Pattaya's "good image"

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Gaybutton
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Pattaya's "good image"

Post by Gaybutton »

I'm constantly reading news items about things that hurt Pattaya's "good image," including yet another article today.

Here's my question: What constitutes Pattaya's "good image"? I rarely see any news about anything that promotes and enhances Pattaya's "good image." To tell the truth, I didn't know Pattaya even has a "good image." If it does, what is it?

Seems to me Pattaya isn't truly promoting a "good image" as much as it is merely trying to avoid a "bad image." Unsuccessfully, I might add.

At least for me, Pattaya really did have a "good image" years ago - when it was quite an anything goes town, with bars and entertainment venues that had something for everyone and nobody telling them what time they have to close, when tourists weren't virtually told what time to go to bed, when the beaches and beach concessions were left to their own decisions, when the local waters were still clean enough to swim in, when traffic wasn't a serious problem, when the infrastructure was sufficient for the population, when Beach Road was quite safe at night, etc, etc, etc.

Now, with all the ridiculous rules and regulations the powers-that-be have imposed, where does the "good image" part come in? If now Pattaya really does have such a "good image", I missed it.
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Re: Pattaya's "good image"

Post by puan »

GB....Well said!
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Re: Pattaya's "good image"

Post by SP55 »

I can only agree. And the officials propaganda about the "World class family resort" is just a part of the Thai hypocrisy.
There is really only one thing that is the biggest attraction of Pattaya and everyone knows what it is.
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Re: Pattaya's "good image"

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"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
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Re: Pattaya's "good image"

Post by Dodger »

TaT's media attempts to change the image of Pattaya from "The Extreme City", known world-wide as a party town with its famed exotic night life, to a "Family Vacation" destination, was destined to fail from the beginning. Even if they were to uproot all the venues that put Pattaya on the map, i.e., host bars, gogo bars, late-night karaoke's, discos, live music pubs, massage parlors, etc., all that would be left would a string of extremely polluted beaches, filthy un-maintained buildings, constant flooding, horrendous traffic, shopping malls which can be found in any city in the world, and all being connected by highways that resemble demolition derby's.

My daughter' and son-in-law came to Thailand for their first visit a few weeks ago which I've babbled about before. Jai and I took them to visit a few venues in Pattaya on two occasions. They thought Pattaya as a great party town with a night-life unmatched by any place they had ever seen, although went on to say that they would never in a million years bring their children to Pattaya for a vacation. Thailand-Yes, Pattaya-No. My daughter stated the obvious: Just walking down the streets is a major safety concern, because there are very few sidewalks and you have to constantly dodge people who drive like crazed lunatics. Then, when there is a sidewalk, you have to watch every single step you take to avoid falling in a concrete hole or tripping on a downed electric wire. She wouldn't let her children go anywhere near the polluted water at the beaches either. I think my daughters opinion is fairly representative of most responsible parents. Why would parents travel thousands of miles for a vacation with their children, just to put them in harm's way???

As we all know, Pattaya evolved from a small fishing village to a sex playground. There was no one back in the early 1960's trying to create an image, and there certainly was no concerted effort to change the image. It just evolved naturally. One of the most important Buddhist teachings, that every single Thai is taught at an early age, is, that people should never attempt to do anything that contradicts nature. Apparently TaT has its own ideas.



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Re: Pattaya's "good image"

Post by Gaybutton »

Dodger wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:57 am "Family Vacation" destination, was destined to fail from the beginning
I've never figured out why anyone wanted to do that in the first place. From the moment that bizarre policy began, Pattaya has been going downhill ever since. To this day I don't see all that many families choosing Pattaya as their holiday destination.

There are plenty of nearby beach towns where the idea of developing a family vacation resort really had an excellent chance of working. Bang Saen comes to mind. Even when this nonsense got started, Bang Saen was already much closer to Bangkok, already had beautiful beaches, clean clear waters, plenty of vendors and beach concessions, plenty of beach parking, no particular traffic jam problems, more conservative and family oriented Thais, good restaurants, and fine hotels. If the powers-that-be wanted to create a family holiday resort, why try to do it with Pattaya? Bang Saen was, and still is, an ideal place to do it. As far as I know it was never tried.

If I were bringing a family with children to Thailand, looking for a beach resort, and had heard about Bang Saen - even as it is now - that's where I would take the family, not Pattaya.

On the other hand, if I were going to Thailand, or even if I were a Thai, looking for a more adult holiday at a beach resort, it would be Pattaya. Despite the efforts of certain authorities, it may not be what it was several years ago, but for people looking for that kind of holiday, Pattaya is still where they choose to go.

To me, the very idea of trying to totally change the Pattaya paradigm makes about as much sense as trying to change Las Vegas and make it instead a city where people would choose to go for religious pilgrimages.

If it wasn't for the authorities, in their infinite wisdom, making a shambles of Pattaya, I'm convinced there would still be plenty of tourists - adult tourists looking for precisely what Pattaya had to offer - strong baht or not. If I were spending my hard earned money to travel to a place that by virtue of the exchange rates has become much more expensive, then I would want to go to a place I could fully enjoy - and enjoy it my way. Pattaya still has that, but obviously nothing like the way it was 10 years ago. I've never appreciated people referring to Pattaya as "Shitsville," but if some people see Pattaya that way, I wonder what the authorities think inspired that view of their "good image" city.

Unfortunately, the chances of the powers-that-be seeing it that way, developing and advertising Bang Saen or somewhere similar as a family vacation beach resort, and letting Pattaya re-evolve into what it ought to be, are somewhere between zero and nil.
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