Pattaya turns into ghost town after coronavirus shutdown

By Pattaya Mail

April 1, 2020

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Bars, restaurants, arcades, and other tourism-based businesses are closed down due to the curfew.

CHONBURI – The coronavirus pandemic has turned Thailand’s seaside resort city of Pattaya into a ghost town as businesses shut their doors after worldwide travel restrictions.

Since March 18 when the government imposed a ban on most services, the vibrant entertainment scene of Pattaya has depleted.

Pattaya beach is seen empty after 8 P.M. deadline.

A business leader of Pattaya Sinchai Wattanasartsathorn said Pattaya faced an unprecedented crisis that turned it in to a “dead city.” But he believed the city awaits the right time to resurrect.

Over 90 percent of hotels in the world-famous tourist hotspot are forced to announce temporary closures, beginning April.

Local businessman, Sinchai Wattanasartsathorn, tells how shaken the businesses are right now after the lockdown.

Currently, none of the hotels had guests more than four percent of their capacities, said Pakamon Wongyai, a leading hotelier of Pattaya.Hotel closures mean thousands of staffers need to pack up and head home during the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.

Pattaya city hotelier, Pakamon Wongyai, said visitors’ number had plunged to almost none since the air, sea, and land lockdown in March.

Pattaya’s beaches, bars and cabarets are now deserted, reflecting economic devastation to over 100,000 more people in the city workforce who also have to leave for their hometowns as their only option for survival. (TNA)