Will Pattaya be a ghost town in ten years?

[Asiacat]

Over the last eighteen months or so many small businesses in Pattaya have bitten the dust.

Collingbourne's auction seem to have the contents of a faiied business in its auction every week.

I was speaking to a farang shop owner about twenty minutes ago and he told me he hadn't had a single customer in since 11 o'clock and had taken only 200 baht all day.

The strength of the baht, weakness of the rouble and negative publicity have all contributed to lower tourist numbers over the last couple of years or so.

Are we entering the last few years of Pattaya as we know it?

[RabC]

Strength of the Baht?????????

[konying]

It's low season, on top of being very slow.

Pattaya will not be dying, however Pattaya is over supplied with identical businesses on every corner .

Almost every shophouse is turned into a bar and cheap rooms. Every shop sells same crap.

Weak will fail, strong will get their business.

Once economies world wide start doing better or baht crashes , tourists will return

[Jingthing]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

[MAJIC]

Business peaks and troughs aside,while there is plenty of female company in Pattaya it will always be Booming !

[konying]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

Problem is every new owner thinks he/ she can do better.

While their business plan and ideas are great , hardly anyone without experience working in Thailand ever considers local staff problems.

Being a business owner myself , I often get out of my skin trying to do good but staff screw it up.

Paying higher than anyone else wages gets more people applying , but does not mean quality staff.

When business pays higher salaries , they also charge higher prices, ie no customers.

With restaurants main problem is cooks/ chefs.

They unreliable alcoholics. One makes great menu and stops showing up to work. Next one does not know the menu and cooks crap.

Akvavit is doing well because owner is the chef, however service staff is always a problem there.

So really , impossible to win

[Jingthing]

I actually do appreciate the problems business owners have here with such issues. Sometimes, actually pretty often, you see a new venture and think ... these people are MORONS. They've already failed. It's like they've lost their calling which is giving lessons in what NOT to do.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Jingthing

[Ling Kae]

Ghost town in 10 years? I doubt it very much, heard people saying this 20 years ago and all it's done is expand and build, build and build more. No shortage of traffic and many hotels are doing just fine. I think in 10 years it will be twice the size with twice the traffic and we will all be drinking in beer bars pushed further out. There was time where living on the other side of 2nd road was a bit far but now nearly everybody does. Central Mall (soi 9) was a bunch of beer bars only 10 years ago........

[jay1980]

The traffic jams in Pattaya don't give me the impression Pattaya is on the way to being a ghost town.

Lotus, BigC, Central, The big DIY stores etc seem to be busy enough, IMO as people's shopping habits become more western in style smaller shops that don't offer anything big stores with parking do not will suffer and die out.

That said good luck to any small business owners on here.

[NickJ]

If you believe the Thai superstituions theres heaps of them there now.....

[Anthony5]

There will be less Western tourists in Pattaya in the future, mainly because the economic downturn and because they discover other countries, but there will be more Thai tourists.

[Asiantravel]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

have you seen there is a new American restaurant opening soon at the front of " The Avenue " on second road directly above the pizza shop. It used to be an Irish pub. It will be called " the all-American restaurant " - chicken wings and other things. it will have a huge seating capacity but I have no idea if there will be enough people in their target audience.

[rocketboybkk]

As with businesses & other Thai stuff the owners will just increase prices to lure customers in, if a business or other premise doesn't sell, raise the price, if you've got a property to rent & irs sitting vacant, raise the rent

I'm sure it'll be ok

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[rocketboybkk]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

have you seen there is a new American restaurant opening soon at the front of " The Avenue " on second road directly above the pizza shop. It used to be an Irish pub. It will be called " the all-American restaurant " - chicken wings and other things. it will have a huge seating capacity but I have no idea if there will be enough people in their target audience.

