Pattaya struggles to survive the economic downturn

[Jim walker]

with all this millions of Hi end tourists coming to Thailand Pattaya is the perfect place for them a nice sleepy little fishing village with a few nice restaurants doted along the beach selling the seafood freshly caught by the local fishermen and at reasonable prices, what more could you ask for, get here before it turns into a village full of bars and hookers and just take down the high standards for Thailand tourists who only expect the best.

[petermik]

Pattaya is no longer an inexpensive destination and as tourist numbers decline businesses seem to increase their prices.

Pattaya needs to refurbish its image and get rid of some of the seedier elements - like hundreds of bar girls standing on Walking Street trying to attract customers.

And how would you know

[joebrown]

I have no wish to say anything good or bad about Pattaya and it's 'image'. Having lived in the area for 5 years one obvious difference from last year to this is the virtual total absence of Russians and Euros from one of my local beaches (Hat Sai Koew near Bang Saray). I was there on a fine sunny day last week and I was pleasantly surprised at seeing the actual size of the beach without the crowds. One thing's for sure, the Chinese aren't frequenting the beaches from what I've seen, and this most likely has a negative impact on local food outlets, bars etc. I wonder how the popular Russian hotel Ambassador is coping at present?

[bristolgeoff]

the Russian kept it rich for awhile,then the ruble crashed and some of the pattaya hotels who put prices up now must suffer.but pattaya will survive

Edited July 17, 2015 by Rimmer
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[LennyW]

I have no wish to say anything good or bad about Pattaya and it's 'image'. Having lived in the area for 5 years one obvious difference from last year to this is the virtual total absence of Russians and Euros from one of my local beaches (Hat Sai Koew near Bang Saray). I was there on a fine sunny day last week and I was pleasantly surprised at seeing the actual size of the beach without the crowds. One thing's for sure, the Chinese aren't frequenting the beaches from what I've seen, and this most likely has a negative impact on local food outlets, bars etc. I wonder how the popular Russian hotel Ambassador is coping at present?

I am sure the Ambassador hotel will be doing just as well as they were for 20 years before the Russians arrived.

[t8769]

Lets face it, European populated economies are dying a slow and permanent death.

Most of Europe is in recession and facing doom, America is not well, only Britain, Israel, Australia/NZ and a few other European populated countries are healthy.

The great Soviet EU project is a bust, its currency is collapsing as country after country faces bankruptcy and Europe slides into ruin.

The new rich tourists from China and India don't behave like European tourists, they don't hang out in Pattaya or Sukhumvit and they aren't interested in sitting in bars watching football.

The problem isn't with Pattaya, its with the global shift of power, money and tourism, from the old over-taxed, over-regulated West to the new economies of the East.

As Ol' Bob sang "The times they are a changing "

[dcsw53]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

Yes they have but we now have electricity and inside toilets.

[luk AJ]

Dirty water, dirty beach, water full of parasailing and motor boats. Evening terrible stadium lights all along the beach, walking street full of Chineses with their guides waving.... I know better places, really.

[SunLover2]

The Huffington Post is a rag website. Basically they 'publish' articles from free lance 'contributors' (aka: internet trolls) that contains deliberately provocative and b.s. content hoping to get picked up, get published, and get paid. Unfortunately this type of sensationalized rubbish passes for real reporting these days, and appeals to the uninformed masses.

SL

[Colabamumbai]

I think that there is definitely less in the way of drugs and prostitution than there was 10 years ago, but the number of thugs has increased hugely in that time. In fact there are probably more thugs, thieves and scam artists here now than there are prostitutes.

Quite why anyone would come to Thailand for cheap drugs or cheap sex is beyond me as the prices here for both seem to be much higher than they would be elsewhere. The quality of both is probably much higher elsewhere also.

Girls here in Isaan want 12-15,000 Baht a month to live with you. Prostutition, or many want Sin Sod, dowry, at 40 years of age. And then they want to be away at mothers on the weekend.

A dog makes for a better companion.

[AG1]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

Oil Massage cost since 15 Years about 300 Baht in Pattaya, no Price increase from the Massage Girls so far.

