Slowdown hits Pattaya hoteliers

[reader]

From Bangkok Post 

Hotel business in Pattaya has begun to feel the pinch of the strong baht and the economic slowdown, with reports of declining occupancy rates.

Under normal circumstances, most hotels in the popular beach city would be fully booked during the high season, but this year the overall occupancy rate is 80%, said Pattaya deputy governor Manoj Nongyai

The surging local currency has made foreign travellers more price-conscious, he said.

The city is a first-night stay for many foreigners visiting Thailand, according to a study. They then choose to stay the other nights on Koh Samet in Rayong or in Bangkok before flying home.

The slowdown in hotel business also stems from changes in behaviour, especially by Chinese tourists, who tend to travel independently in small groups instead of buying tour packages.

These travellers prefer walk-in booking when they arrive at a destination, or they use a sharing-economy platform to enjoy lower costs for accommodation, Mr Manoj said.

Pattaya continues to attract some 450,000 visitors daily. The top three tourist groups this year are Chinese, Indians and Russians.

The Indian market has shown strong potential, with visitors still travelling in groups of 20-30 people, particularly for incentives, bachelor parties and weddings. Bollywood productions use Pattaya as a shooting location, inspiring Indians to visit Thailand.

Average spending for Indian tourists is 10,000 baht per person per day, compared with 5,000 baht for Chinese visitors.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1802659/slowdown-hits-pattaya-hoteliers

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, reader said:

Pattaya continues to attract some 450,000 visitors daily. 

Average spending for Indian tourists is 10,000 baht per person per day, compared with 5,000 baht for Chinese visitors.

 

whoever wrote that 450 000 clearly doesn't have an idea how many people crowd of that number includes

I wonder how they get those spending figures but one thing is sure for me , some of that 5000 is spend in gay bars but I can't see any chunk of that 10000 being spend in them

[spoon]

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

whoever wrote that 450 000 clearly doesn't have an idea how many people crowd of that number includes

I wonder how they get those spending figures but one thing is sure for me , some of that 5000 is spend in gay bars but I can't see any chunk of that 10000 being spend in them

That explains indian specific themes girl bar at walking street. Yup not much spending from indian tourist in gay bars. Although when i visit there last year, there is 2 married indian couple having fun in boys music bar where BBB  moves to after midnight. I guess once this group discover the cheaper jomtien or even sunee bars area, they might start to flood this area and makes these places returns to its glory, or maybe it is just my wishful thinking.

Although one might question the method of tracki g the tourist spending done by the gov. It is very hard and unlikely to track cash spending in bars and as off fee paid directly to boys. So the 5k from chinese might not even includes their spending on gay bars lol. One way to track spending is of course from the usage of credit cards, where both amount and country are clearly in the records. That means the 10k/5k spending are mostly in hotels and shoppings.

[Guest]

I presume they track tourist spending by questioning a random sample.   In which case culture might come into it, as some people might be inclined to be modest and under estimate spending, whilst others might like to appear like they are big spenders.

If they want to track it by other means, they need to collect all the foreign exchange records, ATM withdrawals, credit card transactions and WePay transactions (or similar).    Plus all the baht purchased overseas.   That seems difficult to me. 

[Boy69]

14 hours ago, reader said:

Average spending for Indian tourists is 10,000 baht per person per day, compared with 5,000 baht for Chinese visitors.

God knows from where they took this numbers, No way the average Indian tourist spend $330 a day neither Chinese $165 a day  not even half of it.

Thai official statistics are completely since fiction...

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Boy69 said:

official statistics are completely since fiction...

you are right, it's well known that 68.74% of statistics quotations  is made on the spot

[williewillie]

Indians are in Pattaya in massive numbers.  There are dozens of female street walkers in south Pattaya who are swarmed by 

large groups of Indian men nightly.  A couple of years ago, swarms of buxom hefty white women specialized in Arab men but 

have mostly moved on.

In South Pattaya, Indians predominate over Chinese, Russian and Arabs.  Many Indian restaurants and more still opening.

On the gay hookup apps, I see many Indian men but almost never see in boy bars.

 

[PeterRS]

In Bangkok you see lots of Indians in the main shopping malls. These ladies spend heavily judging by the luxury bags they carry.

[spoon]

Its logical to see a country with circa 1billion pops have considerable amount of their citizens able to afford a thing or two.

