Pattaya Getting Cleaner Beaches And More Upmarket Clientele?

[thailandlover]

Do you see an effort to clean up Pattaya and make it more upmarket? If so, do you think this effort is sustainable? And how will it bode for the current businesses in Pattaya if it is?

[PhilHarries]

Well they keep building more new condominiums, new posh shopping malls but the whole lot goes to ratsh1te once you step out on the street. The basic infrastructure is not there to support the facilities being installed. So these places are fine and dandy provided you drive in, do your business and then drive out but then you are stuck with Pattaya traffic which is steadily getting worse.

They are making the odd effort here and there but it is only piecemeal. Look at the state of the sidewalks, the power lines dangling overhead, the congested sois choked with rental motorbikes, the heaving drains , the lack of decent public transport (Baht buses okay for me but not really for families) i.e. the rip off meter cabs, the "beach" to name but a few issues.

I like the place enormously but I'd never take a family there. It's getting there but judging on the progress in the time I've known the place people will still be starting threads like this long after I've shuffled off this mortal coil.

So, how will it bode for the current businesses of Pattaya? Well nothing has changed in 16 years so I don't see any noticable change anytime soon.

[DonTron]

Phil's point is dead on.

There might be build wonderful clean resorts, hotels and condos but unfortunately we do not have control over the roads and infrastructure.

My feeble attempt to clean up Pattaya was to bribe a flock of kids from the nearest tin-roof village to gather all garbage on our road (and on empty lots), and put it into black trash bags. So for 2 months our road actually looked really great (until the squatters from an old ruin started emptying their bins out on the street again). Ohh well, at least I gave it a shot.

[thaimate]

in 19 years nothing has REALLY changed in Pattaya ,yes when i first came there wernt all the malls ect ,but at the end of the day they are full of the same people that were here then ,me included.

there are more families but once the sun goes down its back to the same place i arrived in all those years ago.

[anothertorres]

The basic infrastructure is not there to support the facilities being installed.

[wileycoyote]

Shame that there is no real sustained planning,or investigation of transportation to and from Pattaya,everything is on ad hoc and on the cheap !

[Chaimai]

Shame that there is no real sustained planning,or investigation of transportation to and from Pattaya,everything is on ad hoc and on the cheap !

Somebody must have the "blueprint"

[billaaa777]

Phil's point is dead on.

Phil's post is dead on WRONG.

Because as every city grows, in which ever country you are in the world they experience exactly the same issues as Pattaya is going though. The fact of the matter is they have made significant improvements to Sukhumvit Road in the last few years, all though it still has it problems.

The major expansion of the road that leads to Pattaya from Jomtien should be finished someday, maybe in this century, I hope anyway, which will be a big help with traffic.

The beaches are getting cleaner and less cluttered with vendors. The city council is discussing widening the beach by importing sand from Rayong. Which would be a huge change.

Certainly, the city is becoming more international by the day and the facilities are following this process.

So, stop your bitching at everything that goes on here. Is there not a one of you that ever has a nice thing to say about anything. It must be sad to be in such a bad mood all the time that everything in life sucks. To bad for you then.

[moo9]

Leave it like it is....

I am spending right now 2 nights in Patong / Phuket and I am homesick already!

[Mighty Mouse]

..... new posh shopping malls but the whole lot goes to ratsh1te once you step out on the street. The basic infrastructure is not there

... they have made significant improvements to Sukhumvit Road in the last few years,

The major expansion of the road that leads to Pattaya from Jomtien should be finished someday,

The beaches are getting cleaner and less cluttered with vendors. The city council is discussing widening the beach by importing sand from Rayong. Which would be a huge change.

Certainly, the city is becoming more international by the day and the facilities are following this process.

Both statements are correct, to a certain degree.

Pattaya has become more modern thanks to new shopping centres, hotels and restaurants. Walking Street is relatively unchanged and is the only reminder of days gone by.

Pattaya Beach is a lot cleaner.

