Russian tourism departures and arrivals are down from a third to half

[gk10002000]

Frankly, Pattaya could lose 90 percent of the bars and still have enough bars.

The question is what will replace all the bars.

More same same trinket and t-shirt shops?

To me, I hated the big new 8 story mall. That has no character. I would have preferred more outdoor eateries, maybe a little green area, some smaller locally owned hotels. The old Big C down by the Dolphin roundabout and the Ripley's mall was enough. . I have all the malls I could imagine here in the USA Los Angeles San Diego areas. I don't fly 1/2 way around the world to spend much time in a place like that. "Carre 4" up off Pattaya Klang was OK too. I wish they had upgraded that outdoor miniature golf area. I think that had a lot of potential to doing something kind of fun at night. Take a break from loud noise. Do the international flavor type of miniature golf like it kind of had and like in the movie "Overboard". Now there is no little place to be near the Pattaya beach. At least the view would have been nice.

Oh and I liked it when there was a low season. I liked being able to walk across second road. Soi bukhao not bumper to bumper. After the floods a few years ago, anybody that had means migrated to any city with any infrastructure such as Pattaya. That plus the huge number of Russians "homesteading" added lots and lots of people. As usual, they over bought, copied the same ideas, and now there is a surplus. Sadly, the prices won't drop too much because of the business model: "business is down, must raise prices to make up lost income"

[Thailaw]

They seem to take up allot of space. (especially at the buffet scrum)

The ones that speak english, I have been impressed, really. Decent people.

The younger ones are more sophisticated it seems.

No disagreement with what you say. But what percentage of the total Russian tourist population can speak passable English -- 5 to 10%? I have never heard a Russian tourist speaking English, never. But I don't ride the Baht busses either. I have observed many Russians trying to check out at Tesco speaking Russian to a totally confused sales clerk as she tried to sort out what the problem with the receipt was. Obviously, if they spoke any English, the process would have been much easier and quicker (and appreciated by those of us that were waiting behind them). And the attitude always seems to be one of anger and blame. A guy on a motorbike flew by me on 2nd road yesterday, and honked his horn and yelled at me in Russian -- what he was angry about I have no idea, except that he was doing 70+ km/hr and I was doing about half of that. So, I'll be on the look out for "ones that speak English" and perhaps I will be as impressed as you.....

[slygeeza]

looking at the booking sites the main complaint tourists have about Pattaya is the rubbish on the beaches and in the sea. its low tide now and in front of all the umbrellas at Pattaya Beach the beach is covered in bottles and other rubbish. meanwhile the boys are sleeping on their chairs on the footpath. it would take half an hour a month to clean it up but they dont.meanwhile the tourists have moved on to other places and wont be back

[ZigZagMan]

I would think a beach cleaning crew would be a routine in a beach resort?

Here, they do it every 2 years with a press release & film crew.

[toenail]

With the downing of the Malaysian flight; and Russia's involvement with Ukraine and the older generation's barbaric behavior in some of Europe's classy establishments - Russians are not welcomed in Europe. Thais are less judgmental so Thailand is a great holiday destination for Russians (plus no visa is required). But with the ruble going down in value, there will be less Russians visiting Thailand (shop keepers in Pattaya already notice the decrease of Russian shoppers). It will be sad not to see the tubby shirtless Russian man wandering around inside Central or seeing the Russian couple strolling down Beach Rd or Walking street sucking on a bottle of Singha they bought from a Seven-Eleven. Seriously, feel sorry for the young Russian generation that has changed the old stereotype into a classy group of Europeans that do speak English and look stunning.

[Babooshka]

Did you know that there is a category of Russians who dislike the places crowded by Russians? And that's because of that abusive behavior of the "masses" that some here are talking about. Those people are hardly noticeable because they do not look and never act like the usual Russian tourists spitting all around and drinking beer on the beaches.

Russians differ.

[tropo]

Frankly, Pattaya could lose 90 percent of the bars and still have enough bars.

The question is what will replace all the bars.

More same same trinket and t-shirt shops?

