Pattaya: City faces permanent tourism destruction if enough vaccine can't be found

[tlandtday]

8 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It doesn't make them responsible but you would have thought they would be more philanthropic rather than introducing monopolistic policies to benefit a select few. 

 

You need to explain to us better why the Thai vaccine situation is the fault of foreign nations?

 

Surely nations that research and produce the vaccine have the total right over what they do with those vaccines and their own populations come first?

Particularly when Thailand was open for business as usual when other countries were closing borders at the onset of the crisis.

[Pattaya Spotter]

25 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Bizarre comment. 

 

You blamed rich(er) nations, I am putting the blame for their failures squarely on the greed of the Thais themselves.

 

Deal with it.

I'm trying to understand your statement that greed is responsible for the virus situation in Thailand...is this the case in all middle to low income countries that are struggling to contain the virus or something unique to Thailand? 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Pattaya Spotter

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 minute ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I'm trying to understand your statement that greed is responsible for the virus situation in Thailand...is this the case in all middle to low income countries that are struggling to contain the virus or something unique to Thailand? 

You are attempting to deflect the conversation away from your original statement that the Thai vaccine procurement is the fault of richer nations.

 

It is plainly obvious that the vaccine procurement failure was down to assigning a single company total monopoly and refusing to be proactive in vaccine purchasing from other sources in order to stockpile. Did they not turn down 2m doses of AZ from India some while back?

[Pattaya Spotter]

26 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It doesn't make them responsible but you would have thought they would be more philanthropic rather than introducing monopolistic policies to benefit a select few. 

 

26 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Surely nations that research and produce the vaccine have the total right over what they do with those vaccines and their own populations come first?

 

I guess you didn't even see the irony in your statements before posting tbem...calling on rich Thais to be more philanthropic while at the same time praising rich countries for hording not only vaccines, but the technology, patents, and precursor compounds to make them, just because they developed them. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Pattaya Spotter

[Pattaya Spotter]

4 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

You are attempting to deflect the conversation away from your original statement that the Thai vaccine procurement is the fault of richer nations.

 

It is plainly obvious that the vaccine procurement failure was down to assigning a single company total monopoly and refusing to be proactive in vaccine purchasing from other sources in order to stockpile. Did they not turn down 2m doses of AZ from India some while back?

So if they had these 2M Indian doses, everything would be hunky-dory? (There's 65-70M people in Thailand you know.) And as everyone should know, there were no vaccine supplies available to buy...that's why just about ALL middle to low income countries, not just Thailand, don't have them.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Pattaya Spotter

[MadMuhammad]

5 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Lame sensationalism.

Did a tsunami that killed 5-8,000 people and devastated tourism on the West Coast of Thailand cause "permanent destruction" to the tourism industry there ?

No. It didn't.

Yes, for the year following the tsunami the number of arrivals to Thailand dropped, but a year after that they set a new record for arrivals and the numbers have gone up every year since, despite 2 coups and a short take over of the main airport by political protestors (which some claimed would be the "final nail in the coffin for tourism in Thailand as well). 

(Kind of like how some people on TV would gripe every time there was an announced alcohol ban for a day because of a religious holiday or election and claim that it would be "the final nail" for tourism. Never mind that those bans happen every year and the tourism numbers keep going up.)

Some places will be shut down. Guess what ? That happened even when tourism was booming. Guess what happened after a place was shut down (for whatever reason) ?
The real owners simply shopped around and found a new whale to rent/lease the business and shortly after it reopened (often doing the same business just under a new name).

Somchai's Beer Bar and motorcycle rental business shuts down ? It may stay vacant for awhile and then there'll be Jaiyen's Beer Bar and motorcycle rental business in the same place.
And as more tourists come back, more of those "permanently closed" businesses will suddenly decide that "permanent"  really only meant "temporary" and they'll be open again.

It's not like all those businesses are going to close and the bulldozers are arriving tomorrow to demolish them. For every place that shut's down, there's probably 2-3 potential new "owners" already making plans for what they want to do with the place if they can get the lease.

Once they get over the hurdle, they'll start seeing ever increasing numbers of tourists every year and within a couple years (4-5 maybe) they could be back to where they were at the end of 2019 (i.e. 40 million+ arrivals).

Remember, the whole world didn't "shut down" and everyone didn't stop working and earning money. It was mostly the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues) that suffered. Manufacturing, Agriculture, Industry and other sectors kept plugging along. Sheesh, a couple months ago it was announced that China had already surpassed it's "pre-covid" export totals as they steamroll ahead.

