No to nightlife, yes to vaccinations: can Thailand’s Pattaya rebrand and reopen?

[BenBen23]

17 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I would imagine the sex industry is exactly the target market Pattaya should be concentrating on for the next 12 months. Families are not going to come any time soon, working age people are probably behind with bills after the pandemic and the only others really left are horny old retired guys - who will spend money

Yea, its typical wish thinking the nannies have been doing for years. The article admits there is zero chance of Chinese returning and that leaves Russians, Europeans and Americans. Why would Westerners come to Pattaya when there are something like 100 beautiful islands to visit? 

[eastlight]

12 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Why would one need a bulldozer to change the business demographics of Soi 6 or any Soi for that matter? They certainly didn't need a bulldozer to change it from a 'Soi Yodsak', a quiet commercial precinct with the city library, dozens of travel and law offices and the town's first supermarket into Pattaya's own 'four floors of whores'.

Glad to hear Soi Yodsak mentioned. Only the newcomers refer to Soi 6.

[Monkeypants]

Whilst the beach washes away yearly, and black  water  continues to be spilt into the ocean with seemingly every deluge of rain, 

It will never be a family nor upmarket destination.

 

[shdmn]

6 minutes ago, Monkeypants said:

Whilst the beach washes away yearly, and black  water  continues to be spilt into the ocean with seemingly every deluge of rain, 

It will never be a family nor upmarket destination.

 

Then why do you (supposedly) live or visit?  If it sucks so bad don't go there.

Edited June 8, 2021 by shdmn

[Bkktodd]

17 hours ago, jacko45k said:

When a country reaches 100% of it's people having been double vaccinated along with zero new infections for 30 days, perhaps we can add it to a green list and allow direct tourists. 

Herd immunity world wide is around 70%.  Some vaccines only require one shot.  Get your facts right and whats with the  “We”?  You are the new chief immune doctor for Thailand?

Edited June 8, 2021 by Bkktodd

[Bkktodd]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Did he suggest what else Thailand may be good for?

Well i guess thai men might just stay home with their wives and give up on the mia nois.  They frequent the bars,clubs and private asian bars more than westerners 

[Bkktodd]

15 hours ago, hotchilli said:

A leopard can't change it's spots.

Dress it up how you like, call it what you like..

Pattaya will be teeming with girls again swinging around dancing poles, parading around on a stage with a number on them, sitting in front of every bar, selling themselves as soon as the tourists come back.

The go-go establishments, bars etc will return as normal, will Bang Lamung or Soi 6 and the rest suddenly change... no way -Jose.

Lots of tea money and brown envelopes are given to keep the entertainment businesses open.  Sex is big business.  Dont be fooled by City Hall.  They need to make car payments too

[Andycoops]

20 hours ago, Millcx said:

Logic ??? Logic 555555

The word logic and Thais/Thailand should never be used in the same sentence.

If you live here, you soon find out it doesn't exist.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Andycoops

[Stargeezr]

I agree that mostly single people who have not lost their jobs will be returning to Thailand as well as retired

people who have still got money.  Families will not return as well, because their children, have not been vaccinated

yet, or if they are younger than 12 they also have not even got their first shots. Families also have school years to

finish with, and then start again in September, as well as the expenses associated with kids and houses and family, etc.

  Finally a lot of people who were able to travel, will be more cautious for the first while. Parents may come over and leave their kids

at home, but that group is not as large as the mass of singles, and older retired folk.  My lust for Pattaya became less after I turned 60.

Geezer

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, Bkktodd said:

Herd immunity world wide is around 70%.  Some vaccines only require one shot.  Get your facts right and whats with the  “We”?  You are the new chief immune doctor for Thailand?

No it isn't, that figure varies with how infectious the disease is and we now have more infectious strains. 

One vaccine requires only a single shot, not some! One not yet available in Thailand... 

Get your facts sorted before you presume to lecture me from the peanut gallery. 

My tongue in cheek post went way over your head!

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by jacko45k

[chalawaan]

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Did he suggest what else Thailand may be good for?

Kobkarn was a "she". Nevertheless, another useless elite who was supposedly a CEO of the usual cosy family firm here I think, before getting the TAT poisoned chalice.

She famously wanted to shut down the entire sex industry altogether, came up with Durian Kit-Kat as a "tourist magnet" (mother of God preserve us!) and most famously blubbed cringingly when she was finally booted out for taking "useless" to a level unheard of in the annals of Thaidom. I'm not sure what Thailand may be good for, but she was good for a laugh!

Edited June 8, 2021 by chalawaan

[newnative]

10 hours ago, BenBen23 said:

Yea, its typical wish thinking the nannies have been doing for years. The article admits there is zero chance of Chinese returning and that leaves Russians, Europeans and Americans. Why would Westerners come to Pattaya when there are something like 100 beautiful islands to visit? 