To me, I hated the big new 8 story mall. That has no character. I would have preferred more outdoor eateries, maybe a little green area, some smaller locally owned hotels. The old Big C down by the Dolphin roundabout and the Ripley's mall was enough. . I have all the malls I could imagine here in the USA Los Angeles San Diego areas. I don't fly 1/2 way around the world to spend much time in a place like that. "Carre 4" up off Pattaya Klang was OK too. I wish they had upgraded that outdoor miniature golf area. I think that had a lot of potential to doing something kind of fun at night. Take a break from loud noise. Do the international flavor type of miniature golf like it kind of had and like in the movie "Overboard". Now there is no little place to be near the Pattaya beach. At least the view would have been nice.

Isn't is amazing how opinions differ? We love Central Mall. It's where we do most of our shopping and dining. Even by back home standards (Australia) Central Mall is a nice mall. It's a good size - not too big and not too small.

Russians love it too. It's a nice escape from endless market stalls selling the same crap, and an escape from the heat.

[Ling Kae]

I personally don't care if the lot of them left. Place was great before they came, I wouldn't mind going back to that.

[Belka]

Russians are fun to watch (often eye candy city the men and the women) but when any ONE demographic dominates (as the Russians have in Pattaya/Jomtien) especially in high season, it makes the area less interesting. More diversity is always better. I am looking forward to increased Chinese presence ... as their FOOD is so much BETTER than Russian food (which is incredibly BORING).

Yes, off cause!))) Chinese group are better!)) especially from the point of eatingprocess (as you mentioned Chinese food))) I love that's "HARK" sounds while Chinese people "chibaole" most of all!!!))))

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[petercool]

post removed as off topic

[ThaiBob]

I personally don't care if the lot of them left. Place was great before they came, I wouldn't mind going back to that.

I bet there are many Thais and old farang who felt and feel the same way about the first wave of Brits, Germans and other farang who "spoiled" Pattaya.

[Rimmer]

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[Flanno]

Can someone explain to me how one distinguishes a Russian tourist apart from people from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia? They all look and sound alike to me and I know tourists from all these countries visit Pattaya. So do Russians have some distinguishing features which make them stand out from these other tourists?

[gmac]

Can someone explain to me how one distinguishes a Russian tourist apart from people from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia? They all look and sound alike to me and I know tourists from all these countries visit Pattaya. So do Russians have some distinguishing features which make them stand out from these other tourists?

I think 'Russian' is being used as a catch all term for people from this general area much the same as Thais refer to westerners as 'farang'.

[loppylugs1]

Can someone explain to me how one distinguishes a Russian tourist apart from people from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia? They all look and sound alike to me and I know tourists from all these countries visit Pattaya. So do Russians have some distinguishing features which make them stand out from these other tourists?

Yes,bulbous noses,small ones at that, tight t shirts,usually bald,smallish about 5 foot 10

[Flanno]

But Loppylugs, That description you give fits about half the drinkers in the cheap beer bars along Soi Buakhao! Some more info would be helpful.

[loppylugs1]

But Loppylugs, That description you give fits about half the drinkers in the cheap beer bars along Soi Buakhao! Some more info would be helpful.

The small bulbous noses are unique,universal in their country

[Flanno]

The small bulbous noses that I notice in Soi Buakhao bars are mostly red. Does that indicate what country they are from?

[loppylugs1]

The small bulbous noses that I notice in Soi Buakhao bars are mostly red. Does that indicate what country they are from?

Soi B hardly gets any Russians,try Pattaya Tai,look for small stubby noses,thats a Russkie

[IAMSOBAD]

They are all in big white trucks going to vacation in Ukraine.

[theoldgit]

A number of posts bordering on being racist removed, plus some responses.

[thaibeachlovers]

Russians are fun to watch (often eye candy city the men and the women) but when any ONE demographic dominates (as the Russians have in Pattaya/Jomtien) especially in high season, it makes the area less interesting. More diversity is always better. I am looking forward to increased Chinese presence ... as their FOOD is so much BETTER than Russian food (which is incredibly BORING).

The Russian men are welcome to vanish, but the ladies would be missed.

[spidermike007]

Can someone explain to me how one distinguishes a Russian tourist apart from people from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia? They all look and sound alike to me and I know tourists from all these countries visit Pattaya. So do Russians have some distinguishing features which make them stand out from these other tourists?

Russians have bigger ears, and protruding kneecaps. Often swollen ankles too.

