What Is The Future Of Pattaya’s Walking Street?

[webfact]

 

By Editor

 

Pattaya’s most infamous street is not scheduled for knockdown according to mayor-elect Poramet Ngampichet.

 

During a tour this week of the never-ceasing repavement and cable- burying areas, he said that Walking Street was an essential part of the resort’s tourist future.

 

Plans to re-orientate Walking Street into a leisure paradise for families with theme parks, classy restaurants and new shopping arcades appear to be taking a back seat.

 

Before and during the Covid pandemic, Pattaya authorities had suggested that the resort’s future might resemble Miami, Singapore or Abu Dhabi in which business centers lie apparently side-by-side with leisure pursuits.

 

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There had also been suggestions that the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), might fund a wholesale “family” redevelopment of Walking Street to complement the neighboring Bali Hai port facilities which have benefitted from external funding. Various beach reclamation projects and transport improvements, including ring roads and motorways, are also EEC projects.

However, there is a growing consensus that Pattaya must rely on its traditional tourist markets after more than two years as a ghost town.

 

The war in Ukraine and the ongoing absence of the overseas Chinese market has doubled-down on this feeling that Pattaya needs to walk before taking up running.  However, City Hall stresses that Pattaya has already progressed from its Sin City image.

 

Source: https://royalcoastreview.com/2022/05/what-is-the-future-of-pattayas-walking-street/

 

 

-- © Copyright Royal Coast Review 2022-05-27

 

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[KhunBENQ]

7 minutes ago, webfact said:

the resort’s future might resemble Miami, Singapore or Abu Dhabi

Why so modest?

Monte Carlo, Nizza, Waikiki, Gold coast...

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by KhunBENQ

[vandeventer]

With little or no real tourist the future looks grim!

[klauskunkel]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

lie apparently side-by-side with leisure pursuits

I have pursued leisure all my life from puberty onward and the side-by-side approach is definitely a favorite classic. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by klauskunkel

[Andylongtime]

It will always remain as the worlds largest brothel. 

[Jimbo2014]

Sounds like some modest money changed hands ???? - Whilst I cant deny that moving the massive red light district out of the centre of Pattaya would make alot of sense, it seems that there is a substantial gap between what Pattaya offers families now and the vision the government has.  Luck to all. 

[Tom H]

For the Chinese in pyjamas walking behind a flag and buying a lot in the future?

Edited May 27, 2022 by Tom H

[Guderian]

Being realistic, if they were to decide to get rid of all the sex and sleaze from WS, the first thing they'd have to do is to get rid of all the bars and Gogo's and discos and restaurants illegally built out over the sea. For a number of reasons, they've been left alone in the present incarnation of WS, but I doubt they'd survive a complete change of purpose. So that's half of the premises along the street gone for good, and when you take into account the fact that some of the side streets, like Soi Diamond, are privately owned and are nothing to do with Mueang Pattaya, the scope for regeneration starts to look a lot more limited than  might seem to be the case at first.

[Tony125]

"If it's not broke, don't fix it"   Leave  Walking Street  as it is with no early closing times and with paid police details as we do in many US cities so that patrons are not assaulted by bouncers or deal drugs on the premises. Any family oriented themes can be along the other areas of Pattaya Beach.

[Dogmatix]

20 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Being realistic, if they were to decide to get rid of all the sex and sleaze from WS, the first thing they'd have to do is to get rid of all the bars and Gogo's and discos and restaurants illegally built out over the sea. For a number of reasons, they've been left alone in the present incarnation of WS, but I doubt they'd survive a complete change of purpose. So that's half of the premises along the street gone for good, and when you take into account the fact that some of the side streets, like Soi Diamond, are privately owned and are nothing to do with Mueang Pattaya, the scope for regeneration starts to look a lot more limited than  might seem to be the case at first.

The illegal restaurants built over the water have survived without a walking street and despite orders after the coup to demolish them. Palms have been greased and it's biz as usual.  

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

During a tour this week of the never-ceasing repavement and cable- burying areas, he said that Walking Street was an essential part of the resort’s tourist future.