[VINCENT2012]

pattaya is in thailand what was pigalle in paris (france), the red place of amsterdam in holland or st pauli in hamburg (germany)...a simple but big sex place with plenty money at the end of the day....now things change, people and governments interest change too.

actually the demand is less than the offer one of the big reason is the visa and stamp regulation that thaksim started to impose to all and that they continue to aplicate., so now there is a logical saturation of hotel and catering business every where in thailand especially in big tourist places.

thailand is playing like spain did , only with tourism industry....all economis specialist always says that it is dangerous to put all the eggs in the same net....!

[specialist]

The 3 type of respondents in this thread are:

1) you have a jaded reporter that talks out of his <deleted>

2) the people who respond and agree with him a jaded ex-pats

3)Lovers and defenders of Pattaya, where everything is rosy

I have been to Pattaya over 20 times over the last 25 years. I am going again next week. Things change, better or worse, after I get my sexual urges met and shopping done, it can be a boring place, (I don't drink). For me it is a destination of fun and experience being pampered everyday by Thai massage, foot rubs, soapy's, great food, I usually come for a couple of weeks but after 10 days, time to go elsewhere. i have been to bangkok, phuket, chang mai, chang rai, but in my opinion Pattaya rocks.

[Manbing]

Give the guy a break, all he's saying is go to Pattaya and take one or the town.

[Ling Kae]

My view is that it's the same as usual, just another low season.......BUT and the big but is the same old story. Certain venues are full and others are empty. For example the cheaper priced apartment buildings the rooms are full, certain bars are full because they do not eye gouge with prices and certain women never go home alone. The other night I went into a well priced (drink wise) A Go Go and it was full! Had to turn around and go elsewhere. Some businesses are greedy = get no customers, some are well priced = get plenty of customers.

Whether the big chain hotels are full or not is of no interest to me and the Chinese tourists are a waste of time. They all eat in the same places, do the same parasailing day trip, go to the same "night club" venue and get their one free drink with a straw in it and sit on it until the tour guide takes them out. They are not big spenders, most have great difficulty paying a 100 baht for the souvenir photo after parasailing. And the Russians, well they only have themselves to blame for the sanctions and devaluation of their currency and lets not mention the Greeks.

[peterb17]

Certainly things have changed in sunny Pattaya, the Chinese tour buses are everywhere , the Chinese rarely go out by themselves, so anything not included on the tour are very quiet at the moment .

Independent travelers are drying up. City hall does not care about infrastructure , so filthy streets and crumbling roads and pavements are not exactly attractive to the high end tourists.

This thread as usual has reduced to fight between the Nakhon Nowhere types and the Pattaya / Jomtien dwellers

What I always find interesting is the ' holier than thou' types who live up country watching rice grow , tending to their pigs, no easy access to decent restaurants, cinema etc etc, seem very fond of the word cesspit to describe Pattaya.

They seem to think they have moral superiority over the hedonistic Pattaya residents. They have spent a fortune on some ugly concrete house to accommodate a vast family of hangers on.

They always speak Thai, Royal Thai, Laos and Cambodian . Their written poetry in Thai had been published world wide.

Their organic chickens have won prizes .

They are obsessed with juicing and flax seeds- probably hopefully to live longer : but will perish due to extended exposure to pesticides.

What I trying to say is us Pattaya types usually don't comment, we don't refer to Isaan as a cesspit, sh*thole etc.

So get off your high horse, get back to your pigs and just shut up!

[konying]

The title of the OP is spot on, the rest of the drivel is by someone who has been burned badly or has blown all his money on guest relations officers from bars.

A lot of problems in Pattaya is the making of people "working" in Pattaya.

Seasoned guys who came every year have seen prices go up , up and up, while services rendered go down and more down.

Price to have a companion these days is on par with prices back home.

Fun provided is no longer there, unless one is willing to drop an obscene amount of money.

Exchange rate another factor, which has seen a drop in a number of sponsors, plus many have smartened up and at least realized, their sponsorship money does not prevent darlings from continuing to service others.

Then of course, all the forums, which brought a lot of young guys to party.

In the end, prices are too high, service not acceptable= downturn.

As a result, every single business suffers.

Many like to believe other tourists should fill the gaps, i do not think so, because fun seekers spent money, hotels, drinks, shopping, taxi's and spent at least 7-10 days

Tour groups and sight seeing groups, spent 2-3 days, hardly spend any money and move on.