Maybe with the issues India is having with the virus, Thailand will have to rethink it's decision to encourage tourism from there while ignoring the "Western" tourists that were the main catalysts of the tourism industry for decades (before Thailand decided that they'd rather have larger numbers of lower spending Indian and Chinese tourists).

If that happens, the streets could once again be filled with "old, fat, white guys" spending money like drunken sailors and financing all new herds of "sick buffalo" in Isaan.

I can’t like your comment enough. It’s heartening to see there are still some intelligent, reasonable folk still out there among the nay sayers, doom merchants and outright BS artists. Again, thank you ???????? 

[dennnis]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

One is right next to the biggest tourist attraction. Ever been there?

Soi 6?

[JayBird]

6 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

First focus on the country instead of the tourists.... It seems the tourists are the most important thing in Thailand now, but first of all solve the covid crisis in the country and with the people. When you have that under control, tourist will come .. before certainly not 

Sadly, the country is tourism.  Without a tourism industry this country will crash very hard.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

First focus on the country instead of the tourists.... It seems the tourists are the most important thing in Thailand now, but first of all solve the covid crisis in the country and with the people. When you have that under control, tourist will come .. before certainly not 

Important only to those areas which have sat idly by for 16+ months waiting to go back to the same-old routine.

It ain't going to happen.

Vaccines or not, the numbers of international travelers is not going to be enough to save them all.

 

[timendres]

31 minutes ago, JayBird said:

Sadly, the country is tourism.  Without a tourism industry this country will crash very hard.

 

Virtually zero tourists for over one year. When is this stunning crash going to occur?

[connda]

But the public is again assured that there are plenty of vaccines on the one hand while being told to be patient due to shortages on the other.

Who are the bold-faced liars in the government?  Rather obvious is it not?

Every day, lies compounding lies. 
"Why people woccin hesitant?  Why people no trust us?  We no understand!"

Flip-Flop Flip-Flop
Whose telling the truth,
And who's lying a lot.
Flip-Flop Flip-Flop


"Enough doses for everyone baby!"

 

[zhounan]

I don't think mass vaccination is the solution.

[thesetat2013]

9 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Well there is only one person to blame for the lack of vaccines and that's Khun Big Knob

Come on. He is telling everyone no problem. Enough vaccines for everyone in June. Stop worrying

[pattayadude]

5 hours ago, TacoKhun said:

As for this moment, there are literally 0 reasons to live in pattaya. anywhere in thailand will be better than here. i stay here just because i own my place and dont want to pay rent also moving is a hustle which i dont need right now.

because Pattaya as a city was a bad design.Actually there was no design or planning.It heavily depended on tourism. It was a kind of a "gold rush" that ended abruptly with a pandemic

[thesetat2013]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If that happened it might make Pattaya MORE attractive as a tourist destination, for those that stayed away in droves because the city prior to corona was frankly unpleasant, with far too much traffic and far too many boring shops selling the same tourist junk.

Hopefully the closed businesses would be bulldozed, the pavements widened and some much needed parks opened in their place.

Personally, Pattaya hasn't been a great destination since turn of the century.

 

BTW, what tourist city that wants to attract visitors puts up a sewage plant right next to the biggest tourist attraction?

Do not worry.. none of this will happen. As soon as pattaya quotes tourism is open and bars are open... Their covid vaccination number will be so low they will have to close again. Once all those bar girls return by the thousands.. their vaccine plan will appear to have failed. 

[ikke1959]

2 hours ago, JayBird said:

Sadly, the country is tourism.  Without a tourism industry this country will crash very hard.

I know, but the tourist will not come if the covid here is not under control. So first focus to get the country asap vaccinated and than when 70% got their jabs you can start focus on opening again. Now they are chasing windmills. Want things that will not happen.. I am not the only one that sees it.. Look at the rules in Phuket/ the paperwork to come to Thailand.. It is not very welcoming. In the ,eantime in Europe everybody can go and travel around with almost no restrictions. There it is possible because they did something in up tempo, Here in Thailand everything is slowed down and delayed.

[pattayadude]

2 hours ago, timendres said:

 

Virtually zero tourists for over one year. When is this stunning crash going to occur?

You wonder when the stunning crash going to happen? well, it will not happen overnight or may not even happen at all. But you will wander in empty streets next several years and still wonder what happened

[bkk6060]

6 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

With 90% (my guess) of the place currently closed it really is a pleasant place to live.

 

Hopefully not too many re-open.

Yes, actually for some it is the best of times.  Especially if a person careless about bars.

