World Class Pattaya's "lovely new" beach missing just one thing - tourists!

[webfact]

World Class Pattaya's "lovely new" beach missing just one thing - tourists!

 

 

An upbeat video from TNA MCOT - set to some soothing music - portrayed Pattaya as a world class resort after work to improve the eroded beach. 

 

But while the reporter and a few Thai visitors gave a generally favorable impression of the "New Pattaya" an operator on the beach said something was missing. 

 

Tourists. 

 

And no one asked any foreigners of their opinion about the improvements in Pattaya though one was seen grimacing in a close-up. 

 

video screenshot

 

Presenter Preewat Bupsiri spoke over the gentle music telling his audience that 400 million baht had been spent on new sand widening the beach from a cramped 5 meters to an expansive 35 meters wide. 

 

A 2.8 kilometer stretch from Dusit at North Pattaya to Walking Street in South Pattaya was now lovely. 

 

A word of warning was voiced by one official who said nobody could be sure that the sand would stay - such were the vagaries of Mother Nature but he was hoping for the best. 

 

Thai tourists gave their thumbs up saying that it was more spacious and better than before. And Pattaya was a great place to visit from Bangkok as it was near and offered both day and night attractions, they said.

 

But it was not all joy and laughter at the "world class resort". The reporter said there looked to be not many tourists - though he put that down to the economy and the time of the year. 

 

One female operator on the beach said it looks nice and the foreign tourists were lounging on the beach. 

 

But there were hardly any tourists. 

 

She could make a living before but now she was lucky to get even one customer a day. 

 

Source: TNA

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-04-02

 

[Pilotman]

unfortunately, I happened to be driving down beach road a couple of days ago, trying as quickly as possible to leave the City.  While the beach looked okay, we all know the water is as polluted as it can be with raw sewage. That said, the most striking thing was the mass of boats in the bay, it looked like thousands of them. Frankly, it looked very off putting, not at all attractive, more like a crowded High Street on a Saturday.  if nothing else was wrong with the beach at Pattaya, and there is plenty, that would certainly put me off. 

[baansgr]

Pan the camera 5 metres away and will see crowds of tourists having a smoke

[darksidedog]

It isn't just the beach that is missing tourists, the whole town is, though I am sure in a day or two TAT or someone else will provide numbers pulled from their imagination to dispute this. While, yes, we are heading into low season, even high season was very quiet. Strong Baht, dangerous roads, rip offs continuously, shitty brown water, corrupt and untrustworthy cops, all culminate to persuade those not on holiday purely for a bit of nookie, to go elsewhere.

[smedly]

The guy in the photo has a cigarette in his hand - go figure lol

[brokenbone]

for as long as sewage water are dumped directly

into the sea, none in his right mind will want it

on their body and in their eyes.

 

theres one exception though, the tourists

and inbred thai hillbillies wanting to celebrate songkran.

 

with that in mind, and the empty beach,

i therefore present this solution,

send all songkran worshipers to the beach

in a fended off area, and keep them there until

morning april 20.

no need for public toilets, they can sort it out in the shit water, maybe even use their <deleted> as hose

Edited April 2, 2019 by brokenbone

[ThreeEyedRaven]

I don't think many who live in Pattaya use the beach, as no one likes swimming amongst a bunch of turds and the film of diesel from the marine craft. If I am going to the beach, I head down to Sattahip, near the naval base, just past Utapao airport. Clean sand, clear water and no beach vendors pestering you every five minutes.

[JustAnotherHun]

13 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It isn't just the beach that is missing tourists, the whole town is, 

Pattaya is not missing tourists, it's missing western tourists. There ara thousands of Chinese and Indians with their air polluting tour busses all over the town.

And the newly done beach extension ist already partly washed away again.

[brokenbone]

i sure dont miss more tourists, or humans at all,

the less traffic jam the merrier imo,

i would even want to know what its like to find

a parking slot for my scooter within horizon

[champers]

I bet the beach is quiet today; it's absolutely hammering it down.

Thunderbolt and lightening,

Very, very frightening.

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by champers

[Vacuum]

39 minutes ago, smedly said:

The guy in the photo has a cigarette in his hand - go figure lol

Looks more like a cigar, but well spotted though.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Vacuum

[Pilotman]

21 minutes ago, champers said:

I bet the beach is quiet today; it's absolutely hammering it down.

Thunderbolt and lightening,

Very, very frightening.

 

really?  Dry as a bone here in Bang Sang  

[thaibeachlovers]

37 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

It isn't just the beach that is missing tourists, the whole town is, though I am sure in a day or two TAT or someone else will provide numbers pulled from their imagination to dispute this. While, yes, we are heading into low season, even high season was very quiet. Strong Baht, dangerous roads, rip offs continuously, shitty brown water, corrupt and untrustworthy cops, all culminate to persuade those not on holiday purely for a bit of nookie, to go elsewhere.

I think the years of ripping tourists off has come home to roost. Vietnam has apparently become the place to go to, offering what Thailand used to.

Pattaya's problem is that to fix it, the entire downtown area would have to be demolished to allow proper infrastructure to be built, and the entire council would have to be sacked and a "better" one put in. Neither is going to happen.

It used to be lovely in the 90s- a cheap and cheerful town, but then the high and mighty got baht in their eyes with the thought of a world class resort where the rich and famous would flock and the baht would flow like water. Of course the dream has ended in chaos and fiasco- could there have ever been a happy ending?

