Pattaya operating at near full capacity

[gargamon]

3 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Prices for many things in Pattaya are significantly higher now than they were 9 months ago when I came back. Show me a restaurant that doesn't have stickers over the old prices on menus.

Prices everywhere in the world are higher than they were 9 months ago. It's called inflation. Don't try to blame it on Thailand. Actually, just having come from the west, I have noticed that the increases here are much smaller than the increases there. The worst may be to come. 

[Stargeezr]

I think that other places like  Chumphon  are also still suffering. 

Places like Pattaya, Hua Hin, Cha Am etc. are close in distance to Bangkok,

so locals and tourists either go there or to Chiang Mai and other popular

cities that are well known.  TAT must be happier than they were last year.

[Doctor Tom]

Rubbish report, except on holiday weekends, Pattaya is nowhere near as busy as it was pre covid,  Yesterday, T21 looked virtually deserted.  Big C last weekend busy but not as before, traffic moving and not too many vehicles. I have no idea where they get these idiotic notions. I cant speak for nighttime as I'm never there at night. 

[thesetat]

Everyone in Pattaya can thank TAT and the Chinese leader for opening up China to travel at precisely the time when their Covid outbreak was at its peak there. Then Tat and the Thai governments approval to allow anyone back into this country. I foresee some terrible Covid situation arising again in Pattaya soon. Let's hope I am wrong. 

[mrbojangles]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Lots of traffic though. I miss the "covid days" when the streets and intersections had a quarter of the traffic they do now.

Yeah a lot busier now than a few months ago. The road works on second rd don't help either. I try not to drive down there anymore.

[actonion]

The Pattaya tourist association wants  to promote Pattaya as a safe and attractive destination for tourists,   i dont know any where  that's  attractive in Pattaya,  as for  safety,  until they fix broken  footpaths,  dangerous driving, loose electrical cables  everywhere,   pedestrian crossings  that are safe to walk, across etc. etc.

[moe666]

5 hours ago, Homburg said:

Anyone thinking it's going to drop off would probably not visit Pattaya! ????????????

It will drop off in march low season and to hot

[Trippy]

6 hours ago, Gold Star said:

Thai logic:

 

More tourists = Must raise prices as there is so much demand.

 

Less tourists = Must raise prices to make more profit from less sales to make up the difference.

 

 

That's the very popular thinking among many Farangs, but I've usually found that the Farang owned businesses are far more greedy than the Thai owned.  

Thai's can live a lot cheaper than most Farangs, so the Farangs need more money to support their lifestyle, hence the higher prices.

[ujayujay]

Pattaya and Phuket...no go areas.....

[Seppius]

Definitely not so many tour buses on the roads up to now

[BananaStrong]

saw a guy in a store where ONLY he wasn't wearing a mask, swearing to his Thai gf about the products sold....

 

near full capacity of bad farangs?  impossible, always more coming.

 

it's much better when they complain in a language I can't understand, but in English you can hear it a km away.

 

That's when I knew things are getting back to normal.

[Jiggo]

6 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Thailand had one of the lowest incidences of covid in the world for a long time.

Think you have omitted "Recorded" incidences.

[DJ54]

The picture of beach chairs looks overwhelming…. a narrow strip of beach compacted with chairs and more chairs 

[ozimoron]

47 minutes ago, Jiggo said:

Think you have omitted "Recorded" incidences.

No, the incidence of infection can be deduced from the hospitalisation rates. Please keep your anti Thai bashing down to a dull roar. We are getting sick of it.

 

The reality is that Thailand had strong lock downs, travel restrictions and high social compliance with social distancing and mask wearing back in the early days when they were more effective against the deadlier but less infectious variants which were prevalent at that time.

Edited January 28, 2023 by ozimoron

[PB172111]

7 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Prices for many things in Pattaya are significantly higher now than they were 9 months ago when I came back. Show me a restaurant that doesn't have stickers over the old prices on menus.

Well prices do increase. So has the cost of living. Why post rubbish

[ozimoron]

3 minutes ago, PB172111 said:

Well prices do increase. So has the cost of living. Why post rubbish

Do you live here? Thailand has long had very low inflation. The point is that is now changing and not just from imported goods as one would naturally anticipate. Local restaurant prices have increased by about 30 to 50% since I came 9 months ago. Just an anecdote based on my personal experience. It was not always ever thus as you imply. It's noteworthy because prices here were very stable for many years.

Edited January 28, 2023 by ozimoron

[Phoenix Rising]

Pattaya operating at near full capacity

 

 

And in other news.......

 

[BigStar]

9 hours ago, ukrules said:

Give it 2 months and then lets look at it once the 'high season' is over.