Again, open a new business /bar where the last one failed

Great business sense

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[Anthony5]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

have you seen there is a new American restaurant opening soon at the front of " The Avenue " on second road directly above the pizza shop. It used to be an Irish pub. It will be called " the all-American restaurant " - chicken wings and other things. it will have a huge seating capacity but I have no idea if there will be enough people in their target audience.

Again, open a new business /bar where the last one failed

Great business sense

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You mean they should demolish the building when a business fails.

Great business sense.

[peterrabbit]

The big problem with the bar businesses in Pattaya is that far too many bars were opened in the last decade while the customers who use them fell. In the meanwhile the landlords kept increasing the rents well above inflation, regardless of the lower business they are doing.

Net result is that most small bars are no longer viable and cannot generate the profit required in the high season to see them through the low season.

This will only change when the demand for bar premises stops (but there is always some falang willing to throw his money away) and the bar rental market collapses.

It is all about supply and demand, When half the bars have closed and the landlords can't rent the properties then the rental price will fall and the remaining bars will become viable.

In the meanwhile Pattaya is NOT the place to start or buy a business catering for the falangs. Too much competition and too few customers.

The only reason it hasn't collapsed so far was due to the Russians.

Now the Chinese who replaced them aren't exactly the independent traveler types. You never see small groups or individual Chinese in a bar or restaurant or shopping or buying a condo.

Pattaya needs the independant adventuress type of traveler to thrive and they are becoming very rare.

Chinese numbers are not the answer as they do not support the local businesses and without a more independent traveller who will support small local businesses Pattaya is going one way and that is down.

[elgordo38]

It's low season, on top of being very slow.

Pattaya will not be dying, however Pattaya is over supplied with identical businesses on every corner .

Almost every shophouse is turned into a bar and cheap rooms. Every shop sells same crap.

Weak will fail, strong will get their business.

Once economies world wide start doing better or baht crashes , tourists will return

Quote Once economies world wide start doing better unquote. Always remember we cannot judge the future by looking in the rear view mirror. I feel like I am in that movie where tourists went back in time to watch the dinosaurs but were told not to step off of the road. One guy did and stepped on a butterfly and changed the whole future. In all my years I have been through many ups and downs in the economy. I do not recognize the freight train bearing down on us now and I find it scary. My fiat money seems valueless in a sea of printed money sloshing around and it seems the bank does not want to pay me any interest or even want to hold my money on deposit unless its for free or I pay storage. They seem loaded with paper money. I no longer feel in control of my life.

[JESSVANPELT]

Well for those of us that have been here for a few years , this is just normal low season. First and foremost one must remember a lot people come over and open a Business with not a clue what the place is all about and if you cant make enough in high season as a bar to save you through the low season, you wont survive.There are also plenty of places still very busy.

As for the Baht its at weakest point in almost 5 years so that is a plus and it looks like it will continue to weaken as the year goes on I would not expect the levels we saw 10 years ago when the Dollars was worth 40 baht and the pound worth 70 but I think it will continue improve. As long as Pattaya remains cheap in all aspects compared to other places in the world people will come and I don't know of anywhere else in the world that offers nearly half of what you get here.

This place is very resilient we have been through 2 military coups and various changes of currencies and when The European countries get cold you cant find a room here come December.

NOT TO WORRY!!!!!!

[Jingthing]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

have you seen there is a new American restaurant opening soon at the front of " The Avenue " on second road directly above the pizza shop. It used to be an Irish pub. It will be called " the all-American restaurant " - chicken wings and other things. it will have a huge seating capacity but I have no idea if there will be enough people in their target audience.

Well I think I'll wait for them to open and to check it out before I make any predictions.

It's also hard to know what their business plan is.

For all we know, they plan to book in Chinese tour buses and I think more provincial Chinese might love that kind of "exotic" food.

Of course Hooters opening on Beach Road is famous for wings and ... let me check ... "other" THINGS.

I doubt Hooters would be opening here without having done some hard core market research.

[LennyW]

The doomsayers predict the demise of Pattaya every year - never happens, quite the opposite in fact - number of visitors continue to increase.

