Pattaya — The tourism sector in Pattaya is grappling with a waning number of Chinese tourists due to current strict visa regulations and a shortage of flight options.

Mr. Boonanan Pattanasin, the president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA), revealed that the current tourism situation in Pattaya is predominantly centered on Chinese and Indian tourists. However, the number of Chinese tourists has significantly declined in recent months, hindering the city’s full recovery.

 

This undesirable decline is caused by a number of reasons, including strict visa regulations and a shortage of direct flights from China to Pattaya, he said.

 

In contrast to popular tourist destinations like Phuket or Chiang Mai, which attract a larger number of Chinese tourists due to their direct flight accessibility, Pattaya has fewer direct flights despite having U-Tapao Airport.

 

By Tanakorn Panyadee

PHOTO: Bangkok Post

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2023/08/27/chinese-tourist-shortfall-takes-toll-on-pattayas-tourism-sector/

 

-- THE PATTAYA NEWS 2023-08-28

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

The result of putting all eggs in one basket

7 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

The result of putting all eggs in one basket

 

Aren't the Visa requirements the same as when we were getting them by the gazillion?

Are they any golfers here?

The lower budget tourists are not coming. The Chinese economy is down the pan. The masses don't have the money. The collapsed property market has soaked up all the cash.

 

The visa restrictions are largely irrelevant - it didn't stop them before.

 

The lack of flights is because there is a lack of customers.

The Chinese are not the only people on the Planet

Any shortfall in Tourism is not entirely down to the lack of these people.

Pattaya also has to look at itself , and ask why  the Tourists from the rest of the World are not coming

For so many Years when times were good, all the Authorities seem to do was cream off the Revenue generated by Tourism

A chronic lack of any Investment in the City, such as the now  proposed Monorail, clean and safe areas for people to relax, the lack of public Toilets Etc, has left the entire City a tired and extremely jaded destination for Tourists now

The Streets are full of Holes that are dug to put in place some Infrastructure, hat should ( lets be honest ) have been put in place some 20 Years ago

The sidewalks are an obstacle course every where

Its not safe to cross a road - even at a crosswalk

There is also high potential for some crime or another

The reasons Tourists dont come to Pattaya just goes on and on, so why spend hard earned Money in Pattaya when there are far superior destinations for the same or less money, and cheaper Air Fares to get to them for many

 

 

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This undesirable decline 

For many of us this should be changed to : This decline in undesirables !

If wages are about the same or less in China than in Thailand, it would be

easy to see that people in China are still getting over the pandemic as well.

 TAT should be smart enough to see this situation a well. Maybe in a few years

the numbers from all countries will increase.  

Ok.

So what's the bad news?

5 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

The lower budget tourists are not coming. The Chinese economy is down the pan. The masses don't have the money. The collapsed property market has soaked up all the cash.

 

The visa restrictions are largely irrelevant - it didn't stop them before.

 

The lack of flights is because there is a lack of customers.

Very much so and to rub salt into the wounds:-

For reference from today's UK Yahoo News (28 August 2023):-

 

• China has faced many economic problems this year, from deflation and record youth unemployment to a property crisis.

• But now, an even more worrisome threat is emerging: the colossal hidden debt of China's local governments.

• Some estimates put the liabilities of China's local financing vehicles close to $10 trillion.

For some time now, markets have been buffeted almost on a daily basis by gloomy economic news filtering out of China......... and its much-anticipated post-pandemic rebound has failed to materialize.

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chinas-10-trillion-hidden-debt-170001361.html

 

4 hours ago, Stargeezr said:

TAT should be smart enough to see this situation

TAT see nothing through their permanently rose-coloured spectacles.  You only get a job with them if you are rubbish at Maths and have a lurid imagination.

5 minutes ago, mikebell said:

You only get a job with them if you are rubbish at Maths and have a lurid imagination.

And can read tea leaves, tarot cards and cracked crystal balls!

Do we not all put a bet on the wrong horse from time to time? ????

5 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

The Chinese are not the only people on the Planet

Any shortfall in Tourism is not entirely down to the lack of these people.

Pattaya also has to look at itself , and ask why  the Tourists from the rest of the World are not coming

For so many Years when times were good, all the Authorities seem to do was cream off the Revenue generated by Tourism

A chronic lack of any Investment in the City, such as the now  proposed Monorail, clean and safe areas for people to relax, the lack of public Toilets Etc, has left the entire City a tired and extremely jaded destination for Tourists now

The Streets are full of Holes that are dug to put in place some Infrastructure, hat should ( lets be honest ) have been put in place some 20 Years ago

The sidewalks are an obstacle course every where

Its not safe to cross a road - even at a crosswalk

There is also high potential for some crime or another

The reasons Tourists dont come to Pattaya just goes on and on, so why spend hard earned Money in Pattaya when there are far superior destinations for the same or less money, and cheaper Air Fares to get to them for many

 

 

 

I'm saying you are 100% wrong.

In the early 90s Pattaya was the best it's ever been, and chocka with happy farang tourists fronting up to support untold numbers of sick buffalos.

 

Because the Pattaya authorities pursed some insane dream of turning Pattaya from a cheap and cheerful place for mongers to hang out into some bas tard version of the Riviera ( which was never going to happen ) they destroyed what was, and failed to make it into anything better. All they got was a big mess that was getting too expensive for the monger demographic, and too rubbish to attract the big spenders.

Do they really think removing the power poles from Walking St is going to have the Dubai crowd flocking to Pattaya? Madness!

 

Then combine it with the push by immigration to make it more and more difficult to visit LOS, and we get the current disaster that is Pattaya.

 

Can it be fixed? Yes, but it won't be.

 

Farewell Pattaya, the shining city of dreams beside the sparkling sea, it was real for a while, but it's dust now.

24 minutes ago, Reginald Prewster said:

Do we not all put a bet on the wrong horse from time to time? ????

Not if the wrong horse is 100% obviously wrong.

5 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

The Chinese are not the only people on the Planet

Any shortfall in Tourism is not entirely down to the lack of these people.

Pattaya also has to look at itself , and ask why  the Tourists from the rest of the World are not coming

For so many Years when times were good, all the Authorities seem to do was cream off the Revenue generated by Tourism

A chronic lack of any Investment in the City, such as the now  proposed Monorail, clean and safe areas for people to relax, the lack of public Toilets Etc, has left the entire City a tired and extremely jaded destination for Tourists now

The Streets are full of Holes that are dug to put in place some Infrastructure, hat should ( lets be honest ) have been put in place some 20 Years ago

The sidewalks are an obstacle course every where

Its not safe to cross a road - even at a crosswalk

There is also high potential for some crime or another

The reasons Tourists dont come to Pattaya just goes on and on, so why spend hard earned Money in Pattaya when there are far superior destinations for the same or less money, and cheaper Air Fares to get to them for many

 

 

 

Your opinion is so true , yet one can stay in a good hotel where every facility is immaculate and then venture out to a complete contrast for a shop or a beer and have to pass through a minefield of broken pavements / sidewalks or try to cross a road that has some crazy inconsiderate drivers . Lets face it , the majority of tourists are probably single males looking for the bar scene but I read that many girls are working on line and ditching the bars . Many bars with unattractive women and some appear to have come out of retirement .