I'd bet money that there will be no rail link, since Cambodia hasn't even invested in properly maintaining the railway infrastructure they have, never mind new lines.
The 2023 satellite images show the airport and some kind of partially constructed road.
https://www.google.com/maps/@13.3658791 ... a=!3m1!1e3
Building stuff in the middle of nowhere, without proper connections is not unknown in this part of the world. Just take one look at the terrible location of the railway stations in Laos.
By Barry Kenyon
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KeithAmbrose
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
My guide made it quite clear in January, that there would be awful communications. It's a vanity project designed to up the land prices owned by you know who. I am talking about Siem Reap, not Phnom Penh. Siem Reap is not going to be the 9th biggest airport in the world. The current airport has 6 departure gates, I think, and copes fine. Consider Singapore, KL, Hong Kong, Istanbul, let alone most large American airports. It took Hong Kong 5 years to build a (very good) road and rail link to Chep Lap Kok, I somehow doubt that Cambodia can do it in 4 months! Even in UK, it's taking 12 years to build our so called high speed line!
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Pattaya tourist numbers zoom amid political crisis fears
By Barry Kenyon
May 20, 2023
Nine and a half million foreign visitors have arrived in Thailand so far this year, according to Thai government spokesman Traisuree Taisaranakul, with three million heading direct to Pattaya. The national economy has benefitted to the tune of US$11 billion with Pattaya contributing around one third of that. The Bank of Thailand says it is confident that there will be 28 million arrivals in the entire calendar year, which compares with 40 million in pre-pandemic 2019.
Thai authorities have developed a number of strategies to maximize the influx. Chinese arrivals nationally have been sluggish, because of a shortage of aircraft and delays in issuing new passports by Beijing authorities, but are expected to increase to multiple flights hourly by the end of the summer. Thai immigration is also simplifying the 15-days visa on arrival for Chinese citizens by permitting paperwork to be completed pre-flight. Meanwhile, the nationals of 60 countries, including the UK, the US, most of mainland Europe and Australia, can extend their 30 days visa exempt permission for a further month without having to leave the country.
A spokesperson for the Pattaya Entertainment Collective said night life was more or less back to normal after the pandemic and added there was the additional bonus of cannabis with an obviously blurred distinction between medical and leisure use. The weekends in particular reveal a packed resort with lengthy traffic queues in and around the city center. The main problem for Pattaya employers in the hospitality industry has been finding enough staff, especially in hotels according to the eastern Thailand hoteliers association. Attempts are being made to fill the gap by recruiting more workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos with whom the Thai government has Memoranda of Understanding.
“Tourism will be the key pillar supporting our growth this year,” said Thitima Chucherd, an economist at the Siam Commercial Bank. But the threat comes from the May 14 Thai general election. Pro-democracy parties secured the most number of seats in the 500-member House of Representatives, but the votes of the 250 unelected Senators, appointed by the military, will also play a pivotal role on who becomes prime minister.
Although most commentators downplay the prospect of yet another military intervention – it would need to be a strange self-coup as army leaders currently run the country as caretakers – the prospect of a prolonged and bitter parliamentary conflict or an unstable minority government is already worrying investors. “If political tensions spill over into the streets, arrivals growth will slump as in the past two decades,” said Krystal Tan from the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group. Still, if all goes well, a new government will be in office by August.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ars-431710
By Barry Kenyon
May 20, 2023
Nine and a half million foreign visitors have arrived in Thailand so far this year, according to Thai government spokesman Traisuree Taisaranakul, with three million heading direct to Pattaya. The national economy has benefitted to the tune of US$11 billion with Pattaya contributing around one third of that. The Bank of Thailand says it is confident that there will be 28 million arrivals in the entire calendar year, which compares with 40 million in pre-pandemic 2019.