Still plenty of girls.

Inexpensive golf.

Walks on the beach walk no traffic or crowds.  Beautiful and clear no smell from the ocean.

Restaurants and malls open no crowds.

Easy to get around with all the lack of traffic.

No reason for the constant Chinese complaints as they are not here.

 

Many of the things here now are what the majority of the ex-pats seemed to want.  

Now it seems many cannot handle the quiet.

Never happy I guess.

Edited May 31, 2021 by bkk6060

[NCC1701A]

11 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

and that's Khun Big Knob

I don't know if you know this but that is my nick name around Pattaya. 

[NCC1701A]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The acting chief of the Chonburi Tourism Business Association has issued a stark warning about the prospects for recovery from the pandemic in Pattaya. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events

[Susco]

5 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

11 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

and that's Khun Big Knob

I don't know if you know this but that is my nick name around Pattaya. 

 

Knob as in knobhead?

[GeorgeEboy]

15 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If that happened it might make Pattaya MORE attractive as a tourist destination, for those that stayed away in droves because the city prior to corona was frankly unpleasant, with far too much traffic and far too many boring shops selling the same tourist junk.

Hopefully the closed businesses would be bulldozed, the pavements widened and some much needed parks opened in their place.

Personally, Pattaya hasn't been a great destination since turn of the century.

 

BTW, what tourist city that wants to attract visitors puts up a sewage plant right next to the biggest tourist attraction?

Yes, bring back Pattaya 1990.

[shdmn]

35 minutes ago, GeorgeEboy said:

Yes, bring back Pattaya 1990.

And the prices.

Edited May 31, 2021 by shdmn

[AlexRich]

I’m sure Pattaya will bounce back, but given the supply constraints in vaccines that’s unlikely to happen until 2023, and it will take a couple of years to get back to capacity. 

[Scouse123]

16 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Lame sensationalism.

Did a tsunami that killed 5-8,000 people and devastated tourism on the West Coast of Thailand cause "permanent destruction" to the tourism industry there ?

No. It didn't.

Yes, for the year following the tsunami the number of arrivals to Thailand dropped, but a year after that they set a new record for arrivals and the numbers have gone up every year since, despite 2 coups and a short take over of the main airport by political protestors (which some claimed would be the "final nail in the coffin for tourism in Thailand as well). 

(Kind of like how some people on TV would gripe every time there was an announced alcohol ban for a day because of a religious holiday or election and claim that it would be "the final nail" for tourism. Never mind that those bans happen every year and the tourism numbers keep going up.)

Some places will be shut down. Guess what ? That happened even when tourism was booming. Guess what happened after a place was shut down (for whatever reason) ?
The real owners simply shopped around and found a new whale to rent/lease the business and shortly after it reopened (often doing the same business just under a new name).

Somchai's Beer Bar and motorcycle rental business shuts down ? It may stay vacant for awhile and then there'll be Jaiyen's Beer Bar and motorcycle rental business in the same place.
And as more tourists come back, more of those "permanently closed" businesses will suddenly decide that "permanent"  really only meant "temporary" and they'll be open again.

It's not like all those businesses are going to close and the bulldozers are arriving tomorrow to demolish them. For every place that shut's down, there's probably 2-3 potential new "owners" already making plans for what they want to do with the place if they can get the lease.

Once they get over the hurdle, they'll start seeing ever increasing numbers of tourists every year and within a couple years (4-5 maybe) they could be back to where they were at the end of 2019 (i.e. 40 million+ arrivals).

Remember, the whole world didn't "shut down" and everyone didn't stop working and earning money. It was mostly the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues) that suffered. Manufacturing, Agriculture, Industry and other sectors kept plugging along. Sheesh, a couple months ago it was announced that China had already surpassed it's "pre-covid" export totals as they steamroll ahead.

Maybe with the issues India is having with the virus, Thailand will have to rethink it's decision to encourage tourism from there while ignoring the "Western" tourists that were the main catalysts of the tourism industry for decades (before Thailand decided that they'd rather have larger numbers of lower spending Indian and Chinese tourists).

If that happens, the streets could once again be filled with "old, fat, white guys" spending money like drunken sailors and financing all new herds of "sick buffalo" in Isaan.

 

You are talking apples and oranges.

 

A tsunami way back then in 2004 , ( I was here!) made no difference to tourism as a whole apart from this directly affected in its wake. Pattaya, Bangkok and the rest of the country carried on like nothing had happened.

