Pattaya is making a bold attempt to make a success of the upcoming festive season. Jomtien Immigration, headquarters of Chonburi province, is busier than many customers have witnessed for years. Over two thousand queue tickets have already been issued this week alone. Many of new faces are European tourists, from Scandinavia in particular, reporting their address under the TM30 regulations. However, the queues have been made worse at present by a fingerprint ID check on guest workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
Following a Covid outbreak last month, the Ministry of Health requires limited numbers to be in the building at any one time, leading to exasperatingly long waiting lines and inadequate outside seating capacity. The Tourism Authority of Thailand announced that over 300,000 tourists had entered the country since the beginning of the month. But regular expats must also access immigration offices to report 90 days, extend visas and obtain certificates of residence for various purposes.
Some Pattaya businesses are certainly noticing the pickup in customer numbers. Traffic jams are the new norm on the arterials, although numerous road repairs don’t help. The recent music festivals have filled many hotels at weekends with domestic tourists, whilst the more popular and well-run condos report that units for monthly rent are becoming scarce. Massage parlors are doing better too. Miss Oh, an employee at the Joy Massage on Second Road, summed up, “Last month I never had a customer until the evening, now I’m busy even during the mornings.”
The big bugbear, of course, is alcohol which currently isn’t fully lawful. Then again, it’s not totally illegal either. Current rules are that you can buy it in stores to take home, or enjoy it in a “real” restaurant with the necessary Safety and Health certification and a guarantee that booze is a sideline only. So the inevitable hedging has begun. The once-famous Walking Street now houses one or two eateries or coffee-only bars to test the waters so to speak. Strangely, all of them are on the seaward side which is supposed to be condemned property built illegally 40 years ago.
It’s the same story at Sexy Soi Six in north Pattaya. A few bars are open, allegedly for soft drinks. One, enticingly named Hot Lips, has an ambiguous notice “no cold beer now”. Gay bars are following suit in the Jomtien Complex. Ordered closed by the police on December 7, several are now specializing in non-alcoholic cocktails and exotic coffees. Staff claim that the police stance is now softer as long as you remain obligingly teetotal.
So far, the government has allowed very little official leeway. Restaurants on New Year’s Eve can serve booze until one o’clock the next morning, provided they observe social distancing and encourage antigen health tests. That’s a mere two hours’ extension from now. Christmas Eve and Day don’t sound currently like much fun, although wine with your turkey breast and misletoe pudding will be allowed. Equally, laws are one thing and enforcement is another. If Covid infections remain low, the boys in brown may well look the other way in late December. If not, expect the raids to heat up.
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