>is this the worst in pattaya now in regards to money and tourists coming in?

Nonsense. Just a typical gloom & doom expression common around here. If every year was worse and worse as the naysayers have it, Pattaya would be a ghost town. In fact, it's bigger than ever. What's worst is the traffic and parking.

Been a great high season and it IS longer than usual. Sois 7 & 8 and Walking Street still have plenty of business.

In fact, a new bar plaza is opening up on Soi Buakhaow and a few new go-gos have also opened up around there. Remember, that area has built up tremendously over the past few years.

Built up but no more customers, the new bars you are talking about are empty every night.......look at the shopping malls/plazas, thats where the money is being spent, not in the seedy sex trade bars

This thread is about Pattaya being low on tourists and so all my comments are on-topic.

I dont like any foreign group that makes up such a huge proportion of the people I see in the street. I expect to see more Thais than farangs here, especially at this time of year, but that just isnt the case any more.

The Russian families are particularly annoying in that they are large and are always standing around pointlessly and getting in the way. There are other races and nationalities that are just as bad for this, but not as numerous. If they were as numerous then I would complain about them also.

You need to go the other side of the water to Cha am...........Thais Thais and more Thais every weekend and holiday season...Pattaya has never really been a Thai destination, it was set up for the sex trade during the Nam war

ESB7 you obviously dont live in Pattaya and see the droves of Thais coming to Pattaya every weekend and holiday.

This thread is about Pattaya being low on tourists and so all my comments are on-topic.

I dont like any foreign group that makes up such a huge proportion of the people I see in the street. I expect to see more Thais than farangs here, especially at this time of year, but that just isnt the case any more.

The Russian families are particularly annoying in that they are large and are always standing around pointlessly and getting in the way. There are other races and nationalities that are just as bad for this, but not as numerous. If they were as numerous then I would complain about them also.

You need to go the other side of the water to Cha am...........Thais Thais and more Thais every weekend and holiday season...Pattaya has never really been a Thai destination, it was set up for the sex trade during the Nam war

ESB7 you obviously dont live in Pattaya and see the droves of Thais coming to Pattaya every weekend and holiday.

I think its a drip compared to the amount that visit Cha am.......are you sure you are not confusing Koreans and the like, and are you also including Siricha and Bang Saen etc which really arnt Patters.........

perhaps there is a trend like in Manhattan

and kho san road

a kind of gentrification

and yes the traffic is getting worse not better

look at soi lenkee

it is undergoing a face lift

very different than just two years ago

kind of gritty and low class then

cheap too rooms for 400 up

things gearing now more to more upper level spenders

(take central festival which appears to be thriving)

which kind of makes sense allover

more profit per dollar/baht

the gentrification fits in with a dwindling middle class in general

and the wealth ending up to a smaller and smaller minority

i prefer the old gritty times square

and kho san road

(soi lenkee and soi 10 too)

real and cheap and affordable with variety

(and yes perhaps more crime in ny

but i can do without disney and hard rock etc...)

the new Manhattan is a 3-5 dollar cup of coffee

if not more

and to me its sad

with the lower classes being pushed out and away

i am still completely dumbfounded with soi 10

more and more new buildings going up

and i guess everywhere in pattaya

will these all be booked 60% to capacity one day???

i still feel for the low turn out for the bars, massages, small restaurants, etc

it could be just me but they might be looking more and more unhappy

and getting more and more desperate

the lowest season is not even here yet

all of this my measly two cents for what its worth

i am actually quite surprised this thread got so many hits and responses

thanks guys

please ease up on the bickering

opinions are fine and great

put downs are unnecessary

(this applies beyond this thread :jap:)

You need to go the other side of the water to Cha am...........Thais Thais and more Thais every weekend and holiday season...Pattaya has never really been a Thai destination, it was set up for the sex trade during the Nam war

You are preaching to the converted: I first came here just a couple of years after the fall of Saigon.

I remember how the whole town (the whole town being little more than Beach Rd at that time ) would put up banners saying "Welcome US whatever" when a Navy ship dropped anchor in Pattaya bay, and how the place would go from virtually empty to bursting at the seams in about 2 hours.

Talking ancient history. Vietnam war? Give me a break. Loads of Thai tourists in Pattaya these days, especially for holidays and special events like music festivals. Largely younger Thais visiting but also families and some slumming hisos as well. Significantly, because gays lead trends, Pattaya is now the cool place to party for the non-commercial Thai Bangkok gay scenesters. Many have moved here and have "normal" jobs. Update your info, please ...

You need to go the other side of the water to Cha am...........Thais Thais and more Thais every weekend and holiday season...Pattaya has never really been a Thai destination, it was set up for the sex trade during the Nam war

ESB7 you obviously dont live in Pattaya and see the droves of Thais coming to Pattaya every weekend and holiday.

I think its a drip compared to the amount that visit Cha am.......are you sure you are not confusing Koreans and the like, and are you also including Siricha and Bang Saen etc which really arnt Patters.........

You definitely have never been to Pattaya. Most of the people in Pattaya are Thais. Most of the traffic is Thai. Thais love the place.

You need to go the other side of the water to Cha am...........Thais Thais and more Thais every weekend and holiday season...Pattaya has never really been a Thai destination, it was set up for the sex trade during the Nam war

ESB7 you obviously dont live in Pattaya and see the droves of Thais coming to Pattaya every weekend and holiday.

I think its a drip compared to the amount that visit Cha am.......are you sure you are not confusing Koreans and the like, and are you also including Siricha and Bang Saen etc which really arnt Patters.........

You definitely have never been to Pattaya. Most of the people in Pattaya are Thais. Most of the traffic is Thai. Thais love the place.

Way more Thais here in Pattaya then in Cha am. We drove by the floating market yesterday and I was shocked at the number of tour buses. Maybe 50 or so? Parked up and down both sides of Suk...unreal.

Try dinner at one of the seafood restaurants in Jomtien, south end, over the weekend. Wait times are 1-2 hours and parking lots are full. Beach road is jammed. Thais love Pattaya!

Thais love Pattaya!

...and why shouldn't they? It's a fantastic place to work, rest and play.