11 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Checking the flights for December and January from the U.K. not many below a £1000 not unless you like long layovers or 3 2 plus changes. 

Just looked at Emirates - prices down slightly from a year ago, but as you say not much under £1K (actually between £850-£900 before all the extras get loaded on!)

5 minutes ago, VBF said:

Just looked at Emirates - prices down slightly from a year ago, but as you say not much under £1K (actually between £850-£900 before all the extras get loaded on!)

I arrived back from the U.K. a couple of weeks ago Emirates, Newcastle via Dubai, on both flights the economy seats were full, they ain’t going reduce prices when they are flying full.

10 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I arrived back from the U.K. a couple of weeks ago Emirates, Newcastle via Dubai, on both flights the economy seats were full, they ain’t going reduce prices when they are flying full.

No Jumbo you missed my point - the projected prices for Dec 23-Feb 24 are lower than a year before so if you book now it IS cheaper both in Economy and Business.

12 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

they ain’t going reduce prices when they are flying full.

No, the pressure might be to raise them a little......

4 hours ago, VBF said:

No Jumbo you missed my point - the projected prices for Dec 23-Feb 24 are lower than a year before so if you book now it IS cheaper both in Economy and Business.

Might be less but still over a £1000 although slightly less from the London airports, just checked them.

15 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Might be less but still over a £1000 although slightly less from the London airports, just checked them.

Prices in early December are not so high.

I seem to remember the exact same prediction for high season this time last year, high flight costs, cost of living, electricity prices etc etc. As per normal didn't make a blind bit of difference to core European long-haul markets, I know my friends took advantage of the extra 15 days visa free on entry.  Bars are empty in low season, could set my watch by that old chestnut that gets trotted out every year..

8 minutes ago, kinyara said:

I seem to remember the exact same prediction for high season this time last year, high flight costs, cost of living, electricity prices etc etc. As per normal didn't make a blind bit of difference to core European long-haul markets, I know my friends took advantage of the extra 15 days visa free on entry.  Bars are empty in low season, could set my watch by that old chestnut that gets trotted out every year..

And they weren’t much busier in high season either.

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

And they weren’t much busier in high season either.

It's always more credible to make these observations at the time, strangely they tend to be absent when Pattaya is in full swing. However low season observations are always real time, but as I said shouldn't be a surprise to anyone as the core clientele are indeed still seasonal visitors absent in their numbers at this time of year.

 

Hopefully establishments will be better geared up staffing wise this high season, as a shortage of staff relative to custom was a common complaint from owners and customers I saw and experienced.

3 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

And they weren’t much busier in high season either.

I couldn't get a Bolt taxi at night during High Season last year. Baht buses were at capacity.

 

It was common to see people at night walking from Jomtien to Pattaya.

 

Then, about May 1, things got very quiet.

On 9/8/2023 at 12:48 PM, Jumbo1968 said:

Checking the flights for December and January from the U.K. not many below a £1000 not unless you like long layovers or 3 2 plus changes. 

Same from E.U. (KLM) 

3 hours ago, kinyara said:

It's always more credible to make these observations at the time, strangely they tend to be absent when Pattaya is in full swing. However low season observations are always real time, but as I said shouldn't be a surprise to anyone as the core clientele are indeed still seasonal visitors absent in their numbers at this time of year.

 

Hopefully establishments will be better geared up staffing wise this high season, as a shortage of staff relative to custom was a common complaint from owners and customers I saw and experienced.

In my 9 years in Pattaya I have noticed a big decline in foreigners coming for the high season which is now shorter more so down to the fact that Thailand isn’t a cheap holiday now with increase in airfares and the poor exchange rates. Why anyone would want to open a bar here is beyond me not unless they are money laundering.

2 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

In my 9 years in Pattaya I have noticed a big decline in foreigners coming for the high season which is now shorter more so down to the fact that Thailand isn’t a cheap holiday now with increase in airfares and the poor exchange rates. Why anyone would want to open a bar here is beyond me not unless they are money laundering.

I noticed that the usual exodus of customers this year was delayed from the day after Songkran until May 1. There was an extra week of heavy traffic.

2 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

I noticed that the usual exodus of customers this year was delayed from the day after Songkran until May 1. There was an extra week of heavy traffic.

 

2 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

I noticed that the usual exodus of customers this year was delayed from the day after Songkran until May 1. There was an extra week of heavy traffic.

Are you talking domestic tourism ?

Last High Season, there was a shortage of ladies for the bars, because of Covid. Once word got out that customers were plentiful, the ladies streamed into Pattaya, but by then it was already late January.

 

This year, there should be enough ladies to handle the influx of customers.

1 minute ago, Jumbo1968 said:

 

Are you talking domestic tourism ?

No.