[pong]

spending figures:

of course these are average for monies exchanged in THB divided up total sum of visitors

INDians for a vey large part coem for massive money-throwing marriage parties for which Phuket is favoured. The host needs to provide at least 4 giant meals/day for each of the 10s/rather 100s of guests

Chinese BUY things-just look at those dutyfree emporia to sell brandmarks still unavailable over there to their fellow mainland countrymen so to offset the cost of travel. F.e. in EUR they tend to spend 10-12x as much on that shoppping as on daily expense for stay+food+travel.

Thats all way out of the gay scene of course. But about any tourisry publication and in fact even here the BKK-post last week explained it all.

[Boy69]

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/tourist-numbers-down-40-compared-to-last-year-and-last-year-was-bad-pattaya-2

[vinapu]

I like to hear from people on the ground in Pattaya as it's a case which I doubt.

40% would be quite a drop visible and felt everywhere.

For me it looks like most of those numbers in alarming articles , just taken from the hat at random according to the old rule that 78.43 % of statistics are made on the spot

[spoon]

I can attest when booking hotel.in pattaya, had no issues finding place in both ambiance and zing, as well as when i search for agate etc. Last year, agate was sold out.

On the other hand, bangkok is different story. Raya is fully booked for dates i wanted to i splurge a bit on better hotels as even the cheap and acceptablr alternatives for me are too expensive and not value for money anymore

[ggobkk]

I received a Holiday greeting from The Poseidon with an offer for a special rate May through September.  Requires a 2 week stay, includes laundry, free mini bar in the room, and at least one of their special food nights.  

[Boy69]

This is the low season there are plenty of special offers in this period.

[Travellerdave]

I stayed at the Poseidon a couple of years ago - liked it. It’s 100% gay. Has a rather novel sort of jacuzzi with a flow of water you can swim against. 
However I have gravitated to the Zing in recent trips.

[Guest]

I deliberately went to Pattaya a little earlier, to avoid the busiest period up to new year.   However, around the 20th didn't seem that quiet.

Don Mueang international terminal was very busy, so clearly a lot of visitors go somewhere.

[Travellerdave]

I’ve just purchased my flights for my next trip - 3 weeks in February - probably mostly in Pattaya. I expect Pats to be very busy but probably not so much with gays. Probably I will just make a reservation at Zing for 2/3 nights where I like the pool, around which I like to sit/lie with boyfriends. It’s gay friendly but I have been there when there were too many parties of noisy str guests and children. I would then need to change but that’s not so easy as in low season.

The strong baht is of course the main deterrent for Western visitors and Pats is increasingly full of Indian guys (nothing against them ) and Chinese tour groups. I still fail to understand the big reduction in gay visitors over recent years. Maybe one factor is the greater acceptance in European resorts of same sex couples. I did think of asking a gay friend to go with me to Playa des Ingles where I used to go before discovering Thailand, but the draw of Asian boys is too great.

i did check Terminal 21 shopping mall when it was packed with Thais, Chinese and Indians but Soi Buakhow market is more my scene - perhaps buying presents for for my boyfriend du jour.

[Travellerdave]

I wonder if the Coronavirus outbreak in China is having an impact on visitor numbers to Thailand and Pattaya in particular, where I arrive in two weeks for my next trip. I suppose if there are large numbers of Chinese it would be wise to avoid contact and the gogos where Chinese ladies visit.

[Vessey]

12 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

I wonder if the Coronavirus outbreak in China is having an impact on visitor numbers to Thailand and Pattaya in particular, where I arrive in two weeks for my next trip. I suppose if there are large numbers of Chinese it would be wise to avoid contact and the gogos where Chinese ladies visit.

The gay nightclub G-Star put on its Facebook today that it wasn't admitting Chinese customers for now.

[BL8gPt]

Almost thee weeks now I am in Pattaya I have seen very few Chinese around, both in the streets, and the bars. Non in Dondtan beach.

[Travellerdave]

On 1/29/2020 at 7:32 PM, Vessey said:

The gay nightclub G-Star put on its Facebook today that it wasn't admitting Chinese customers for now.

I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. I’ve never seen the Chinese ladies in Sunee. A good choice whilst the outbreak is spreading ?

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

A good choice whilst the outbreak is spreading ?

Perhaps, but there's not that much left in Sunnee, so eventually you might want to look for something else.