 

It will be a sorry tale of woe again.

Before we take too much comfort in the idea, we should note that we've always had threads with sorry tales of woe from ANF (TVF) posters for the last twenty years. Used be only during low season, but was then extended to high season as well, two annual DEATH threads. COVID led to many a delighted orgy with countless dire prophecies that it was FINALLY the LAST last nail in the coffin.

 

However, pre-COVID, the low seasons weren't as low as they used to be, thanks to more domestic and Asian tourism. Our Economists only survey tin-roofed beer bar owners, however, to represent the entire economy of Pattaya.  And they've always been notorious poor mouths anyway.

[Leaver]

6 hours ago, kinyara said:

Current reality is certainly a lot better than many on this board predicted pre high season. All the talk of how Pattaya wasn't going to recover centred on the high cost of airfares and cost of living increases that were already in play. The absence of the major tourist markets Russia and China was another common reason cited. 

 

As it turns out none of those doomsday scenarios seems to have caused a noticeable effect on the recovery, the high level of Russian visitors now seems to be more of a concern than their predicted absence and no doubt the same will be true of the Chinese market in the coming months. 

 

What you describe is TAT's way of tourism.  That is, just go for quantity, not quality.  Yes, it's busy here now, but are the tourists spending in businesses that cater for tourists?  

 

The big numbers do not necessarily mean big baht.  This goes back to the "zero baht Chinese" debate, and for yet another thread on the issue. 

 

At best, there are harsh economic times ahead for many of Thailand's traditional western market countries, and at worse, a global recession late 2023 or early 2024.  This is not a prediction of mine, it has been in the media with many economists around the world predicting it, and I tend to agree with them that economic factor are pointing in that direction. 

 

You don't see these impending global economic conditions as having any effect on tourism in Thailand at all? 

[BigStar]

8 hours ago, Millcx said:

Pre-COVID … It was on the down and probably one third of tourists … TAT at their Stats again

No, that was TAT: ANF stats. What were those numbers again?

[BigStar]

9 hours ago, alexlm said:

Sometimes they can be smart...

Or they just don't get it.

As usual, denigration of Thais just applies to the poster himself.

Edited January 28, 2023 by BigStar

[BigStar]

7 hours ago, Andycoops said:

There are many bars and restaurants without anywhere near full occupancy in the main eating and drinking evening hours.

And there always have been. Pattaya used to have far fewer bars and restos. But when there are many more of them, then even with the same number of tourists our ace Economists intone the long-prophesied Death of Pattaya.

 

7 hours ago, Andycoops said:

Tour groups, especially chinese ones don't spend money eating and drinking as their meals are pre paid in China, as well as their visits to attractions.

One of our beloved forum myths. Russians and Chinese, even Indians, spend a lot. Those whose livelihoods depend on them know this quite well, unlike our bigoted keyboard warriors.

Edited January 28, 2023 by BigStar

[BigStar]

3 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

Yesterday, T21 looked virtually deserted.  Big C last weekend busy but not as before, traffic moving and not too many vehicles. I have no idea where they get these idiotic notions.

I found business quite good yesterday evening at T21. But our Economists have always found malls deserted throughout Thailand and so have pronounced them just money-laundering operations. I have no idea where they get these idiotic notions.

 

 

[BigStar]

3 hours ago, actonion said:

 i dont know any where  that's  attractive in Pattaya,

The 8 million in 2019 evidently did. You seem rather outnumbered, maybe missing something? ????

[BigStar]

5 hours ago, skorp13 said:

 I live in a Thai area of Pattaya where there are probably 7 hotels that catered to the Chinese tourisits. Including 3 hotels right behind my house where buses used to run non stop. They are all closed. Yes the town is busy and traffic is bad but not to pre cpvid levels

Nobody said Pattaya is back to pre-COVID levels, usual straw man argument. Reminiscent of the constant finger-wagging that domestic tourists would totally compensate for the lack of international tourists. Nobody ever said that, just hot air.

[liddelljohn]

go on hotel booking sites and there are plenty of rooms   in Pattaya , no where near full capacity and still loads of businesses  closed

.

[proton]

Rather go to Blackpool in the winter, and that's horrendous ????

[proton]

4 hours ago, neeray said:

In the article picture, lots of beach goers but none in the water. Huh. I guess they are afraid to get hit by something.

Turdophobia maybe?

[Leaver]

9 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Pattaya is crowded right now and the Chinese tour groups are just getting started. More Russians are also likely to arrive. Anyone thinking it's going to drop off are probably delusional.

 

What about "the spend" though? 

[Leaver]

7 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Pattaya is very busy, but as always too many bars.

 

Yet some continue to refute the oversupply here.