Pattaya Left Behind in Thailand's 'Premium' Tourism Upgrade Strategy

[KhunHeineken]

Phuket has been a "premium" rip off for years.  

 

Phuket is Thailand"s "Money Number One" tourist destination.  

 

They don't call Phuket "Pirate Island" for nothing. 

[TedG]

I was in Pattaya last week and walked down Beach Road. Someone should level all the old bars and buildings on Beach Road and rebuild, but that would require serious investment.

[Zack61]

40+ years ago Phuket was a real gem but very quickly it degenerated into what we have today. This Premium label is only going to push it further into the abyss if this is at all possible. 

[phil2803]

Last time I was in Phuket and Patong beach was back in 1985.   Basic bungalow on the beach.  I think the only concrete structure back then was the Phuket Hotel.  In town I stayed at the On On Hotel.  Do you think I would notice any difference now?  555

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, Jack1104 said:

Phuket is now overpriced and  premium status push prices to hight. 

Ten minutes off the plane and doesn't the rip-off start with the taxi mafia?

[sandyf]

23 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Probably 'left behind' because officials keep on about the fact that there is no prostitution in Pattaya. 

That same old falang rhetoric.

Phuket was always Thailands "up market" resort, till the tsunami hit. Quite a few high profile names there at the time. John Irvine, one of ITVs main journalists was on holiday and made the first reports.

The fallout wiped out Phuket as a premier resort and after 20 years not surprising that the government would start to try and get Phuket back to where it once was.

Pattaya has never had that sort of reputation to recover and will always be seen as the poor man's Amsterdam.

My niece in the UK is an independant travel agent and I have never seen any of her Thai holidays include Pattaya,   usually Bangkok, Phuket, CM and Samui.

[kiwikeith]

11 hours ago, BusyB said:

 

Doubt it. On that basis it should have burst at least a decade ago.

 

There's a never ending supply of suckers in this world. Just need to look at recent political events ...

Yes they are on their way, unless they get caught vape ing on their flight 

[sandyf]

14 hours ago, chilli42 said:

Pattaya as a brand is ruined, its reputation in the trash.  It would take massive investment to bring it back from the dead. Phuket, from mid island down is dump … an embarrassment. As a brand though, Phuket still has some positives even if it is just riding in the fumes of the past. If I were making the decision for a premium destination it would very much be Phuket over Pattaya. Just leave Pattaya to the Russians and Chinese as a cheap and cheerful discount destination.

Quite.  What I have seen on the holiday adverts is not so much the town itself but the name being used for the area with beach resorts and elephants being some distance away.

Nearest I have been was Krabi, never bothered with Phuket.

[Guderian]

Good news for Phuket! So now the Swissies kicking female Thai doctors sitting on public steps will be "premium" tourists and not the old riff-raff variety. And only Russian Gangsters who can trace their ancestry back to Catherine the Great will be allowed to operate. Meanwhile, the Anglophone hoodlums assaulting Thai police will only speak with an Etonian accent. That will be much better!

[Mr Meeseeks]

17 hours ago, VBF said:

At least Pattaya is a large city with a lot of attractions outside of the sex zone, you have good go-kart tracks, you have excellent golf courses and many very good beaches nearby. 

 

Outside the city centre, Pattaya is the best place to live in Thailand. 

 

Subjective of course, but that's my opinion based on 33 years experience living in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok.

[mdr224]

Man how out of touch can they be. Phuket is just little russia now

[hotandsticky]

15 minutes ago, mdr224 said:

Man how out of touch can they be. Phuket is just little Russia now

 

 

The Russians and Phuket (Patong especially) deserve each other.

[J Branche]

Thank You for leaving Pattaya out of premium tourism.

 

Last thing most of us want is prices to increase substantially.

 

Still loving Pattaya with all it's flaws.

Weather, food, entertainment, affordable, transportation, couple of good hospitals.

[Patong2021]

13 hours ago, JoeyMac said:

Phuket has alot of natural beauty to be premium, but sadly let down by the desire to flog it with cheap tourists. 

 

The seemingly desperation to lure in visitor numbers at any expense, has had unfortunate results with the type of visitor they are attracting. 

 

Pattaya is what it is .... it's close to Bangkok for a starters. It too though has been wrecked by becoming little India. 

 That's the key advantage: The proximity to the nation's primary international airport.

If the powers that be were serious about  giving Pattaya status, there would have been a rail link built between  BKK and Bangkok city  with  the Pattaya city center long ago. It would have removed hundreds of vehicles from the road in any given hour and made visiting  Pattaya much easier.

