By Adam Judd

 

Pattaya, Thailand-Today, June 10th, 2021, marks a full two months since Covid-19 restrictions were enacted in the Chonburi (and Thailand) area, causing hundreds of businesses to be force closed and essentially stopped domestic tourism that had been assisting Pattaya “survive” with a lack of foreign tourists due to border closures.

 

Pattaya is a city that relies almost entirely on tourism for their GDP, with an estimated 80% of the local GDP coming from tourist dollars, both domestic and foreign. In 2019, the city was the 19th most visited city in the world with almost ten million foreign tourists and roughly seven million domestic tourists.

 

Covid-19 restrictions and measures, however, like many tourist reliant places, have brought the city to essentially a standstill. Although ex-pat and local resident heavy areas like the “dark side” and parts of Jomtien are fairly “normal” Central Pattaya and the economic driver of the area has been devastated by the closures and restrictions, with no sign of relief in sight.

 

Pattaya is a city that relies heavily on nightlife and entertainment, which has been shuttered under a national order by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA.

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/06/10/today-marks-two-months-of-covid-19-restrictions-in-pattaya-with-many-business-owners-and-residents-getting-frustrated/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2021-06-11

 

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By coincidence it was about 2 months ago the CCSA announced the peak had passed so give it a year or 2 and it will be back to normal ????

maybe it's time to tell people a truth: it will not get better this year, stop dreaming...

Could go on for a few more months before gearing up for the awesome promising Pattaya sandbox in October. 

Edited June 10, 20215 yr by bkk6060

1 hour ago, MasterBaker said:

maybe it's time to tell people a truth: it will not get better this year, stop dreaming...

The truth... my god man, that's asking so much.

1 hour ago, MasterBaker said:

maybe it's time to tell people a truth: it will not get better this year, stop dreaming...

In all seriousness, after the current lockdown, I was not hearing anyone say the it would be back to normal this year.  I wasn't hearing much of anything from official sources which is frustrating but I think most just used common sense.

 

Has to be beyond frustrating to be a business owner in Pattaya.  Know a couple young Thais that started or took over businesses in the last few years.  Heart goes out to them and hopefully their businesses survive but at some point I fear they will throw in the towel.

Edited June 11, 20215 yr by atpeace

14 minutes ago, atpeace said:

In all seriousness, after the current lockdown, I was not hearing anyone say the it would be back to normal this year.  I wasn't hearing much of anything from official sources which is frustrating but I think most just used common sense.

 

Anutin said it will all be back to normal in 2 to 3 weeks, back in late April. However as you say only those with common sense said nothing.

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

Anutin said it will all be back to normal in 2 to 3 weeks, back in late April. However as you say only those with common sense said nothing.

Cool, never read it but sure you are correct.  

GETTING frustrated?!? They've BEEN frustrated. Those not permanently shuttered, that is. 

4 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

GETTING frustrated?!? They've BEEN frustrated. Those not permanently shuttered, that is. 

? yep, I used present tense not future in regards to the frustration ( "has to be" and "is). Anyhow, I agree.

This clearly demonstrates the risks that are associated with a single large dependency on once source of revenue - tourism. Entire local economies are impacted. If you invest in an area (business, real estate) this is a clear lesson in what happens when that source dries up. It will happen again in the future. make sure your business is not reliant on a single source of revenue - period.   

11 minutes ago, IamNoone88 said:

This clearly demonstrates the risks that are associated with a single large dependency on once source of revenue - tourism. Entire local economies are impacted. If you invest in an area (business, real estate) this is a clear lesson in what happens when that source dries up. It will happen again in the future. make sure your business is not reliant on a single source of revenue - period.   

Soothing words for the many tens of thousands of simple economically unsophisticated people who have watched their small businesses and livelihoods collapse because of arbitrary decisions taken by salaried officials who will still receive their salary come what may.

 

Did you offer to assist these people by drawing maps of the best route back to their farms?

With apologies to MasterBaker ........

 

Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening, or a permutation of all three!

Dark side or not, village girls produce mouths to feed. Without any real semblance of democracy arbitrary decisions will be made. (Slightly more arbitrary than those in the west at least).

Announcing that the bars and entertainment venues in Phuket will remain closed for the July 1st sandbox startup is not a good sign for Pattaya. With the seemingly constant +/-2,000 new cases every day, it's not difficult to translate that announcement as implying the bars in Pattaya will remain closed when foreign tourists start arriving in October, so the earliest reopening might be November or December. They could fix this by simply imposing tough travel restrictions on the greater Bangkok area and letting the rest of the country try and get back to normal, but being a totally Bangkok-centric administration there's no chance of that happening.

How are places like The Dark Side and Jomtien remotely close to normal and unaffected?? Bars, and entertainment venues, hotels, travel agencies, schools, gyms, pools, etc closed.  7/11, Family Marts closed overnight resulting in a shift lost and more people out of a job, restaurants limited on hours of trade. People out of work, kids being denied an education and social skill development, mental health issues on the rise....yeah it's all good!!!!

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

In all seriousness, after the current lockdown, I was not hearing anyone say the it would be back to normal this year.  I wasn't hearing much of anything from official sources which is frustrating but I think most just used common sense.

 

Has to be beyond frustrating to be a business owner in Pattaya.  Know a couple young Thais that started or took over businesses in the last few years.  Heart goes out to them and hopefully their businesses survive but at some point I fear they will throw in the towel.

Seems like all small cash busineses are clised and 711 is opening more stores Mall are open too  .Hmmm

5 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

By coincidence it was about 2 months ago the CCSA announced the peak had passed so give it a year or 2 and it will be back to normal ????

i was there 1970. seemed quite nice fishing village. but nothing to do. ,lot jungle. ,have the fish gone ?