There is always a huge turnover of business's in Pattaya, especially bars, this is normal.

10 years ago people were crying Pattaya is doomed etc. just look at the growth of the city and it's surrounds in the last 10 years.

[NormanW]

Business plan?

You need a business plan?

Quick pass me that dictionary!

Aaaabbbbb...

[loppylugs1]

Demographics change,western tourists are way down,the Chinese are definitely up,will not finish Pattaya off but not doing it any good,not in western eyes,the Chinese do not mix or want to.

Whether western Joe wants to stay here is another matter,some of us have had way too much of it and the baggage is all to difficult to move with,at the moment

Low seasons seem to get lower and lower,just how low can it get without going under

[xen]

The biggest handicap to Pattaya is the incompetence of the Pattaya City Council . The list of badly managed public projects is immense - just look at how they have managed drainage projects, Beach road, Jomtien beach, Sukhumvit road traffic, lack of planning in general plus many more. If the organisation overseeing the area can't get their act together then does it really matter if there are too many bars .

[Tolley]

One of my hobbies here when I see restaurants opening is guessing when they will close. That's pretty naughty, I know. Sometimes I think places will work and then they still don't though. I couldn't have predicted all the Russian places closing before the Ruble crashed.

have you seen there is a new American restaurant opening soon at the front of " The Avenue " on second road directly above the pizza shop. It used to be an Irish pub. It will be called " the all-American restaurant " - chicken wings and other things. it will have a huge seating capacity but I have no idea if there will be enough people in their target audience.

Well I think I'll wait for them to open and to check it out before I make any predictions.

It's also hard to know what their business plan is.

For all we know, they plan to book in Chinese tour buses and I think more provincial Chinese might love that kind of "exotic" food.

Of course Hooters opening on Beach Road is famous for wings and ... let me check ... "other" THINGS.

I doubt Hooters would be opening here without having done some hard core market research.

I find it hard to believe that Hooters will be a success in Pattaya.

I mean Pattaya is quite price sensitive and Hooters wont be cheap so for a start that will wipe out a lot of customers.

And the girl attraction can be had all over town and in much sexier outfits or no outfits as the case may be.

[Orac]

Thailand will probably lose a lot of its 'quality' foreign tourists to Vietnam and Myanmar over the next 10 years and possibly mass tourists to as well if they get the infrastructure in place. Pattaya will probably end up with a mix of its 'older' customers but with far more visitors from Bangkok and ppl relocating here after the rail link is upgraded.

The sleazy bit might move back as it is at the moment to Buakhow more but can't see it declining too far.

[phycokiller]

Pattaya will keep growing but more as a weekend gettaway destination and eventually a suburb of Bangkok. Theres nothing particularly unique to attract foreign tourists these days, except its closeness to China so they will keep coming, especially if they do the casino thing

[Jingthing]

Hooters will do great. G rated sleaze. Family friendly!

[onemorechang]

Pattaya will keep growing but more as a weekend gettaway destination and eventually a suburb of Bangkok. Theres nothing particularly unique to attract foreign tourists these days, except its closeness to China so they will keep coming, especially if they do the casino thing

People are still talking about a Casino in pattaya / Jomtien

This is total Bs we have listened to this for 20 years if not longer.;

It requires a change of the Law in Thailand.

won't happen in our life time.

[champers]

I've no doubt that many Chinese will start travelling here independently in due course (some do already) and Pattaya will have to cater to them and introduce gambling: casinos and maybe horse racing. In the UK there are thousands of young, rich Chinese studying at universities, so a short flight to Pattaya is hardly going to be daunting for them. High end malls, restaurants and hotels are already springing up to meet demand and more will follow. There will still be room for the beer bars and other sundry, less esoteric & more erotic diversions; they too will have appeal to the Chinese.

[Brit_Doggie]

High season low season c'mon I sometimes go weeks without a decent cashflow input then bingo, it takes patience and a well charged mobile to whilst away the hours in-between.