 

Sure, there is a promised rail link for 2029 and I suppose better late than never, but many people here won't be alive to see the train operation because it will most likely be late opening.  The station will be at Soi Chaiyaporn in Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district, rather far away from the tourist zone. This will set visitors up to  taxi rip offs of 300baht+ and a relocation of the obnoxious minibus operators. Visitors will be left scrambling. No mention of a major hotel bus option as  is seen at Tokyo  or South Korea airports.

 

It's like Pattaya is a  cash cow and they want to exploit it as long as possible without really investing in the place.

[kinyara]

There are premium individual private sector venues all over Thailand but no  area is premium. That is down to the public sector and its institutions which unfortunately appear to be untouchable reform wise. 

[Sandboxer]

The jokes write themselves here.

[VBF]

4 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

Outside the city centre, Pattaya is the best place to live in Thailand. 

 

Subjective of course, but that's my opinion based on 33 years experience living in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok.

Neither agreeing nor disagreeing with you,  @Mr Meeseeks    but you've actually quoted my reply to @spidermike007 there....just FYI, you understand.

[kwaussie]

18 hours ago, VBF said:

Merely out of interest @kwaussie how old are you?

 

I'm not asking to have a go at you, merely because with all the faults I see in Phuket, I can still see its attractions for a younger "hipper" crowd.

Pattaya which I prefer does attract a lot of us "old geezers" - maybe that's another thing in its favour for some of US - I'm 70 this year by the way.

 

I am a fit young 71, enjoy going to the gym every day then swim walk jog along different beaches, then night time enjoy playing pool before hitting night clubs and dancing like no tomorrow. 

[hotandsticky]

4 minutes ago, kwaussie said:

I am a fit young 71, enjoy going to the gym every day then swim walk jog along different beaches, then night time enjoy playing pool before hitting night clubs and dancing like no tomorrow. 

 

 

Are you sure that you don't look a bit of a d!ckhe4d on Lucifer's dance floor ?

 

 

 

[petermik]

15 minutes ago, kwaussie said:

I am a fit young 71, enjoy going to the gym every day then swim walk jog along different beaches, then night time enjoy playing pool before hitting night clubs and dancing like no tomorrow. 

I can believe you....I,m 86 and can nearly match that...I,m not into dancing much I prefer lancing the dancers instead 👍

[Highball]

Quality

 

 

[VBF]

2 hours ago, kwaussie said:

I am a fit young 71, enjoy going to the gym every day then swim walk jog along different beaches, then night time enjoy playing pool before hitting night clubs and dancing like no tomorrow. 

Top man - I obviously stand corrected!!  My theory is incorrect

Keep on having fun - I do prefer Patts but each to his own.

Cheers

[BusyB]

11 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

Yes they are on their way, unless they get caught vape ing on their flight 

 

I seem to recall that a huge number of them back then were Aussis ... it struck me as a kind of Oz Las Palmas 😉 

[BusyB]

21 hours ago, TedG said:

I was in Pattaya last week and walked down Beach Road. Someone should level all the old bars and buildings on Beach Road and rebuild, but that would require serious investment.

 

And totally destroy what's left of its heritage as a fishing village/town. Great.

 

Next to the Dolphin roundabout they leveled the Palm Gardens Hotel - one of my top 3 in Thailand. An older, 2 story, lovely, family run, affordable hotel with brilliant Thai cuisine, full of long term stayers, formerly a TUI resort with a swell pool and lovely garden, AND the quaint old town type shopping center opposite where there were real massage shops, trinket stands, small shops and of course great Kiss Food grub. They've replaced that with Terminal 20 bloody 1 - like Pattaya urgently needed another mall - and the hotel was still a desolate site last time I was there.

 

Broke my heart it did.

[jayboy]

On 1/11/2025 at 11:48 AM, Patong2021 said:

Sometimes a lost cause is best just left alone.  Perhaps the intent is to leave Pattaya as the go to destination for Indians and financially limited foreigners. Sort of like  what Reno is to Las Vegas, what Ibiza is to Nice and St. Tropez etc.

 

Plenty of high rollers in Ibiza and some classy residents too, even James Blunt.There are a few high rollers in Pattaya but I would venture to suggest nobody of upper social classes would visit let alone live there. More for the Dan about Thailand types.

[Bernietravelling]

On 1/11/2025 at 12:59 AM, webfact said:

former Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul

well… guess, which category of hotels Mr. Anutin owns where…

🤣

[jacko45k]

17 hours ago, J Branche said:

Thank You for leaving Pattaya out of premium tourism.

Yes, we have decided to slum it and chase the Indian and locals' dollars thank you very much. It is exhausting but keeps the streets crowded. 

[bristolgeoff]

Phuket from what i know expensive too many russians.pattaya not so bad but similar.I don,t think pattaya has to much to worry about.