Sadly Pattaya is still living in the past...

Walking street could have been re-modeled into something which was family friendly and just as if not more profitable.

Unfortunately they want to hang on to the old model of it being a street full of cat-houses.

That only draws in the lower rung, not the real money people.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, vandeventer said:

With little or no real tourist the future looks grim!

Millionaires are not going to jet half-way around the globe to visit a knocking shop on a seedy street.

Pattaya will remain as it did with the sex-tourist back-packer brigade.

[proton]

Hopefully none at all, low life sex tourist area, like the rest of the sleazy resort.

[mikeymike100]

49 minutes ago, Andylongtime said:

It will always remain as the worlds largest brothel. 

You must not get much! Apart from other areas in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, many other countries have areas where girls can be obtained for a small or large fee. Even in some countries you wouldn't think of like Indonesia or Dubai, both Muslim countries. But certainly Mexico, Philippines, Germany, even Nigeria!

[proton]

1 minute ago, mikeymike100 said:

You must not get much! Apart from other areas in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, many other countries have areas where girls can be obtained for a small or large fee. Even in some countries you wouldn't think of like Indonesia or Dubai, both Muslim countries. But certainly Mexico, Philippines, Germany, even Nigeria!

So that's some sort of justification for it then- it happens in other places. By that logic you can defend child prostitution, incest and slavery.

[Kerryd]

When Prayut first took over, he "vowed" to get rid of Walking Street and his first Tourism Minister promised she was going to end the "sex trade" in Pattaya.

That was 8 years ago and they did nothing in all that time.

Maybe someone "higher up" actually looked at some honest numbers and realized that all those hordes of "zero dollar" Chinese tourists and the "6 to a room, 6 to a beer" tourists from India weren't actually contributing much to the economy despite their numbers.

(Which was plainly evident pre-covid. All you had to do was look at how many Chinese and Indian tourists were "walking" up and down Walking Street and how few were actually in the bars, shops, restaurants and shopping malls.

I have not met one single business owner who says he was making money from that "demographic".

And the "Group of 100" (the people who own all those businesses on the "water" side of the street) wield a lot of clout and not just at the "city" level it seems.
Otherwise those buildings would have been razed years ago.

The city had no problem shutting down that Bali Hai condo and they had no problem going after the billionaire owner of Sukwatdee over buildings they decided he'd built on "public" land, but they haven't touched those businesses on WS.

[JoePai]

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Why so modest?

Monte Carlo, Nizza, Waikiki, Gold coast...

 

 

Peckham..... ?

[Kerryd]

5 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

You must not get much! Apart from other areas in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, many other countries have areas where girls can be obtained for a small or large fee. Even in some countries you wouldn't think of like Indonesia or Dubai, both Muslim countries. But certainly Mexico, Philippines, Germany, even Nigeria!

And one of the most famous of them all ?

The Red Light District in Amsterdam.

And the "Reaperbahn" in Hamburg, Germany.

And half of Budapest. (I actually went to the seedy little "Bangkok Bar" in Budapest a few months before my first ever trip to Thailand. Was disappointed as it was basically a dank, dark room in a basement with a couple of (cold) short time rooms in the back and not an Asian girl anywhere. Most of the "working women" in Budapest at the time were from Russia or it's poorer neighbours.)
(In hindsight, I was probably lucky I got out of there without being mugged/drugged/rolled/murdered, not necessarily in that order ! Apparently the Russian mafia ran a lot of those bars.)

And when I did make my first trip to Thailand (Feb 1993) it was only because I'd forgotten my International Driving Permit (I'd planned on renting a car and driving to Germany) and then I found out what a ticket to Casablanca would cost (at the time, about 1,400 Deutschemarks) and that a ticket to Thailand would only be 300 Dms more, so I took that option.

I shared a row with 2 guys and when they found out I was going to Thailand,  told me that they used to go there but now they prefer the Philippines as the "girls were cheaper".
(At the time I had no idea what they were talking about as the only thing I knew about Thailand was the Yul Brenner movie The King and I and the song "One Night in Bangkok. Back in late '92, early '93 there wasn't really an "internet" so you couldn't look up stuff like you can now.)