[Jingthing]

Russians are fun to watch (often eye candy city the men and the women) but when any ONE demographic dominates (as the Russians have in Pattaya/Jomtien) especially in high season, it makes the area less interesting. More diversity is always better. I am looking forward to increased Chinese presence ... as their FOOD is so much BETTER than Russian food (which is incredibly BORING).

The Russian men are welcome to vanish, but the ladies would be missed.

Oh no, you di'int!

[Flanno]

Thaibeachlover you are right about the women, so many of them are beautiful. I can sit in Central Festival food court for hours checking them out. But my point is how do you know they are Russian? I highly doubt tourists from Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia would appreciate being described as Russians, especially these days given the conflicts over there. So why don't we refer to them as East Europeans instead? As another poster said, Thais refer to everyone as Farangs and this seems to be more diplomatic than wrongly labelling from a certain country.

[Loptr]

Thaibeachlover you are right about the women, so many of them are beautiful. I can sit in Central Festival food court for hours checking them out. But my point is how do you know they are Russian? I highly doubt tourists from Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia would appreciate being described as Russians, especially these days given the conflicts over there. So why don't we refer to them as East Europeans instead? As another poster said, Thais refer to everyone as Farangs and this seems to be more diplomatic than wrongly labelling from a certain country.

If you want to be accurate, you would call them Slavs...

[lapd]

The only real problem with upsetting Russia is that several EU countries have become largely dependent on Russian-controlled energy supplies, notably the piped natural gas, thanks to long-term deals negotiated by their pea-brained governments. Quite what insanity drove them to trust Russians at all is beyond me.

Err, necessity, the EU has no choice than to purchase 30% of natural gas supplies from Russia. In Germany's case, 60% of their oil an 30% of their gas comes from Russia... Who do you think Merkel will side with when push comes to shove? Like I said elsewhere, it's going to be a cold, cold winter in the EU...

It would sure be lovely if they could find alternative sources for all of their gas and oil. Tell Putin to go take a hike into Siberia. Would it be that hard? I sure would hate to be dependent on Putin.

Spidermike

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They can and will. LNG terminals are slowly popping up in North America which has vast quantites of inexpensive natural gas that they want to export. LNG terminals are very expensive and take years to build so it will be awhile still. I'm guessing it will still be cheaper to get nat gas from Russian pipelines but at least there will be alternatives in the next few years.

Edited August 15, 2014 by lapd

[thaibeachlovers]

The only real problem with upsetting Russia is that several EU countries have become largely dependent on Russian-controlled energy supplies, notably the piped natural gas, thanks to long-term deals negotiated by their pea-brained governments. Quite what insanity drove them to trust Russians at all is beyond me.

Err, necessity, the EU has no choice than to purchase 30% of natural gas supplies from Russia. In Germany's case, 60% of their oil an 30% of their gas comes from Russia... Who do you think Merkel will side with when push comes to shove? Like I said elsewhere, it's going to be a cold, cold winter in the EU...

It would sure be lovely if they could find alternative sources for all of their gas and oil. Tell Putin to go take a hike into Siberia. Would it be that hard? I sure would hate to be dependent on Putin.

Spidermike

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

They can and will. LNG terminals are slowly popping up in North America which has vast quantites of inexpensive natural gas that they want to export. LNG terminals are very expensive and take years to build so it will be awhile still. I'm guessing it will still be cheaper to get nat gas from Russian pipelines but at least there will be alternatives in the next few years.

They should build more wind turbines 555555555555555.

[slygeeza]

bulbous noses? can we have a description of the female of the species please?

[MobileContent]

I personally don't care if the lot of them left. Place was great before they came, I wouldn't mind going back to that.

I bet there are many Thais and old farang who felt and feel the same way about the first wave of Brits, Germans and other farang who "spoiled" Pattaya.

Not only old farangs. I was 35 years old when I once visited Pattaya and I have to be honest. 60% of all those se.tourists I met are cheap farangs with a loud mouth, always drunk and complaining.

As they say in the Northeast of Thailand. A farang that loves Pattaya is a farang we can do without in the Northeast and if he wants to stay in the Northeast in no time he will be broke and left with nothing.

It doesn't matter who comes to Pattaya really. A farang that is based himself in Pattaya should just enjoy himself and just shut up.

We really laugh in the Northeast about those farangs and call them as Banock as a buffalo and if they get screwed and loose everything its even better so they will be gone in no time.