Pattaya Is Finished

[MayBeLater]

Starting tonight I shall be taking photos around town to show how lively it still is.

Can you go into that gogo bar on the right handside as you get into Walking Street where the girls dress as 1950s air hostess, and take a picture of the girl in a red outfit who hands out the Sambuca and Tequila ... The prettiest girl in all of Pattaya

PS Ive never seen anywhere in LOS as quiet as what Pattaya was last month, maybe itll pick up soon with the summer holiday season only 1 week away.

Ofcourse it will pick up for the summer holiday season, not the same numbers as last year, that would be quite weird being in the middle of the almost global recession. But loads of tourists will visit Thailand (and Pattaya), same as will happen in december and january. Sure, less tourists will arrive, and perhaps Pattaya will be harder hit being a prime destination for manual labourers (plumbers, constructionworkers etc..) that seem to be the dominant factor in Pattaya these last years, since they are quite hard hit by the recession.

No matter what, Pattaya will be up and running soon enough, tourism will become much much much more important for Thailand in the years to come. I predict tourist numbers will double in about a decade and a half, minor troubles like a bit of civil unrest, nature wrecking havoc (tsunami) and bit of economic hardship mean absolutely nothing in the long term (being in Thailand long term is 3/5 years :-)

All is fine in Thailand.

[tropo]

Pattaya was a ghost town last night.

Saturday night, July 11, around 10pm:

[JR Texas]

Pattaya was a ghost town last night.

Saturday night, July 11, around 10pm:

That certainly does not look like a ghost town. So, is it dead? Is it alive and kicking?

It is interesting to get such extreme views from so many different people.

One person sees one thing; another person sees the opposite.

No denying that the pictures show lots of farangs.

[JMS]

Pattaya was a ghost town last night.

Saturday night, July 11, around 10pm:

I have lived in Pattaya for the last 10 years and have been through all the recent scares. Many bars and bussiness are struggling but the expat market here in Pattaya is huge so even though the tourist numbers are well down the expats here still go out and enjoy themselves. I never go to walking street so can not comment on that but i agree with the posts that tourist numbers are well down you just have to go to the airport to see that but i do not believe that pattaya is finished it will recover sometime in the future

[Tolley]

Was in Walking St last night and there was a fair bit of foot traffic around.

There is notably less tourists around when you get away from Walking St and it is as quiet as I have seen it for many years.

It is only to be expected with the GFC and low season.

What i did notice that despite the downturn prices for drinks have risen in many bars.

Was in LD1 last night and they have jacked up their prices for beer 20 percent and also other things.

Still they were busy so they were doing something right.

Good time to come really less tourists and less hassle.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Tolley

[zorro1]

lot of people in denial, has to be one the strangest threads`on TV at the moment. Next time anyone goes there have a look at the para sailing. The horizon used to be full of this but not any more. Tourist do this not sexpats lol the thread is amusing. Personally I love it can pick and choose hotels for immediate check inn. The quiter it gets the more hansum I become, Love it

[moo9]

Pattaya and WS was quite busy last night. Certainly more people than 3 or 4 weeks ago.

[tropo]

lot of people in denial,

In denial of what? This thread is stating that Pattaya is finished. Another thread considered it dead and gone.

No one will deny that Pattaya is quieter than years gone by, but quieter does not mean dead and buried.

Pattaya is not dead and Pattaya is not finished.

Pattaya right now is better than ever from this expats point of view.

[jupiler]

Better in what way?

Cheaper? Less traffic? Less violence? Cleaner beaches, more value for you're money?

I see only, less tourists, more traffic jams, higher prices and more criminal acts!

Sure Pattaya is not finished, but now the low season starts in january and ends in november!

Edited July 12, 2009 by jupiler

[Ulysses G.]

lot of people in denial, has to be one the strangest threads`on TV at the moment. Next time anyone goes there have a look at the para sailing. The horizon used to be full of this but not any more. Tourist do this not sexpats lol the thread is amusing. Personally I love it can pick and choose hotels for immediate check inn. The quiter it gets the more hansum I become, Love it

WORLD WIDE FINANCIAL CRISIS!

[JR Texas]

lot of people in denial, has to be one the strangest threads`on TV at the moment. Next time anyone goes there have a look at the para sailing. The horizon used to be full of this but not any more. Tourist do this not sexpats lol the thread is amusing. Personally I love it can pick and choose hotels for immediate check inn. The quiter it gets the more hansum I become, Love it

WORLD WIDE FINANCIAL CRISIS!