So yeah, plenty of places to find "sin" around the world.

The hotel bars in Dubai are usually packed with Chinese and African women looking to make extra cash. Like packs of piranhas in those places.

Even in Kabul, Afghanistan, they had Chinese Restaurants were the "special meal deal" also included food ! (The girls came from Urumqi, in the NW corner of China and they'd "swap" them out every 3 months it seems.)

[timendres]

33 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Sadly Pattaya is still living in the past...

Walking street could have been re-modeled into something which was family friendly and just as if not more profitable.

Unfortunately they want to hang on to the old model of it being a street full of cat-houses.

That only draws in the lower rung, not the real money people.

I dare say punters drop serious money on WS. Likely far more than any "family" would spend.

No jet setter is ever going to consider Pattaya as a "destination", so who are these "real money people"?

[kiwikeith]

1 hour ago, Tony125 said:

"If it's not broke, don't fix it"   Leave  Walking Street  as it is with no early closing times and with paid police details as we do in many US cities so that patrons are not assaulted by bouncers or deal drugs on the premises. Any family oriented themes can be along the other areas of Pattaya Beach.

I cannot add anything more, spot on. 

[Golden Triangle]

I really enjoyed Walking Street back in the day, I first visited about 2005, it was fun in those days, now I'm older, a little wiser & in a stable relationship for over 10 years, I don't need it anymore ????

[Pmbkk]

 

Family resort or Walking Street - the Mayor will decide where he's going to get more money from......

 

I don't think you can have both as the latter will tarnish the former. I have warned families not to go to Pattaya. I was first there 35 years ago,  go now with the missus from BKK

Edited May 27, 2022 by Pmbkk

[RichardColeman]

Get rid of walking street, there will be nothing for the Chinese to come and see

[mikeymike100]

1 hour ago, proton said:

So that's some sort of justification for it then- it happens in other places. By that logic you can defend child prostitution, incest and slavery.

What are you on?? You obviously dont understand what logic means!

I was not trying to justify anything. Can you read English???

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pattaya authorities had suggested that the resort’s future might resemble Miami, Singapore or Abu Dhabi

Pattaya authorities haven't a clue what those places are like in comparison to Pattaya. In football terms, it's like comparing the Premier League with non-league clubs, and Thailand is in the wrong league whatever you chose to compare it with. There is so much lacking in basic infrastructure to any of those places it is off the charts.

Thailand is low class and should accept its place and exploit that instead of making itself look silly with grandiose ideas that will never happen. Remember when Thai tourism boomed, before the mass Chinese market and before the country decided to 'attract' Russians/Indians/Saudis/whoever it is this week? They came in their millions for cheap and exciting, for a unique and sleazy nightlife. Then Thailand wanted to turn its back on those, offered third world service at first world prices and now wants turn itself into something it isn't and can never be.

 

The TAT slogan should be We Know Our Place. Except they don't, and that is their problem.

[scubascuba3]

I'm sure the owners just want things opened up fully and stop banging on about changing walking st

[thurien]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Get rid of walking street, there will be nothing for the Chinese to come and see

they will still want to buy pseudo things in pseudo "duty free shops", go to trans shows, bother the elderly massage woman, take day trips to pseudo islets (Ko Larn...) and - above all - enjoy illegal online gambling with real Chinese illegally residing in TH and cheating their own folks out of millions (which is the classic win-lose situation ???? )

Edited May 27, 2022 by thurien

[PETERTHEEATER]

2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

The illegal restaurants built over the water have survived without a walking street and despite orders after the coup to demolish them. Palms have been greased and it's biz as usual.  

With just a little cooperation from the restaurants in Hua Hin built illegally out over the beach they could extend and join up in the middle of the Gulf......????

[Prometheus33]

3 hours ago, Andylongtime said:

It will always remain as the worlds largest brothel. 

... you need to check out Reeperbahn Hamburg  (or a quick visit to "areas" in Amsterdam ) 

[raccos21]