What Pattaya needs to recover is either change of attitude from the fun providors or dramatic change in exchange rates making fun cheaper

[t8769]

Visited Pattaya 20 years ago, went back recently for a few days, to the main beach area, hardly changed at all.

[Penefattore]

Pattaya needs to refurbish its image and get rid of some of the seedier elements - like hundreds of bar girls standing on Walking Street trying to attract customers.

Are you nuts ? the girls and the few sex tourists left are the only tourist attraction in town !

Haven't you seen the chinese/korea guys with the flag standing out of go-go's announcing to their followers "now please be silent, if we are lucky we might spot a sex tourist coming out with his go-go girl !"

[saakura]

Pattaya is no longer an inexpensive destination and as tourist numbers decline businesses seem to increase their prices.

Pattaya needs to refurbish its image and get rid of some of the seedier elements - like hundreds of bar girls standing on Walking Street trying to attract customers.

the "seedier elements" wouldn't exist if there was no seedy demand from seedy tourists.

The seedy tourists with their seedy appetites are attracted to Pattaya because the authorities profit from and the local culture encourages the "seedy elements" to come and sell themselves here.

[little mary sunshine]

Pattaya can be sleezy city like New Orleans, NYC, Paris and every other

Large city.

I have lived in Jomtien 4 years. Can't remember the last time I

Was at Walking Street or the sleepy bars on Soi 5,6,7.

I spend days playing golf, great courses, boat trips to Koh Larn

Weekly, movies at Cent Fest, walking the beach. A great city,

Lots of nice ways to spend your retirement without the trash side.

The choice is yours. Pattaya has a wonderful side too.

[Broeno]

Pattaya is no longer an inexpensive destination and as tourist numbers decline businesses seem to increase their prices.

Pattaya needs to refurbish its image and get rid of some of the seedier elements - like hundreds of bar girls standing on Walking Street trying to attract customers.

Without the bar girls, Pattaya would still be the village of fifty years ago.

[empireboy]

There's a lot more to Pattaya!

[Trouble]

I used to make visits to Thailand 2 or 3 times a year and Pattaya was always good for 3 or 4 days. However in the last few years I have just passed on Pattaya. It seemed to me that this seaside resort area that I first visited in 1976 had over the years just gotten more crowded with more people, more traffic and as with many parts of Thailand, over development. Jomtien Beach which used to offer a little more peaceful day at the beach, than the main part of Pattaya, turned into a mass of chairs and umbrellas and with it less upkeep of the beach walk and deterioration of the beach. The night life on Walking street and other areas just turned into a place of touts hustling people into this bar or that bar. The friendliness disappeared. So with the beaches in bad shape and the nightlife more of a hustle, I started visiting other places. There is night life in Bangkok and other beaches far superior to Pattaya in Thailand. There seems little reason to visit Pattaya these days. My greatest criticism of what has happened in Thailand, aside from the politics, is the uncontrolled over development that occurs in almost any area that becomes popular. There is no government program for zoning or development and where there is, it seems that corruption and bribes have negated the governments ability to control development. Overdevelopment has indeed turned many formerly nice resort areas into Sh**holes, Pattaya probably being the worse example. Quality tourists want nice places to visit, not overdeveloped, overcrowded, dirty resort towns. My visits to Thailand these days are mostly to visit Thai and expat friends that live there. There are nicer beaches closer to home for sure.

[50baht]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

No, the girls you went with still charge the same.

. .

[cookee68]

It was the same 10 years ago, the only thing that has changed is that it has got more expensive for all the same shit, but still the same old payttaya

[KOZMO]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

This is not the 70's!!!! At least back then their was no aids!!!!!

[sabaii69]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

So, I claud, you haven't been with a bar girl for 25 years? They do sell Viagra on WS you know

[DennisF]

I cant help it... I visit maybe 3-4 times a year for short breaks and I still find it non-threatening and fun.

Prices have increased over the last 10 years, certainly, but still an affordable place for most.

Cesspit, dirty and all the other negative adjectives could be used for many cities and hotels in many countries.

The writer is a jerk, imagining and guessing for a few dollars of print with no regard to the truth. Maybe there is a spot on a Thai rag he could fill.

[i claudius]

Last time i was with a bar girl it was 200 baht short time and 500 baht all night have prices increased much?

Yes they have but we now have electricity and inside toilets.

Not actual sit down toilets? And I do miss the oil lamps