Thai authorities have developed a number of strategies to maximize the influx. Chinese arrivals nationally have been sluggish, because of a shortage of aircraft and delays in issuing new passports by Beijing authorities, but are expected to increase to multiple flights hourly by the end of the summer. Thai immigration is also simplifying the 15-days visa on arrival for Chinese citizens by permitting paperwork to be completed pre-flight. Meanwhile, the nationals of 60 countries, including the UK, the US, most of mainland Europe and Australia, can extend their 30 days visa exempt permission for a further month without having to leave the country.
A spokesperson for the Pattaya Entertainment Collective said night life was more or less back to normal after the pandemic and added there was the additional bonus of cannabis with an obviously blurred distinction between medical and leisure use. The weekends in particular reveal a packed resort with lengthy traffic queues in and around the city center. The main problem for Pattaya employers in the hospitality industry has been finding enough staff, especially in hotels according to the eastern Thailand hoteliers association. Attempts are being made to fill the gap by recruiting more workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos with whom the Thai government has Memoranda of Understanding.
“Tourism will be the key pillar supporting our growth this year,” said Thitima Chucherd, an economist at the Siam Commercial Bank. But the threat comes from the May 14 Thai general election. Pro-democracy parties secured the most number of seats in the 500-member House of Representatives, but the votes of the 250 unelected Senators, appointed by the military, will also play a pivotal role on who becomes prime minister.
Although most commentators downplay the prospect of yet another military intervention – it would need to be a strange self-coup as army leaders currently run the country as caretakers – the prospect of a prolonged and bitter parliamentary conflict or an unstable minority government is already worrying investors. “If political tensions spill over into the streets, arrivals growth will slump as in the past two decades,” said Krystal Tan from the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group. Still, if all goes well, a new government will be in office by August.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ars-431710
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's awfully hard to put it back.
____________________________________________________________
Thailand’s days and nights as a weed heaven now look to be numbered
By Barry Kenyon
May 24, 2023
When the Move Forward Party and its allies become the next Thai government in August – and even if they don’t – action to classify cannabis once again as an illegal narcotic is inevitable. Poll after poll shows that many Thais don’t want a drugs free for all which, they believe, is a threat to their children’s morals and to public health in general But this does not mean that the country automatically must return to the old days of mass jailing of Thais and foreigners willy-nilly for smoking pot anywhere on public or private property. The devil, as ever, will be in the detail of a parliamentary bill.
Thongchai Somprasart, spokesman of Thai Freedom Group which represents some farmers and growers, said billions of investment baht are at stake as well as billions more in lucrative sales of the plant for recreational use. “We already know that the medical use of marijuana will not become a crime again, so the emphasis must be on partial criminalization rather than an outright ban.” He adds that legal cannabis smoking could be allowed in “24-hour” tourist cities like Pattaya as long as it occurred in listed cafes etc. Thongchai mentions Holland as an example of where such a policy works well.
An alternative answer is found in Israel where smoking pot is seen as a public health issue, akin to cigarettes, rather than a criminal problem. Citizens or visitors aren’t prosecuted for possession of less than 15 grams at home, whilst larger offenders are subject to fines rather than imprisonment unless they are gross repeaters. If adopted in Thailand, such a policy would result in adults paying for marijuana offences rather like they do for minor traffic offences together with a points system to grade seriousness.
Yet another choice is already available in some American states where adult use of marijuana for medical and non-medical purposes is not prosecuted in “private spaces” or “out of public view”. In this version only smoking outdoors or in the public buildings or in clubs bars and restaurants would be banned. A leaf could also be borrowed from the Volstead Act of 1919 which introduced the prohibition of alcohol era in the United States. It’s worth noting that Volstead criminalized the production and distribution of alcohol but not the actual drinking of it. Applied to Thailand, this would mean that the police emphasis would be on the producers of cannabis rather than the customers.
