, but handle them kindly but firmly as in other places. And make media aware of this change in their reporting. Give all tourists a good name and thank them. When I first came here 23 years ago, I was met at Don Muang by dancing Thai girls who put a garland of orchids around my neck and smiled at me. I could not believe it. Wonderful feeling of being welcome. I hope it will come back. I believe Thailand can do it. There are so many things to change. 

[Isaan sailor]

Businesses go bust.  Why doesn’t the government go bust?

[bluesofa]

3 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Businesses go bust.  Why doesn’t the government go bust?

They can't go 'bust' - they've got more front than Brighton.

[tribalfusion001]

3 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Businesses go bust.  Why doesn’t the government go bust?

Doesn't do big bail outs like other major economies do and Thailand is 22 in the world for GDP, so it should be doing more.

[Justgrazing]

23 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Bit of a prune really.

 

[bodga]

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

A bit harsh.....

It is all sad really.... but I share your lack of sympathy for the property owners who will not give businesses a break on exorbitant rents.

That depends if the  owners  have  borrowed to finance the property, pretty  sure the banks wont let them skip payments

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, bodga said:

That depends if the  owners  have  borrowed to finance the property, pretty  sure the banks wont let them skip payments

A lot of long term owners in Pattaya.... they may have borrowed against the land but they are real wealthy. 

[moe666]

6 hours ago, Scooby and Puppy said:

I wonder if the golf courses will lower their green fees?  Does anyone know? Compared to Korat area, Pattaya golf is expensive even for average courses.. 

As for bars, clubs etc., I feel sorry for the workers, for sure, but i don't miss the scams they try on tourists when everything is rosy. Because there was always another mug to rip off coming along. But now there isn't. 
I believe westerners won't return in such large numbers when it starts to recover. It's just too expensive compared to up and coming rivals like  Vietnam, Cambodia, even Philippines.

 

 

What no scams in the Philippines, or any where else.

[Chongalulu]

4 hours ago, overherebc said:

People don't believe me when I say the reason I never had or wanted kids, ex was of the same mind, because I really didn't want to bring kids into this world and I'm talking about 40+ years ago. The mess this world is in now has, for me anyway, proved I'm right.

Over populated, over polluted and heading for deep doo-doo in a hand cart. All countries in the same cart.

I think I recognize you as the bloke with the sandwich board 'The end is nigh !' ???? 

[spidermike007]

It is great that the Thais are stepping up, taking advantage of great deals, and supporting the tourism industry. It helps, no doubt. But, it is only a portion of what the hotels, restaurants, and other businesses need. The industry is hurting, big time. 

 

Thailand needs courageous leadership. They don't have it. The army are major cowards. ANY person from ANY nation should be welcome starting tomorrow, if they are willing to subject themselves to a 14 day quarantine and pay excessive fees for that two week sentence. There is no downside or risk, and only upside for the nation. No groveling from a local consulate should be required. That is utter nonsense. A covid free letter and a booking at an approved hotel. 

[OldPedro]

Maybe they should follow Australia's example and provide Government subsidies to keep businesses and employees afloat. The baht is too high anyway, so no problem in printing money to pay the debt. Maybe some of the top brass should chip in some of their millions to help those at the bottom.....

[Youlike]

So how many real corona deads did thailand have to install this disastrous lockdown with all consequenses of it?

 

I'm not talking about infections but how many deads from infections.....

[3NUMBAS]

the partys over its time to call it a day

 

The party's over
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid

The party's over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dreamed through the night

It seemed to be right just being with him
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend

[scammed]

1 hour ago, samsensam said:

 

are domestic tourists really interested in holidaying in a resort full of foreign sex tourists and prostitutes? it's a hard sell. (no pun intended) surely thailand has more attractive options for thais wanting a holiday.

yes, bangkokians are hugely interested in coming to pattaya

on the weekends, -you can tell by the traffic jam they inflict each and every weekend

[Cadan]

Next year March 2021 maybe if a vaccine is ready and no mandatory quarantine. Who wants to travel anyway. One country is Covid free and others are not.  PPP... Perfect Ping Pong effect ????

[newnative]

1 hour ago, Kaopad999 said:

Tourism as we once knew it was already on the decline before this Covid situation. So, even if it bounces back to some sort of "normality", it still won't be enough to bring it back to how it used to be.

Sadly, the majority of these businesses were already set to fail, but the current situation has just sped up the process. 
Thailand has been undergoing a massive change for the past 4-5 years and will continue to do so, with or without Covid. 
 

    Nonsense.  Tourism was booming pre-covid--just not, as you say, the 'tourism as we once knew it'.  Meaning, western tourism.   And, apparently western tourism is the only tourism that actually counts as tourism with some posters.  But, even if western tourism was somewhat in decline, it was easily made up for, and then some, by the huge numbers of Asian tourists, and not just the Chinese.

   You are right, though, that some businesses in oversupply catering solely to western tourists likely were failing--supply and demand sorting things out.  A western bar closes and two Asian karaoke bars open.  Never mind the two new business openings catering to Asians; only the western bar closing is noticed, which is then immediately interpreted as tourism dying.  

[Cadan]

Local tourism is not sustainable... people have to make money to spent money 

[tribalfusion001]

6 minutes ago, newnative said:

    Nonsense.  Tourism was booming pre-covid--just not, as you say, the 'tourism as we once knew it'.  Meaning, western tourism.   And, apparently western tourism is the only tourism that actually counts as tourism with some posters.  But, even if western tourism was somewhat in decline, it was easily made up for, and then some, by the huge numbers of Asian tourists, and not just the Chinese.

   You are right, though, that some businesses in oversupply catering solely to western tourists likely were failing--supply and demand sorting things out.  A western bar closes and two Asian karaoke bars open.  Never mind the two new business openings catering to Asians; only the western bar closing is noticed, which is then immediately interpreted as tourism dying.  

73.98% from Asian countries not inc India, 78.36% inc India. And all of those countries are locked in. China being the biggest with 57.48% and they are definitely not going anywhere for a long time.

[jacko45k]

32 minutes ago, moe666 said:

What no scams in the Philippines, or any where else.

Neither of which is in Pattaya! That is the topic.

[noone223]

And for the good news, ladies and gentleman,

over 15000 immigration officials have been fired since the Covid19 crisis started.