Most sois have been upgraded with an improved drainage system. (still ongoing)

The authorities have tried to improve the transport service with the introduction of buses.

Over the years the electricity supply has improved. ( Can you remember the good old days when daily black outs were common?)

The highway from Bangkok to Pattaya is world class.

But it's the little things that have not improved.

The footpaths are cluttered with vendor tables.

Mangy dogs are all over the place.

Meaningful traffic law enforcement is non-existent.

Traffic problems are getting worse, particularly with the tourist buses that are a law unto themselves.

There doesn't seem to be an law against noise. Some vendors place PA systems onto their vehicles to assault ear drums.

It really all boils down to the police and the local council officers not doing their job properly. Perhaps we can blame it all on a corrupt society.

As for the OP's question about "more upmarket clientele' coming to Pattaya, I haven't noticed much of a difference over the years. There is still a large contingent of sex tourists arriving (not exactly upmarket) but still no noticeable increase of family groups. The high vacancy rates in those expensive hotels indicates that the big money tourists aren't being attracted.

[suiging]

If it all became beautiful and just like the resort of your dreams....

1. You couldn't afford to drink/eat, or stay here

2. You probably wouldn't want to as it would be characterless.

The roads should improve , yes. The laws should be inforced yes. Sewage treatment yes. Water supply constant yes..................

As for the rest of it, the girls and their customers, the beer bars and the balloon chasers, love them all.

Edited March 19, 2009 by suiging

[patklang]

Pattaya has definately improved over the 6 years i have lived here.The big problem to attract more families is that Pattaya is and never will be a family holiday.

[SNGLIFE]

The first reply is the best reply.

It will never be a true family destination. The upmarket are just more of the same but with more money to spend. Infrastructure needs to be ripped out and redone. Even then it would still be the same (long-timers recall the Beach Road "improvements"..?). More height more quantity, but otherwise more of the same same.

[PhilHarries]

Phil's point is dead on.

Phil's post is dead on WRONG.

Because as every city grows, in which ever country you are in the world they experience exactly the same issues as Pattaya is going though. The fact of the matter is they have made significant improvements to Sukhumvit Road in the last few years, all though it still has it problems.

Yes the Sukhumwit road has been improved and continues to be, back when I firts arrived in Pattaya the journey to Bangkok used to take 4 hours MINIMUM. But improvements like that only get the traffic to the city boundaries faster, once you get inside there is little change saving third road. It's all very well getting people to the city but then they have to get about.

BTW infrastructure is more than new roads it includes clean water supply, sewage treatment, garbage collection, street lighting and a whole lot more

The major expansion of the road that leads to Pattaya from Jomtien should be finished someday, maybe in this century, I hope anyway, which will be a big help with traffic.

And there is the crux of the matter "should be finished someday". If someone were to write a song with that as a title it would be the city's anthem. Again, though, it's only an interlink road and does nothing to get people about within the city.

The beaches are getting cleaner and less cluttered with vendors. The city council is discussing widening the beach by importing sand from Rayong. Which would be a huge change.

Well yes the beach is getting cleaner, couldn' t have got worse than back when raw sewage flowed out on it, but I can't comment on the number of vendors. As for the additional sand I believe this was tried a long time back. The size, shape and makeup of beaches is a product of the sea currents in the area. Dumping sand will have no long term effect as, given time, the currents will wash it all away until the beach is back to it's natural size.

Certainly, the city is becoming more international by the day and the facilities are following this process.

It always was international, all that's being added is more shopping malls with more and more shops that no-one wants. The facilities are not following this process otherwise the traffic wouldn't keep getting backed up all around the place.

So, stop your bitching at everything that goes on here. Is there not a one of you that ever has a nice thing to say about anything. It must be sad to be in such a bad mood all the time that everything in life sucks. To bad for you then.

So everything is perfect and it's paradise on Earth then? You must be one of these rose tinted spetacle brigade skipping around with a sickly smile on your face.

If you bothered to read the OP the question was "Is Pattaya getting cleaner and more upmarket?".