There’s no question that Thailand requires urgent legislation to sort out the cannabis mess. But simply turning back the clock is hardly the best solution. And there is some hope if only because the Move Forward Party has hardly been consistent. Its MPs supported the medical use of cannabis and failed to object to the delisting of cannabis as a narcotic in June last year. Some members of Move Forward’s coalition with other parties have been similarly ambiguous in the past. What is needed now is open-mindedness and proper research. Playing political games and advocating authoritarian solutions is not what the new Thailand is supposed to represent.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... red-431972
____________________________________________________________
Thailand’s days and nights as a weed heaven now look to be numbered
By Barry Kenyon
May 24, 2023
When the Move Forward Party and its allies become the next Thai government in August – and even if they don’t – action to classify cannabis once again as an illegal narcotic is inevitable. Poll after poll shows that many Thais don’t want a drugs free for all which, they believe, is a threat to their children’s morals and to public health in general But this does not mean that the country automatically must return to the old days of mass jailing of Thais and foreigners willy-nilly for smoking pot anywhere on public or private property. The devil, as ever, will be in the detail of a parliamentary bill.
Thongchai Somprasart, spokesman of Thai Freedom Group which represents some farmers and growers, said billions of investment baht are at stake as well as billions more in lucrative sales of the plant for recreational use. “We already know that the medical use of marijuana will not become a crime again, so the emphasis must be on partial criminalization rather than an outright ban.” He adds that legal cannabis smoking could be allowed in “24-hour” tourist cities like Pattaya as long as it occurred in listed cafes etc. Thongchai mentions Holland as an example of where such a policy works well.
An alternative answer is found in Israel where smoking pot is seen as a public health issue, akin to cigarettes, rather than a criminal problem. Citizens or visitors aren’t prosecuted for possession of less than 15 grams at home, whilst larger offenders are subject to fines rather than imprisonment unless they are gross repeaters. If adopted in Thailand, such a policy would result in adults paying for marijuana offences rather like they do for minor traffic offences together with a points system to grade seriousness.
Yet another choice is already available in some American states where adult use of marijuana for medical and non-medical purposes is not prosecuted in “private spaces” or “out of public view”. In this version only smoking outdoors or in the public buildings or in clubs bars and restaurants would be banned. A leaf could also be borrowed from the Volstead Act of 1919 which introduced the prohibition of alcohol era in the United States. It’s worth noting that Volstead criminalized the production and distribution of alcohol but not the actual drinking of it. Applied to Thailand, this would mean that the police emphasis would be on the producers of cannabis rather than the customers.
There’s no question that Thailand requires urgent legislation to sort out the cannabis mess. But simply turning back the clock is hardly the best solution. And there is some hope if only because the Move Forward Party has hardly been consistent. Its MPs supported the medical use of cannabis and failed to object to the delisting of cannabis as a narcotic in June last year. Some members of Move Forward’s coalition with other parties have been similarly ambiguous in the past. What is needed now is open-mindedness and proper research. Playing political games and advocating authoritarian solutions is not what the new Thailand is supposed to represent.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... red-431972
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
My ideas:
1. Everybody arriving pays. And why should land border arrivals be charged a different amount than air arrivals would be charged?
2. Forget the whole thing.
Guess which idea I think is the better of the two . . .
_____________________________________
New tourist tax on hold for umpteenth time
By Barry Kenyon
May 24, 2023
Thailand’s much-anticipated 300 baht levy on tourist arrivals by air (150 baht by land or sea) won’t be starting in September after all. Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the matter would need to be resolved by the incoming government which is unlikely to be in office before mid August.
The proposed tax revenue is bedeviled by collection issues since it does not apply to Thais or foreign permanent residents (identified as those who can stay in Thailand indefinitely without a due date in their passport) and holders of Thai work permits. Airlines had complained that it would be impossible for them to include the fee in international tickets unless the fee applied to all passengers. Suggestions that the exempt groups could reclaim the 300 baht at a later stage had been dismissed as tedious and elaborate.
Another idea has been that collection booths should be opened at both airports and border posts which risks huge queues forming as weary travellers try to use electronic methods or offer cash in several currencies requiring change. Land border entries pose further difficulties as Cambodian, Malaysian or Myanmar traders who cross daily into Thailand would be another exempt category along with tourists not staying longer than 24 hours.