 

Military govts demand total control and do not tolerate being questioned

3 minutes ago, bangsaenguy said:

Military govts demand total control and do not tolerate being questioned

Hmm, I guess there are a lot of military governments around the world now, because it seems a lot of governments enjoy the new found power.

Three friends of mine got arrested two nights ago at a small bar near Big C Extra. I warned them this could happen and stopped going there myself. I get it - we love the bar owner, just a gal struggling to put food on the table, and we want her to stay in business, but clearly the BiB are getting into the weeds. They were fortunate, 2,250 baht fine each, and now the bar is shuttered.

They need to forget tourism for a few years, and start repurposing the entire economy.

 

There are several emerging industrial opportunities as companies are forced to pivot away from a belligerrent China that's starting to "punish" the west for daring to call them on their BS.

 

If they dropped the alcohol import tax to a sensible level too, they'd sell much more of it, and probably actually make more in duty overall. 

 

Fully legalize weed, and mushrooms, fully legalize sex work, and start work on some Casinos.

 

So that after this is over, if they did these 4 things, you'd have to beat Tourists off with a stick.

 

 

Just now, chalawaan said:

They need to forget tourism for a few years, and start repurposing the entire economy.

 

There are several emerging industrial opportunities as companies are forced to pivot away from a belligerrent China that's starting to "punish" the west for daring to call them on their BS.

 

If they dropped the alcohol import tax to a sensible level too, they'd sell much more of it, and probably actually make more in duty overall. 

 

Fully legalize weed, and mushrooms, fully legalize sex work, and start work on some Casinos.

 

So that after this is over, if they did these 4 things, you'd have to beat Tourists off with a stick.

Agree with most here, but the casinos should never happen, at least not for Thais. They are too superstitious, and if a monk told them it was a lucky day, they'd literally bet (and lose) the farm.

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Could go on for a few more months before gearing up for the awesome promising Pattaya sandbox in October. 

Like a wet fa*t of a sand box in Phuket!

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

GETTING frustrated?!? They've BEEN frustrated. Those not permanently shuttered, that is. 

 

Yes, with the Pattaya whorehouses closed down there are hundreds of thousands of lonely men around the world who rely on paying for sex that have been very frustrated. Tissues and toilet paper was stripped from the shelves.

 

There are also thousands of bargirls who had grown used to receiving a good seeing to several times a day that are also very frustrated. 

 

The tension rises everyday.

I know some posters will crucify me for this post.

But its all now down to Natural Selection.

The Business's that have been able to adapt, to offer different, and not the same same as seen everywhere, will survive and prosper.

The Bossiness's that have been able to cut outgoings, and raise their profile will prosper.

OK, maybe not next week, but as soon as the Tourists arrive back, these Business's will be ready to welcome them back with something new and fresh.

Pattaya needed this badly, and so does the rest of the Country, it needs all the dead wood cutting out.

The whole Tourist Industry is stale, its made of Plastic, and is shoddy at best sometimes.

Its all so false and tacky, and needs something like this to wake it up, where actual effort has to be made to get the Tourist Dollar.

 

Two months? I could have sworn the place has been 95% shuttered since April 2020.

 

You gotta love the way this story just vanishes an entire year of on/off lockdown.

Lest we forget: What we're going through is not karma, it is political. With different leaders (global - Thailand just follows suit), the decison taking could look very different. 

I have for quite some while pleaded for a resignation of these inept (to say the least) governments, to be replaced by an executive council consisting of experts in constitutional law, economy, education, and DISSENTER MEDICS. 

Why? Because the aspects of constitutional liberties, economy and education have so far been missed out. And dissenter medics would tell us that there are different -and probably better ways - to deal with the situation.  

If you follow the news attentively, then you know/sense that there is so much more to the whole thing than what we are constantly being force-fed...
 

2 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

I know some posters will crucify me for this post.

But its all now down to Natural Selection.

The Business's that have been able to adapt, to offer different, and not the same same as seen everywhere, will survive and prosper.

The Bossiness's that have been able to cut outgoings, and raise their profile will prosper.

OK, maybe not next week, but as soon as the Tourists arrive back, these Business's will be ready to welcome them back with something new and fresh.

Pattaya needed this badly, and so does the rest of the Country, it needs all the dead wood cutting out.

The whole Tourist Industry is stale, its made of Plastic, and is shoddy at best sometimes.

Its all so false and tacky, and needs something like this to wake it up, where actual effort has to be made to get the Tourist Dollar.

 

I agree with you, except the bit where the deadwood will be cleared out.

Like cockroaches, they would survive a Nuclear holocaust, they will be back as soon as the punters return.

A lot of ramshackle Thai owned businesses start and run on either loan shark, or laundry money.

The $64 million question is kind of chicken and egg tho, no tourists, no incentive to start or re-start a tourist centric business.

14 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

They need to forget tourism for a few years, and start repurposing the entire economy.

 

There are several emerging industrial opportunities as companies are forced to pivot away from a belligerrent China that's starting to "punish" the west for daring to call them on their BS.

 

If they dropped the alcohol import tax to a sensible level too, they'd sell much more of it, and probably actually make more in duty overall. 

 

Fully legalize weed, and mushrooms, fully legalize sex work, and start work on some Casinos.

 

So that after this is over, if they did these 4 things, you'd have to beat Tourists off with a stick.

 

 

Sounds good to me (realizing this is a fantasy at best) but not sure the junta wants *that* type of tourist.  Millionaires or bust is their attitude, unbelievably ????