The answer is "YES" but not at a rate that will see a dramatic change in my lifetime which, for me, is great news as I like the place as it is. But I am not taking a family on holiday there nor would I ever do so. It is not a family resort unless you happen to like spending your entire holiday around the hotel swimming pool and/or herded together on coach tours out of the city. To give you some idea of the pace of development in the town, back in '92 when I first got there all the talk was about the city council clearing all the beer bars off beach road and clearing all the illegal buildings off the beach side of walking street. Well here we are 17 years on and I think there are more beer bars than ever on beach road and as for walking street, I rest my case.

Come on even an incorrigible, dewy eyed romantic like you must wish for better quality sidewalks and for all those ugly cables to be hidden underground. Improvements don't have to irreparably change the town, but they can make it a more pleasant place to live. But on that note, do all you people who have fallen head over heels in love with the new condos and malls ever think of those of us that liked what was there before? My favourite noodle soup restaurant on beach road was bulldozed to make way for a new condo, it served the best noodle soup in Pattaya and now it's gone .

The only permanent thing in life is change. What we have to do is try and channel that change so that it is for the good of all and not try and preserve things just the way WE like them (except for my noodle soup place ).

[scorecard]

Yes Pattaya has 'character', and I wouldn't want to see it become a perfectly groomed 6 star resort town. I lived there for many years until 10 years ago when I moved my office to Bangkok.

But, regardless of the above, this Tuesday 17th March I was in Pattaya for the day from Bangkok, it rained fairly heavy for several hours, but I've certainly seen heavier torrential long-term rain.

Within minutes there were flooded intersection everywhere, some quite deep. I had to try to get around Pattaya all day and had to resort to a high sitting motorcycle taxi for the day. Not once did I see a Pattaya City Council person or team trying to unblock drains or take some action to relieve the flooding and not once did I see a policeman trying to direct traffic in the flood chaos.

Over the last 20 years I've seen numerous large civil enginerring projects take place in Pattaya, many including the installation of large drainage pipes.

Five minutes of rain and Pattaya is flooded.

I guess many would like to preserve the 'character', but is it too much to ask, after all this time and after the spening of many billions of Baht, to have a working street drainage system?

[SNGLIFE]

I might also add that the crime and working poverty rate is WAAAAAAAAY up from a few years ago. I think probably due to the economic hard times and much higher rates of flight from upcountry and bordering countries to Pattaya. A lot came to work during the construction boom and never went home. Also, there is less farming work due to crop changes to things like rubber trees and biofuel plants. It is noticeable to anyone who cares to see what they are looking at, what is no longer here, and to which areas it has scattered.

[Ulysses G.]

Are you talking sheet about PhilHarries?

[wileycoyote]

I think the Credit Crunch will bite Pattaya hard

[CGW]

What really bothers me in Pattaya now is the pollution, both noise and garbage!

Hard to sit anywhere without unnecessarily noisy trucks\cars\or motorbikes with modified exhausts roaring by, never have figured out why Thai's like noisy vehicles?

The garbage pollution is just everywhere! if there is a vacant piece of land in no time at all it has become a garbage dump!

No effort is being made to change either situation!

[JR Texas]

Phil's point is dead on.

Phil's post is dead on WRONG.

Because as every city grows, in which ever country you are in the world they experience exactly the same issues as Pattaya is going though. The fact of the matter is they have made significant improvements to Sukhumvit Road in the last few years, all though it still has it problems.

The major expansion of the road that leads to Pattaya from Jomtien should be finished someday, maybe in this century, I hope anyway, which will be a big help with traffic.

The beaches are getting cleaner and less cluttered with vendors. The city council is discussing widening the beach by importing sand from Rayong. Which would be a huge change.

Certainly, the city is becoming more international by the day and the facilities are following this process.

So, stop your bitching at everything that goes on here. Is there not a one of you that ever has a nice thing to say about anything. It must be sad to be in such a bad mood all the time that everything in life sucks. To bad for you then.