       Actually, it also 'leaves' 14 million other Asians besides, Chinese.  That's the number that visited Thailand in 2019.  Likely some of them were among the 15 million tourists, international and domestic, that visited Pattaya in 2019.  

[Monkeypants]

11 hours ago, shdmn said:

Then why do you (supposedly) live or visit?  If it sucks so bad don't go there.

Because I don’t go to Pattaya and pretend it’s upmarket

I go to Pattaya for fun.

[Skeptic7]

Been "pivoting" away from sex nightlife for a decade with zero success. 

 

Pattaya is a ????-hole otherwise. Filthy beaches with rancid water, full of ????, plastic & tons of UFOs...unidentified floating objects. 

 

It's over without the allure of nightlife...booze, bars and bitches. THAT is what brings all tourists to Patts...even those whom don't imbibe. 

 

Thailand...still hoping to someday get a clue. ????

[rcuthbert]

In  2018, I visited my Brother in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The beer parlors have continuous nubile nude dancers, and regular nubile Duo Contests, and they are all free. Plus the gals don't ask for tips/Lady Drinks.

Escort services - staffed by 18 to "twenty somethings" - are licensed by the provincial government; however, BC has a boring massage scene, the naked gals on your knee, whilst performing  naughtiness, gogo scene is nonexistent, and the street freelancers are primarily dope fiends. So I always preferred Patts. Unfortunatly, if Patts doesn't revert to her old self, then I will start to look for other options.

Edited June 9, 2021 by rcuthbert
Grammar

[NanLaew]

20 hours ago, PB172111 said:

This is the issue with the majority of posters here. Old men who are or orignally were here for what the city had to offer. No vision, no foresight other than what was and what used to be. You can’t argue with these chumps but not to worry, they will all be gone in the next 5/10 years….lol

 

I agree. Does anyone else recall the visible "thinning of the herd" when those sea containers full of dick-hardeners from India got seized by Thai Customs? Maybe 4 or 5 years ago?

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

Been "pivoting" away from sex nightlife for a decade with zero success. 

 

Pattaya is a ????-hole otherwise. Filthy beaches with rancid water, full of ????, plastic & tons of UFOs...unidentified floating objects. 

 

It's over without the allure of nightlife...booze, bars and bitches. THAT is what brings all tourists to Patts...even those whom don't imbibe. 

 

Thailand...still hoping to someday get a clue. ????

 

Hmmm... sounds to me like your still a bit of a sceptic.

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

... My lust for Pattaya became less after I turned 60.

 

Yup, that's when I moved from Sodom to Isaan. Even the quarterly trip to Pattaya to see mates and buy certain imported food items petered out when mates similarly become more reclusive and fed up of the muppets that had inherited the shambles. The drive isn't fun anymore either. Spoiled for choice for imported foodstuffs in Isaan too these days. Then there's online shopping and businesses that will send your orders on the overnight bus when push comes to shove.

 

The Pattaya side trips either side of an international flight (remember those?!) also became too much of a hassle. It's funny how, 'Pattaya's only an hour from Swampy' morphed into, 'Pattaya's on the wrong side of Swampy.'

 

I forgot to mention, my favorite masseuse from Bangkok and bar girl from Patong (and formerly Soi 6) have relocated to Kalasin and Maha Sarakham respectively.

 

Road trip!

[Hanuman2547]

What's bad for the young women that work in the bars and other similar places is that they are losing their valuable prime earning years of around 20-30.  

[morrobay]

On 6/8/2021 at 10:37 PM, Monkeypants said:

Whilst the beach washes away yearly, and black  water  continues to be spilt into the ocean with seemingly every deluge of rain, 

It will never be a family nor upmarket destination.

 

The beach is ok. The upmarket crowd  these days are non smokers. Along the beach, entrences to malls, corners and "sidewalks" passing these local males typically in tourists areas involves putting up with alot of rancid cigarette smoke. Upmarket it will never be.

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by morrobay

[actonion]

On 6/8/2021 at 8:58 AM, petermik said:

daughters and even granddaughters...????

Grandmothers   up  until they closed the bars  lol 

[saakura]

On 6/8/2021 at 7:51 AM, Card said:

Hey, there are many Asian tourists come to Thailand. You seem to have factored them out. Ethnocentric?

But unlike the western males, these asians mostly come with their families or in group tours. Most do not give business to prostitutes and definitely they are not standing in a queue to propose marriage to them.

[newnative]

1 hour ago, saakura said:

But unlike the western males, these asians mostly come with their families or in group tours. Most do not give business to prostitutes and definitely they are not standing in a queue to propose marriage to them.