Last month, it was suggested by government ministers that the whole strategy and cash collection be handed to a private organization. However, no new ideas have been forthcoming apart from the suggestion that affected arrivals should pay in advance of their journey to a specialist government website. Critics pointed out that such an unwieldy, extra bureaucracy was a bad marketing strategy for a tourist-dependent economy such as Thailand.
Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said it would be best to defer the scheme until Thailand is back-to-normal next year. A spokesman for Your Asian Dreams said it was still unclear how the income would be spent. “But it appears to be a government slush fund to enhance tourist attractions such as temples and to provide compensation for major incidents such as minibus crashes or boats sinking.” It is significant that the scheme has not been published in the Royal Gazette which means that no start date has been approved.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ime-431993
1. Everybody arriving pays. And why should land border arrivals be charged a different amount than air arrivals would be charged?
2. Forget the whole thing.
Guess which idea I think is the better of the two . . .
_____________________________________
New tourist tax on hold for umpteenth time
By Barry Kenyon
May 24, 2023
Thailand’s much-anticipated 300 baht levy on tourist arrivals by air (150 baht by land or sea) won’t be starting in September after all. Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the matter would need to be resolved by the incoming government which is unlikely to be in office before mid August.
The proposed tax revenue is bedeviled by collection issues since it does not apply to Thais or foreign permanent residents (identified as those who can stay in Thailand indefinitely without a due date in their passport) and holders of Thai work permits. Airlines had complained that it would be impossible for them to include the fee in international tickets unless the fee applied to all passengers. Suggestions that the exempt groups could reclaim the 300 baht at a later stage had been dismissed as tedious and elaborate.
Another idea has been that collection booths should be opened at both airports and border posts which risks huge queues forming as weary travellers try to use electronic methods or offer cash in several currencies requiring change. Land border entries pose further difficulties as Cambodian, Malaysian or Myanmar traders who cross daily into Thailand would be another exempt category along with tourists not staying longer than 24 hours.
Last month, it was suggested by government ministers that the whole strategy and cash collection be handed to a private organization. However, no new ideas have been forthcoming apart from the suggestion that affected arrivals should pay in advance of their journey to a specialist government website. Critics pointed out that such an unwieldy, extra bureaucracy was a bad marketing strategy for a tourist-dependent economy such as Thailand.
Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said it would be best to defer the scheme until Thailand is back-to-normal next year. A spokesman for Your Asian Dreams said it was still unclear how the income would be spent. “But it appears to be a government slush fund to enhance tourist attractions such as temples and to provide compensation for major incidents such as minibus crashes or boats sinking.” It is significant that the scheme has not been published in the Royal Gazette which means that no start date has been approved.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ime-431993
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Jun
Re: By Barry Kenyon
That's definitely the best plan.
This is a terrible tax. It will raise naff all and be difficult to collect. Worst of all, if they have to physically collect it to ensure that only tourists pay, it will be inconvenient and noticeable by tourists.
Looking at it from a government perspective, it is usually better to levy taxes that people don't really notice.
Or better still, tax some activity that they ought to be discouraging, such as anything which significantly adds to pollution. For example, a tax on diesel.
Re: By Barry Kenyon
“It will raise naff all”
Assuming pre covid tourist figures (40m) it would raise 40000000 X 300 = 12000000000 baht!!
Assuming pre covid tourist figures (40m) it would raise 40000000 X 300 = 12000000000 baht!!
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Jun
Re: By Barry Kenyon
Thai government spending is 3,185,000,000,000 baht.
So assuming this does not deter any tourists, it will raise 0.38% of their spending, which is a pretty small percentage for a tax which is difficult to collect.
Also, it will cost something to collect this, so net revenue will be less.
Or, 300 baht per tourist, so if they stay for 2 weeks on average, 21 baht per day. Even as a percentage of revenue from tourists, it will be naff all compared with what we pay in taxes on hotels, vat on purchases, taxes on beer etc. Imagine the tax on you bar bill !