 

There is usually a fairly dramatic exit of Farangs the day after Songkran ends. This year, the Farangs stuck around until May 1.

 

Just now, Danderman123 said:

Last High Season, there was a shortage of ladies for the bars, because of Covid. Once word got out that customers were plentiful, the ladies streamed into Pattaya, but by then it was already late January.

 

This year, there should be enough ladies to handle the influx of customers.

The shortage of bar girls who are certainly not ladies is down to the fact a lot have jumped on to dating apps, no need to sit in a bar getting p***** and being able to chose their clients.

ffs pattaya has been dying for decades. it is perishing as fast as the men who used to frequrent the gogo bar scene as a way of life.

That just doesnt appeal to people these days. There are so many other ways to go about it.

3 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

No.

 

There is usually a fairly dramatic exit of Farangs the day after Songkran ends. This year, the Farangs stuck around until May 1.

 

Where were you drinking certainty not where I was, in general most farangs leave Pattaya as it’s a Thai thing and getting buckets of cold water thrown over them doesn’t appeal to them.

10 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

The shortage of bar girls who are certainly not ladies is down to the fact a lot have jumped on to dating apps, no need to sit in a bar getting p***** and being able to chose their clients.

The shortage of ladies was only temporary, as High Season began. After the peak of High Season, Pattaya was flooded with ladies.

 

Don't forget that a lot of online ladies work sideline at bars, leaving when they hook a customer.

10 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Where were you drinking certainty not where I was, in general most farangs leave Pattaya as it’s a Thai thing and getting buckets of cold water thrown over them doesn’t appeal to them.

Unfortunately, Farangs jam Pattaya during Songkran.

11 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

The shortage of ladies was only temporary, as High Season began. After the peak of High Season, Pattaya was flooded with ladies.

 

Don't forget that a lot of online ladies work sideline at bars, leaving when they hook a customer.

Then why were the bar owners complaining they couldn’t get bar girls then complaining again when they did they moved on to another bar who were paying a better salary.

12 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Unfortunately, Farangs jam Pattaya during Songkran.

You live in Pattaya, in my 10 years here I have never seen Pattaya jammed with farangs only Thais.

2 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Then why were the bar owners complaining they couldn’t get bar girls then complaining again when they did they moved on to another bar who were paying a better salary.

Prior to the peak of High Season, there was a shortage of ladies.

 

After the peak, ladies would change to a bar that had more customers 

2 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

You live in Pattaya, in my 10 years here I have never seen Pattaya jammed with farangs only Thais.

Some stock photos showing what it's like in High Season.

 

Is there really a high season at all? It feels more like hype to me? Without the bar staff and no name Thais milling around I don’t ever see many visitors.

13 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Some stock photos showing what it's like in High Season.

 

Yep the first baht bus is full of school children, the second was taken years ago I would think, I haven’t seen a baht bus that packed for years. I think you are a bar owner trying to talk Pattaya up like Buzzin Trevor does and Nick Dean on NDTVI, looking at your user name you might be Dan Dan the camera man Nick Deans camera man.

17 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Yep the first baht bus is full of school children, the second was taken years ago I would think, I haven’t seen a baht bus that packed for years. I think you are a bar owner trying to talk Pattaya up like Buzzin Trevor does and Nick Dean on NDTVI, looking at your user name you might be Dan Dan the camera man Nick Deans camera man.

I saw some packed coming from Jomtein but It’s not a lot relatively speaking. They would be picking up groups from the night market or along the whole beach stretch. Any city that was halfway crowded the trucks would be packed each time.

 

I think people are inflating the popularity of the place, or like you say, it’s goofballs hyping YouTube channels to make it sound exciting. You can see in the vlogs them walking down the same few streets in central each time.

3 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

I saw some packed coming from Jomtein but It’s not a lot relatively speaking. They would be picking up groups from the night market or along the whole beach stretch. Any city that was halfway crowded the trucks would be packed each time.

 

I think people are inflating the popularity of the place, or like you say, it’s goofballs hyping YouTube channels to make it sound exciting.

I have said to Buzzin Trevor a few times you are doing a great job for the Thai Tourist Authority always talking Pattaya up. Nick Dean is constantly promoting Soi 7 as he is in the process of opening up his 4th bar on the Soi, how he manages to pay the rent on all them during low season is beyond me not unless he has some big backers behind him.

1 minute ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I have said to Buzzin Trevor a few times you are doing a great job for the Thai Tourist Authority always talking Pattaya up. Nick Dean is constantly promoting Soi 7 as he is in the process of opening up his 4th bar on the Soi, how he manages to pay the rent on all them during low season is beyond me not unless he has some big backers behind him.

Probably people coming into inheritances as they get older. I had a few relatives get a wad of cash and just end up burning it.