Even the nookie lovers are being turned away by bored ( and boring ) ladies more interested in their phones that the customers, and the prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have to be joking if they think the numbers of mongers are going to be like in the good old days if they want "how much"???????? Besides, many of them are just too fat and plain to be considered by anyone not wearing beer goggles. Used to be the best lookers were inside the Walking Street gogos, now it's the touts outside.

[thaibeachlovers]

53 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

unfortunately, I happened to be driving down beach road a couple of days ago, trying as quickly as possible to leave the City.  While the beach looked okay, we all know the water is as polluted as it can be with raw sewage. That said, the most striking thing was the mass of boats in the bay, it looked like thousands of them. Frankly, it looked very off putting, not at all attractive, more like a crowded High Street on a Saturday.  if nothing else was wrong with the beach at Pattaya, and there is plenty, that would certainly put me off. 

Used to be way more big boats moored in Pattaya Bay back in the 90s. Then the speedboats seemed to take over and a lot of the big boats left. The speedboats used to load passengers of the beach, then they had to use Bali Hi, so no speedboats on the beach for a long time, but I see the speedboats now loading on the beach again.

[scubascuba3]

Less farang about as its low season and the hordes of Chinese don't go on the beach unless heading for a speedboat. Chinese and Indians don't do beaches

[sammieuk1]

Its the cholera and dysentery clinic on a Monday that could why the tourists are missing????

[observer90210]

Maybe word has gone around in different countries regarding the overrated Thai Bhat, taxi and jet ski scams or harassment from immigration officials in Thai border points. Corrupt attitudes from some police officers, add to the feeling of insecurity when visiting a country.

 

Information nowdays travels fast and is posted instantly.

 

Consequently, sensible tourists are not all that stupid, want full value for their money and do their homework before visiting a country.

 

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by observer90210

[Phuketshrew]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

A word of warning was voiced by one official who said nobody could be sure that the sand would stay

Reading the article it seems that it's not only the sand that isn't staying at this world class family resort.

[Nielsk]

The usual ignorant miserable personages there are bored and have nothing else to do is back on the keyboard.  Nothing new under the sun. O.M.G. !!

[Henrik Andersen]

You have alot of tourists but them you love to have sit in busses and make tourists destination as a nightmare to visit so meny westerners go holiday in other countries 

[LoS itaint]

Theres more then tourists missing today, the beach has also disappeared due to the monsoon this morning!

[Peterw42]

Wouldn't logic say that if the beach is now 600% bigger, with the same amount of tourists,

then yes, it will look empty. Thats less tourists per square meter of beach. Not a massive drop in tourists.

 

Now the usual rhetoric about the decline of the Thai tourist industry, What decline ?????????

 

Other than a few ill informed observations, has there been a marked decline ????????

 

To have a post mortem on what has caused the downfall of Thai tourism, there first has to be an actual quantitative decline in tourism, not just the bar is empty or my mate told me.

 

My own observations and a lack of any contrary data, would lead me to believe there is no decline in tourist numbers. I sit in traffic every-time I go anywhere, I queue at the supermarket, bank, immigration, DLT. I don't dine in empty restaurants or visit empty shopping malls. My condo block is full. Last time I went to an airport the planes were all arriving full of tourists. 

 

If there is real data out there that shows an overall decline in tourist numbers, I would love to see it. Rather than threads like this one where the vocal minority tell me its true based on empty bar stools or one persons observations

 

 

 

[ebean001]

I think it looks great. A tourist area can be harmed quickly. Tourist return home and say bad things. that spreads and spreads. hard to get new people, for example, their friends to come. The opposite is also true. advertising is important but what the people say upon their return is vital.

[Katipo]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

The guy in the photo has a cigarette in his hand - go figure lol

It's a pen, and you can see a magazine/newspaper there too. Perhaps doing a crossword or other puzzle?

[balo]

They forgot to mention the dirty water, pollution and all the trash the locals leave behind on the beach. 

Only cheap tourists, and Russians would choose Pattaya for a beach holiday. And the Chinese who are only here to walk on the beach and take pictures for 2 days , then back to China. 

Edited April 2, 2019 by balo

[bristolgeoff]

looks nice but the water is known to be bad.the daily police check point for they funds.scams rip offs.world class place for some

[mok199]

..Saddly these are taken after our ''hard rain ''today bottom of soi2...Pattaya beach failure 600mill baht rejuvenation...From the Dusit to Walking street has been washed away,in 2 hours...Disgusting waste of money...( its getting harder and harder to watch this thai stupity)))

Edited April 2, 2019 by mok199

[ginjag]

49 minutes ago, LoS itaint said:

Theres more then tourists missing today, the beach has also disappeared due to the monsoon this morning!

The monsoon didn't do it,  Pattaya City Council utter neglect.     Forget the drainage,  MORE sand please

[miamiman123]

Should have forgot about improving the beach....the issue and it’s the main issue is the economy ie, the strong baht which is being manipulated by the BOT, and take a look at exports... can’t sell that rice with the strong baht, but you can buy a nice red Ferrari from the USA rather cheaply and those vacations and tuition bills are great now. 

Yeah the chickens have come home to roost just like 1990 all over again. Turn those lights on in those condos on Asoke to sell em!

ha! 

Its sad what has been done to the people here. 

[petermik]

I was down there yesterday....as most afternoons having a "stroll" and I observed,my guess somefolks from City Hall vermin control,handing out metal cage traps to the lounger owners to put down for the hoards of rats that thrive there....."world class" hardly