That is not the only reason. Other places are seeing good tourism numbers (e.g., Bali). In Thailand, many factors are at play: xenophobic visa rules, xenophobic business investment rules, rising tide of xenophobia (anti farang sentiment), social engineering program supported by TAT and immigration (huge mistake), pig flu, rising crime (examples, just last week the police found a foreigner's head hanging from a major bridge in Bangkok......and a dead body washed up on the shores of Pattaya-Jomtien a couple of weeks ago), rising social unrest, the closing of the international airport, the shutting down of a major international heads of state meeting, excessive price rises, AND the global economic crisis.

[soundman]

I see only, less tourists, more traffic jams,

Isn't that kind of a contradiction?

[moo9]

(examples, just last week the police found a foreigner's head hanging from a major bridge in Bangkok......and a dead body washed up on the shores of Pattaya-Jomtien a couple of weeks ago)

Huh? Case 1 was imho weeks or months ago and a suicide.

Case 2 - this was not a farang imho

So there might be an increase in crime (...we will never know it from the media), but we should stay with the facts when "bashing" Pattaya. I like that there is less traffic on the streets and haven't made any bad experience otherwise. Drinks increased mainly because of tax hikes and this is beyond the business owner's responsibility.

Cheers

[thaimate]

lot of people in denial,

In denial of what? This thread is stating that Pattaya is finished. Another thread considered it dead and gone.

No one will deny that Pattaya is quieter than years gone by, but quieter does not mean dead and buried.

Pattaya is not dead and Pattaya is not finished.

Pattaya right now is better than ever from this expats point of view.

Actually this thread isnt stating that Pattaya is finished ,read the sub heading.

[torrenova]

So you go out and see people - so what ?

Others make statements but then admit they never go into Pattaya centre or Walking Street.

Can posters really judge whether money is being spent or not ?

Do any of the posters have any business in Pattaya ?

The reality is that whatever people see, it is what goes in the till that counts. Fly in 50,000 Ivans and it will be busy but no-one will be smiling because they haven't got a pot to piss in.

It is how much the punters drop that matters. Do you think Las Vegas gives a monkey's chuff about anything except the bottom line ? no, well same in Pattaya and the bottom line is in the red for many.

[JR Texas]

(examples, just last week the police found a foreigner's head hanging from a major bridge in Bangkok......and a dead body washed up on the shores of Pattaya-Jomtien a couple of weeks ago)

Huh? Case 1 was imho weeks or months ago and a suicide.

Case 2 - this was not a farang imho

So there might be an increase in crime (...we will never know it from the media), but we should stay with the facts when "bashing" Pattaya. I like that there is less traffic on the streets and haven't made any bad experience otherwise. Drinks increased mainly because of tax hikes and this is beyond the business owner's responsibility.

Cheers

No time to look it up for you.........but the head from the bridge was recent........and within the past month a body did float up on shore around Pattaya-Jomtien.

So what if one of them was not a farang? Crime has increased........that is my point.

A dead body washing up on shore is not good for beach business.

Killing two Russians girls while they were sitting on their beach chairs on Jomtien Beach is not good for business (happened a few years back).

Seven unexplained deaths of farangs around Krabi is not good for business (happened over the past 2-3 months).

Hanging a head of a farang from a bridge in Bangkok is not good for tourism in general.

Please tell us crime has not increased.

[Meg_2003]

(examples, just last week the police found a foreigner's head hanging from a major bridge in Bangkok......

Huh? Case 1 was imho weeks or months ago and a suicide.

No time to look it up for you.........but the head from the bridge was recent........

Sorry but the head hanging from a bridge WAS months ago.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1213...rom-city-bridge

around 22nd February to be exact, Almost 5 months ago... Definitely not last week.

[tropo]

Actually this thread isnt stating that Pattaya is finished ,read the sub heading.

I know. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice that.

The point is that most people are taking this thread as a statement that Pattaya is finished.

[tropo]

(examples, just last week the police found a foreigner's head hanging from a major bridge in Bangkok......

Huh? Case 1 was imho weeks or months ago and a suicide.

No time to look it up for you.........but the head from the bridge was recent........

Sorry but the head hanging from a bridge WAS months ago.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1213...rom-city-bridge

around 22nd February to be exact, Almost 5 months ago... Definitely not last week.

..and proven as a suicide (Perhaps the suicide note on the bridge was a clue). This also happened in Bangkok, not Pattaya.

[JR Texas]

..and proven as a suicide (Perhaps the suicide note on the bridge was a clue). This also happened in Bangkok, not Pattaya.

JR Texas: Thread getting mixed up, so deleted some

JR Texas to Tropo: Months ago, yes...stand corrected.

Suicide proven? Not sure about that. A foreigner's head (an Italian man)found inside a plastic bag tied to the end of a rope.........suicide? Anything is possible. A note? Proves nothing.

Were all of the rest of the examples that I gave suicides too?

If you think international news about violent crimes in Thailand is having no negative impact on tourism in Pattaya, you are mistaken. That is why I pointed to that particular event in Bangkok.