 

There was no lockdown, there was no decree and curfew under martial law, 95% of the country carried on very quickly with their businesses, airports carried on as normal.

 

Of course businesses will rise and fall but that is not in question.

 

This is a pandemic and has now gone on with no end in sight since March 2020.

 

Thailand has woefully fallen behind in terms of vaccinations and their targets are fanciful.

 

I know many UK people are not only not coming this year, they won't be coming for the foreseeable future either. Staycations are the new buzzwords and holiday at home, Discover the UK, etc and guess what? They are doing this,  with booking at record levels, static homes and campervans experiencing massive rises etc.

 

Old and diehard habits have been broken and Europeans forced to go to places not on Amber or Red lists are and will find suitable value for money alternatives in Europe.

 

This is no longer the mystical Far East like it was when I first came in the 80s, the Benidorm drunkards have found the place for as little as 450 GBP return flight. It is not an exotic holiday anymore, it's a busman's holiday for those that used to go to Spain chasing skirt and found since they got fatter and uglier, they can just pay for it in Thailand.

 

Yes as you rightly say regarding the country and it's recovery, manufacturing and agriculture has continued as has many other forms of industry around the region. But this is a game changer with planned revenues and money allocated for projects now on hold for years to come. Nobody forecast Covid19.

 

Your tongue in cheek references to white fat guys and the herds of buffalo, well both have moved on a lot since that was the norm.

 

Thailand has advanced and there are no longer the numbers of old white fat guys prepared to be suckered in and spend their retirement in two years on a lying hooker or selling their homes and living the dream for five years going back home skint.

 

That captive market is on the decline and Thailand for quite a while has been maturing and attracting new tourists, not the Billionaires, that TAT trots out, but Russian families, Chinese groups, Indians and South Asians in larger numbers.

 

I think this is the big shake up that has been coming a long time has now been sped up by events over the last 15 months. This has been a giant wake up call for many and I think the rebound will be slow, painful for many and not the same World as it was pre Covid.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Scouse123

[Scouse123]

33 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

I’m sure Pattaya will bounce back, but given the supply constraints in vaccines that’s unlikely to happen until 2023, and it will take a couple of years to get back to capacity. 

 

Yeah,

 

So you are saying minumum 4 years and I think about 6 years except I think the tourist model will definitively change

[Stargeezr]

Comparing a contagious virus that has caused a world wide pandemic, to a tsunami is like comparing oranges to

a brick.  Pattaya city is facing what almost any tourist destination is facing. The COVID pandemic is affecting everyone

on earth.  Hopefully we can all get enough vaccines and feel safe enough to travel again in a year or so.

Geezer

[jacko45k]

20 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If that happened it might make Pattaya MORE attractive as a tourist destination, for those that stayed away in droves because the city prior to corona was frankly unpleasant, with far too much traffic and far too many boring shops selling the same tourist junk.

I am simply pessimistic about that......

Post Covid, with plenty planes from China and India landing, the coaches will be back clogging up the streets, the herds will be marched through town, and we will be back to it.

 

[newnative]

20 hours ago, TacoKhun said:

As for this moment, there are literally 0 reasons to live in pattaya. anywhere in thailand will be better than here. i stay here just because i own my place and dont want to pay rent also moving is a hustle which i dont need right now.

     Huh?  '... literally 0 reasons to live in pattaya'?  Not getting it.  All the reasons that brought me to live in Pattaya in the first place are still here.  Sitting on my balcony this morning typing this, enjoying my beautiful ocean view from my nice condo.  It's actually even better now without the noisy speedboats and the beach has been widened and looks even more beautiful.

    Lovely blue sky day this morning. The year-round nice weather hasn't changed--still a reason to be here and not in my cold climate with miserable, long winters.   All my favorite stores and restaurants are still open to enjoy--no change there.  All my nice friends are still here--no change  there, either.  Ditto for the good health and dental care at reasonable prices.  

     The pool and gym at my condo are currently closed--about the only real difference right now.  But, hey, the pool and gym at my Bangkok getaway condo are also closed, so I'd be in the same boat living in Bangkok.   International travel, which my partner and I like to do, is also curtailed; but, again, no different in Pattaya than anywhere else in Thailand.  When it reopens, we have two international airports less than 2 hours away.   If you have '0 reasons' to live here now, I wonder why you came in the first place.

[newnative]

5 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

Yeah,

 

So you are saying minumum 4 years and I think about 6 years except I think the tourist model will definitively change

     The 'tourist model' had already changed, pre-covid, to much more Asia-focused.  I think that will likely continue once tourism opens up again.