Disagree........the water is a toilet........that has not been flushed! The beaches are eroding fast because a group of idiots/developers took chain saws to hundreds of the old-growth threes (beautiful trees) that once lined the beaches.

Those trees provided shade. They also had a huge root system that held the sand in place......adapted to the shoreline. In place they planted palm trees that have a small root system.

The infrastructure is woefully inadequate in relationship to current development........severely inadequate in relationship to future development (most of which will not be developed). Water shortages......power going out.....

The people in charge and all of the real estate clowns promoting the place are clueless.....all living in la la land.

It is a sinking ship..........

Reminds me of the story about the musicians playing music on the deck as the Titanic sank into the icy water........the music did not stop the ship from sinking.

[stevoo]

in its present state who in the right mind would bring there families ie children to pattaya dirty beaches and sea water, dangerous pavements and traffic (when i go next time im going to sell the local council my new invention a "padestrian crossing with lights") blocked drains which give that god awful smell, food being cooked with naked flames, hot oil, hot pans all within head hieght and reach of children.

can some one tell me how are they going to widen the beach, when i was there at christmas, i presume it was a high tide that coupled with a strong wind washed the beach sand away, this was perhaps on the three occasions

with global warming pattaya will not have a beach in three years (in its current position)

[stevoo]

in its present state who in the right mind would bring there families ie children to pattaya dirty beaches and sea water, dangerous pavements and traffic (when i go next time im going to sell the local council my new invention a "padestrian crossing with lights") blocked drains which give that god awful smell, food being cooked with naked flames, hot oil, hot pans all within head hieght and reach of children.

can some one tell me how are they going to widen the beach, when i was there at christmas, i presume it was a high tide that coupled with a strong wind washed the beach sand away, this was perhaps on the three occasions

with global warming pattaya will not have a beach in three years (in its current position)

[doggie888888]

You don't get an upmarket clientele if:

- your major attraction is Walking Street

- your second main attraction is Sexy Soi 6

- your main beach and surrounding beaches are a cesspit of rubbish, murky water and unidentified foul smelling matter

- your Stepford wife and Brady Bunch kids are likely to be accosted by one of these: porno DVD vendors, paedophiles, drunkards, pickpocket transexuals and/or someone offerring "sexy lady/man/sex show/ladyboy show"

- just outside your fantabulous resort (or brand new condo) are loud bars, overflowing rubbish bins, sewage stink, potholes, stray DISEASED dogs, stagnant water from the last rainfall, tour buses belching black smoke and a dubious building site next door which may or may not be legal, blocking your 20mil baht seaviews!

- you say Pattaya, the word association is "sex" or "seedy"; not "tropical", "beach", "lush", "clean" or "paradise"

Unlike our Dear Leaders, I accept that our major industry is "adult entertainent" and there is nothing wrong with that nor the type of visitors it attracts. By all means clean up the beach and environment but do it because it is the right thing to do, not just to attract the Upmarket Clientele...they prefer more upmarket destinations rather than this sorry, seedy little town with delusions of grandeur and whose reputation is fairly entrenched as "sex destination" despite its big-words-cum-PR campaign.

I am not complaining; merely stating the realities on the ground in Pattaya and its reputation around the world!

[moo9]

Hard to sit anywhere without unnecessarily noisy trucks\cars\or motorbikes with modified exhausts roaring by, never have figured out why Thai's like noisy vehicles?

Quite often a loud exhaust can save your life on a bike! ;-)

But if you like it quiet, why do you chose Pattaya? Not the place to be for your preferences imho...

[BIGJIMMY]

I love it all, best thing I ever did moving ti Pattaya 6 years ago!!!!!

You ever been to Margate, Kent - ha ha???

[topdjdel]

I love it all, best thing I ever did moving ti Pattaya 6 years ago!!!!!

You ever been to Margate, Kent - ha ha???

Love it loveit, Not Margate tho hasn't got Dreamland anymore!!

I get excited when I go to Pattaya,it is bonkers!!!

Look forward to going now!

.delboy