Pattaya has lost more than 100 billion baht in tourism revenue in 2020 with prospects for the rest of the year just as dire.
Deputy City Manager Teerasak Jatupong said Aug. 4 that the city has lost more than 80 percent of its tourists due to foreign visitors being locked out of Thailand. While Thai tourism has resumed, domestic tourists spend only one-third of what foreigners do.
Granted it was a Monday night, but Pattaya was ghostly quiet on Aug. 3 with streets empty and bars only about 10 percent full.
Pradub, a beer bar owner on Soi 7, said she remains open to help her employees, but has had to cut staffing levels and start offering food to survive. Business is down more than 50 percent and now expats make up 80 percent of her customers and Thais 10 percent. The other 10 percent is from Russians and Indian domestic tourists.
She said the government should allow bars to remain open until 2 a.m. and Pattaya should host more events to bring domestic travelers to town.
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