PATTAYA, Thailand– The-ever readable Stickman internet site for March 9 emphasizes that Pattaya or Sin City no longer revolves around sex and gogo dancers. It reckons only 2-3 percent of overseas visitors these days are primarily motivated by bright nightlife here, although the article doesn’t speculate what the rest of us are doing.
The column suggests that the declining ratio of naughty boys to mainstream tourists is caused by several factors. They range from the natural ageing of traditional westerners and the escalating charges for post-covid prostitution to the decline in the quality of the bodies on offer and the booming music which used to be fun and isn’t any longer.
Of course, it’s impossible to quantify overseas visitors solely on the basis of their sexual proclivities. A foreigner may visit cultural heritage sites in the daytime but hurry down to Soi Pothole after dark. A businessman could be attending networking conferences whilst the sun is shining, but looking for a very different trade in the light of the moon.
To state the obvious, Pattaya has changed beyond all recognition. Five star hotels, penthouse condos, luxury malls, family-friendly entertainment and expensive restaurants are everywhere. Whatever bits of central Pattaya are still standing are in danger of being knocked down and redeveloped. Indeed, the major stumbling block to even quicker transformation is the shortage of both Thai and immigrant cheap labor rather than the lack of investors.
Nightlife is increasingly concentrated in streets or areas such as Soi Buakhao, standalone streets such as Soi Sex (Six) and bar complexes scattered throughout the city and Jomtien. There are at least 30 bars in Jomtien’s Rompho market stretch although only a few are really busy. In any case, they mostly cater for retiree foreigners wanting to drink, people-watch and chat with friends.
Stickman rarely mentions the gay scene, reasoning that his readers wouldn’t be interested. But here too the changes are substantial. At the Jomtien Complex, gay sex is certainly on offer but there’s a choice of restaurants and several professional cabaret shows catering largely for social groups. Whether the arrival of gay marriage will make much difference to non-Thais in Pattaya is a debating point. So far, insiders say, no real impact.
So Pattaya is at a sort of crossroads. The naughty boy market still exists, howbeit on a smaller scale than 20 years ago or even 10. It will likely continue to decline because that once-cheap lifestyle is increasingly expensive even as the steep decline in the Thai birth rate means there are far better life-chances for the 18-35 year olds than selling themselves to strangers on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, Pattaya sits adjacent to the Eastern Economic Corridor which is fast becoming Thailand’s most successful technology hub. Chonburi province, which houses the city of Pattaya, is amongst the top three wealthiest provinces in the country according to Board of Investment business data. If naughty boys are now only 2 or 3 percent of tourist arrivals, that number could half by the end of the decade.
