Pattaya tourism pushes cooperation to recover from bad press

[Nomyai]

Once again the message is: shoot the messenger!

Here's a great article about how posting images online damages the image of Pattaya.

http://pattayadailynews.com/video-of-lady-boy-prostitution/

"Although the official has tried to change the image of Pattaya from Sex Tourism to Sport Tourism, the good image is always damaged when videos are posted on the internet."

this is the director of the Pattaya [/size]Business and [/size]Tourism Association[/size]. he really is having a difficult time thinking up a way to improve Pattayas image that doesnt involve media censorship.

Indeed his hotels on Soi 7 and Soi 8(Flipper Group) are clearly in the epicentre of sporting Pattaya. Walk along either of those sois and what is featured is mainly sports....or perhaps not.

As to attracting Eastern Europeans...they already tried that a couple of years ago.

http://marketingdatabase.tat.or.th/ewtadmin/ewt/admin/download/article/MarketAnalysisReport2015/Balkans.pdf

http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/tat-to-promote-renewed-love-campaign-for-european-visitors/62244/

http://pattayadailynews.com/tat-urge-tourism-pattaya/

http://www.tatnews.org/thailand-looking-to-increase-numbers-of-travellers-from-europe/

I for one, wouldnt go to pattaya if there were no gogo bars. There is absolutely nothing of interest to anyone other than local thais there.

[morrobay]

One by one teflon Thailand. Is being exposed!

Bad press? Arent tourist coming in record numbers?

Chinese mass tourism is making the record numbers. Aside from that there so far is a never ending supply of "first time clueless and oblivious visitors" I dont know what

percent return for a second + visit. From the looks of them I dont think they really care about all the bad press or the garbage and bad attitude locals everywhere. In other words they are oblivious. The other large group of visitors here for the night life just put up with surroundings and locals. However those visiting for other than the " nightlife"

and are not oblivious to their surroundings ( a higher class of visitor ) would in my opinion not only never visit again but would make a hasty exit/change of plan.

[WhamBam]

30% + increase in beer price where i go to watch football with friends due soon. Up from 80 Baht a bottle to 110 Baht a bottle according to the staff when enquiring about a notice saying prices are due to rise.

Not a brilliant, vibrant place unless there is a big derby game on like Liverpool Everton or Man U Man City.

Usually two football matches shown on a weekend and often only the top teams shown.

We ( my friends and I have already decided to boycott the place from the date of the increase and find other bars where we can at least watch the teams we want to see, like Wetherspoons or similar. We'd rather pay a little more and see our teams play.

This bar is almost dead during the week. Now, I feel they have tolled the death bell for the bar, owned by ( I do believe) by a Thai who owns one of the biggest shopping malls in Pattaya.

So, far from encouraging people into the bar, the customers are more likely to be driven away. Yet more Thainess?

One local bar with a new sign outside offering large Leo for 80 Baht. Others nearby cheaper or about the same. Seems they are the ones with more business sense.

And some people in authority wonder why places are closing and tourists not coming back. But when a place increases prices by over 30% in one go, is it surprising?

[LennyW]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday, he stays in Pattaya for 4 months every winter, he likes to spend his afternoons on the beach, does not swim but just relaxes on the beach, but he says it will be the last time - he is completely shocked at the numbers of rats roaming the beach, i have not been on the beach for a while but he reckons the rat problem is verging on epidemic proportions??

[phycokiller]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday, he stays in Pattaya for 4 months every winter, he likes to spend his afternoons on the beach, does not swim but just relaxes on the beach, but he says it will be the last time - he is completely shocked at the numbers of rats roaming the beach, i have not been on the beach for a while but he reckons the rat problem is verging on epidemic proportions??

the rats have always been there, except a week or two after they poison them every year, and then they are still there but rotting. but if he doesnt spend time on the beach at night I dont see why he would think it such a big deal.

[champers]

Closing the beach businesses every Wednesday is a decision that needs to be reversed. Bizarre. It's akin to driving people away from the city, as they take day trips beyond Pattaya's boundaries. I'm well aware that sitting under an umbrella on a deckchair isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Pattaya can and should be all things to all people. It's multi - cultural and multi - faceted and that is part of it's appeal.

[phycokiller]

Closing the beach businesses every Wednesday is a decision that needs to be reversed. Bizarre. It's akin to driving people away from the city, as they take day trips beyond Pattaya's boundaries. I'm well aware that sitting under an umbrella on a deckchair isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Pattaya can and should be all things to all people. It's multi - cultural and multi - faceted and that is part of it's appeal.

the beach seems to be well used when the chairs arent there, I think many tourists like it