    Right, 'these asians', arriving in large numbers pre-covid, have largely been responsible for the rebranding of Pattaya that has been going on.  Western males did not get all the tourist attractions built, nor Festival, T21, or all the large, new hotels in north Pattaya.

[NanLaew]

18 hours ago, Hanuman2547 said:

What's bad for the young women that work in the bars and other similar places is that they are losing their valuable prime earning years of around 20-30.  

 

True, but in that short decade, they will have had something that the average graduate working 9 to 5 in a factory or 7-eleven could only dream of.

 

A new iPhone every 3 to 5 months.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:01 AM, rioD said:

They lack infrastructure and appeal.  The country remains somewhat dirty and dysfunctional,

Like many kids in the 80's, I discovered Japanese animation and fell in love with all things Japan. The food, culture, TV, comic books. I had my heart set on Tokyo one day. But then upon growing up, I eventually heard of Thailand's nightlife, and being a young man who hadn't the best luck with women, was drawn here instead. I ended up buying the ticket to BKK, then exploring both it and Patts.

 

I then found myself staying here long term, and wondered what happened to those childhood dreams. I took stock of my situation. Well, here I've got an Asian metropolis, beautiful Asian women, there's still Japanese food if I want it. There's still shopping, and technological wizardry. But of course it's no Tokyo. I wound up with the dirty, nitty, gritty, low rent version. Haha. The traffic's a nightmare, public transport is a mess, nastiness festers in the gutters, wild animals roam freely, and the govt is, you know.

 

On the plus side, it's a better deal compared to most places in Asia, certainly Tokyo, with a nicely equipped condo for $200 USD, hotels for like $20, cheap street food, cheap beers. And of course, you could walk into a bar and wind up with company for the evening in a manner of minutes. That's possible in Tokyo, but it'll cost a bit more. Indeed, that's what Thailand is for the most part, the cheaper alternative, and indeed cheaper for a reason, given its many issues. The pricing is the main reason for making such a compromise.

 

But the partying days are now behind me, and I've since married a wonderful Thai lady.

[Leaver]

On 6/10/2021 at 1:34 AM, Hanuman2547 said:

What's bad for the young women that work in the bars and other similar places is that they are losing their valuable prime earning years of around 20-30.  

 

I know two bar girls that returned home to have a baby.  They are using covid time for family planning.  ????

[thaibeachlovers]

On 6/8/2021 at 9:33 AM, smedly said:

walking street might change but I see no changes to LK or soi 6, if they were earnist in their convictions to rebrand Pattaya bulldozers would be flattening soi 6 as we speak - never a btter opportunity than right now

 

not happening 

They've been talking about rebranding Pattaya for decades, but they know where the money is. Same reason the seaward side buildings on Walking Street are still there despite wobbling on about removing them for at least 30 years.

 

Anyway, IMO they are just a bunch of incompetents that can't even stop flooding on Beach Road despite it being right beside the sea. IMO if they had half a brain cell they'd have gone for the retired farang demographic long ago.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 6/10/2021 at 2:03 PM, newnative said:

    Right, 'these asians', arriving in large numbers pre-covid, have largely been responsible for the rebranding of Pattaya that has been going on.  Western males did not get all the tourist attractions built, nor Festival, T21, or all the large, new hotels in north Pattaya.

How is that working out, now? T21 full of customers is it? Hotels in Nth Pattaya full of guests, are they?

Mongers will come regardless, given the opportunity and reasonable prices.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 6/10/2021 at 11:41 AM, morrobay said:

The beach is ok. The upmarket crowd  these days are non smokers. Along the beach, entrences to malls, corners and "sidewalks" passing these local males typically in tourists areas involves putting up with alot of rancid cigarette smoke. Upmarket it will never be.

 

That looks GREAT. Wish I was there to enjoy it.

[rioD]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:39 AM, hotchilli said:

Old fartz as you call them come and go granted.

Tell me how much has Pattaya changed since the end of the last war?

It was a staging point for troops on their way home, became a hot-spot for lets say nightlife and has remained the same ever since.

75 years of doing the same thing. 

It is what it was and has never changed.

 

I first visited Pattaya in 1980 while serving in the U.S Navy.  It was small, no walking street, simply a few bars and hotels on what is now the walking street.  Back then, the goal was to get out of Pattaya ad get to Bangkok where it was all fun and enhanced nighlife.  Between 1984 and 1995 I did not visit Pattya or Thailand, but when I returned in 1996 Pattaya had grown and they were expanding. From 96 to present I've visited and lived in Pattaya consistetly and have seen it continually grow, and then begin to slow a couple of years before the plandemic.  The city and interest in the country has slowed due to greed and stupidity. Elevated prices and exchange rates have pushed away visitors and investors who realize Thailand is no longer a good deal.  Money comes to make money, not throw it away.  While fun seekers spend and invest foolishly and require no improved standards.