The local head of Thailand’s hotel association is again using China as a boogeyman to push politicians to reopen the city and provide financial relief, claiming mainland investors are ready to buy up Pattaya’s struggling hotels.
It’s a common theme by the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter. To hear President Phisut Sae-khu tell it, if Pattaya cannot reopen on schedule – Oct. 1 – operators may sell their venues to foreign investors, specifically the Chinese.
The THA brass said the same thing about a year ago. Then, as now, there was no evidence Chinese property buyers are salivating over Pattaya hotels; in fact, just the opposite. Real estate consultancies have reported over the past two months that mainland investments in Southeast Asia – and Thailand in particular – are being cut drastically as the region deals with the coronavirus delta variant.
Phisut claimed, without naming any, that several hotels already have been sold to the Chinese.
Therefore, the THA eastern boss said, the government needs to provide financial relief, institute debt moratoriums and reduce loan-interest rates.
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