Maybe I should have pointed to the Khao San Road murder in Bangkok a few months ago......Thai man with a gun killed a foreigner. I don't think that helped tourism in Bangkok or Pattaya.

An accident you say.........so what? The impression that foreigners are getting is not good.

Thailand is looking increasingly violent to many tourists. It is putting them off........Japanese tourists (recently voted the best tourists in the world) are especially vulnerable to this "impression."

Crime......violent crime......has dramatically increased in Pattaya-Jomtien. Just take the time to read Pattaya Daily News.....it reads like a horror novel.

[tropo]

Suicide proven? Not sure about that. A foreigner's head (an Italian man)found inside a plastic bag tied to the end of a rope.........suicide? Anything is possible. A note? Proves nothing.

Yes, proven as a suicide. This was argued back and forth in a very long thread in early March, so there's no need to bring it up again here.

[thaimate]

i was just reading in the daily mail online about the lad who drowned at Pattaya park ,i cannot believe that the police fined the grieving father for hitting the photographer taking pictures of his dead son .i do see both sides ,but God to fine him ,dont they realize what terrible publicaty for Pattaya that is? the man had just seen his dead childs body.

[syd barrett]

i was just reading in the daily mail online about the lad who drowned at Pattaya park ,i cannot believe that the police fined the grieving father for hitting the photographer taking pictures of his dead son .i do see both sides ,but God to fine him ,dont they realize what terrible publicaty for Pattaya that is? the man had just seen his dead childs body.

He got off lightly with a 12,000 Baht fine. Could have been worse, knowing the price of camera equipment.

[JR Texas]

Suicide proven? Not sure about that. A foreigner's head (an Italian man)found inside a plastic bag tied to the end of a rope.........suicide? Anything is possible. A note? Proves nothing.

Yes, proven as a suicide. This was argued back and forth in a very long thread in early March, so there's no need to bring it up again here.

Since you decided to focus on it instead of the other cases I pointed out, why not bring it up again. I only found out about it last week, so that is why I thought it had just happened (did not read the date of what I was reading).

According to an updated story I just read, the man was from Italy and had a plastic bag FROM A HOTEL IN ITALY tied around his head.

How many plastic bags are there in Thailand? Are we to believe this guy brings his "suicide bag" with him all the way from Italy. Is it possible that, by using that bag, somebody (the person who had him killed) was sending a message from Italy?

Quite frankly, I don't believe anything the police have to say about crimes against foreigners. The seven unexplained foreigner deaths in the Krabi region convinced me that they are not interested in discovering the truth.

In any other country, the police would have been hunting for a mass murderer.....here, some suggested "suicide" to calm fears and keep the tourism money train going.

There are so many "suicides" of foreigners in Thailand--and so many dead bodies (Thai and foreigner)--that it is not easy keeping up with it all.

Given the numbers of "suicides" in Pattaya, maybe it should be called the Suicide Capital of the World.

Was this also an obvious suicide?:

Updated: [July 8, 2008 ] :: 13:12:33 [view 3480]

DUTCH MAN BRUTALLY MURDERED AND BURNT IN HIS PATTAYA HOUSE

A Dutch man was found dead and burnt inside his house on July 7, 2008, in Pattaya, under suspicious circumstances. Police presume he had been dead for at least two days. In addition to being burnt, he was found to have been stabbed by a one metre-long knife, which had almost severed his neck. A police spokesman said it was an awful case to have happened to a foreigner.

Reality check: These types of crimes are hurting Pattaya's image. Of course, you don't believe me. So, try asking several potential Japanese tourists about it.

[JMS]

i was just reading in the daily mail online about the lad who drowned at Pattaya park ,i cannot believe that the police fined the grieving father for hitting the photographer taking pictures of his dead son .i do see both sides ,but God to fine him ,dont they realize what terrible publicaty for Pattaya that is? the man had just seen his dead childs body.

It was front page in the sun paper aswell

[JMS]

i was just reading in the daily mail online about the lad who drowned at Pattaya park ,i cannot believe that the police fined the grieving father for hitting the photographer taking pictures of his dead son .i do see both sides ,but God to fine him ,dont they realize what terrible publicaty for Pattaya that is? the man had just seen his dead childs body.

He got off lightly with a 12,000 Baht fine. Could have been worse, knowing the price of camera equipment.

I am not sure what I would of done if it was my son, what about you. I am to believe he threatened him with a spanner and I am not certain anything was broken. He was trying to take pictures of his dead son lying on a floor. I think the camera man got off lightly.

But still bad publicity for Pattaya

[LennyW]

Another thread that has gone way and ought to be .

[raro]

Another thread that has gone way and ought to be .

I had the same idea when reading the last couple of posts...and yes...topic closed for good.