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Just yet another unworkable idea that was put on the table without having been thought through. How many of those have we seen over the years? I lost count years ago.
Find some other way to get 300 baht out of every tourist that enters Thailand. In case you have not yet figured it out, this one ain't gonna work. Besides, how much of the money will actually be put to good use and how much would be likely to somehow end up in the pockets of some big-wig's brother-in-law?
Who comes up with these ideas anyway?
Find some other way to get 300 baht out of every tourist that enters Thailand. In case you have not yet figured it out, this one ain't gonna work. Besides, how much of the money will actually be put to good use and how much would be likely to somehow end up in the pockets of some big-wig's brother-in-law?
Who comes up with these ideas anyway?
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
I know some farang are in favor of the bars being able to remain open 24/7 and some are opposed. My personal opinion is I doubt that all that many bars would do it even if they could. I don't believe there would be enough of a customer base to support it and not enough staff willing to do it. However, I definitely see it as a million times better than that ridiculous push by some of the "prudes-that-be" to turn Pattaya into a "wholesome family oriented destination". I would love to see Pattaya become the party city of yesteryear that it once was - as long as it isn't simply put in place without having been well thought through.
I think the main problems would be drunk drivers and noise levels. If those could be restricted and controlled before becoming a serious problem, then I see no reason not to allow it. Families on holiday can take the kiddies elsewhere if they object to it.
However, I do find it interesting that members of the same political party that wants to restrict marijuana use, perhaps even re-criminalize it, would be in favor of opening the city to 24 hour drunk.
That's my opinion. Barry Kenyon has his opinion. What's yours?
___________________________________________
Pattaya MP will campaign for a 24 hours party city
By Barry Kenyon
May 29, 2023
The idea of Pattaya becoming a special zone with booze available 24/7, except for public holidays, has been invigorated by Move Forward MP Jaras Kumkhainam, recently elected to serve Pattaya and parts of Banglamung in the Thai House of Representatives. His party won the most seats in the national poll and is currently the front-runner to take the reins of government. Jaras said at a post-election celebration that Pattaya was a party city, favored by millions of foreign tourists every year, and needed flexibility.
The 24/7 Pattaya campaign has a long history. It was suggested by the Tourist Association of Thailand in the aftermath of the 2010 street demonstrations in Bangkok, which closed international airports for several days, in an attempt to boost new tourist arrivals in a privileged Happy Zone. The notion cropped up again during the latter stages of the recent covid crisis as a way of quickening the tourist revival in Pattaya. “Pattaya clubs and bars are recouping their losses right now, but need later hours in order to please customers and make a decent profit,” said Khun Tan, who manages several gin palaces in Walking Street and elsewhere. He also stressed that the new generation of clubs catered for Russians, Chinese, Indians and South Koreans rather than Caucasians.
Yet the chances of any government agreeing to prioritize Pattaya seem remote. Every recent city police chief has talked about the need to stamp out prostitution here even if the actual moves have been half-hearted. It is not even self-evident that Pattaya needs a 24/7 licence as the number of traditional fun-hungry European, American and Australian male tourists appears to be in significant decline. Immigration data shows that Thailand has welcomed around 10 million foreign tourists in 2023 so far. But the vast majority have been Indians, Chinese, Malaysians and Russians. Another factor is that almost half the arrivals have been tourist women, a fact which erodes the quaint notion that Pattaya caters mainly to men on personal night owl crusades.
Pattaya is changing. So says everyone. It is no longer the total preserve of journalist Bernard Trink who may have invented the term Sin City 40 years ago and once said, “If I didn’t smoke a pipe, I’d smell sex in Pattaya”. Several bar areas, for example in North Pattaya and along Beach and Second Roads, have been cleared by demolition to make way for five star complexes or posh condominiums. Neo or New Pattaya may not have arrived yet, but it’s on the cards. Pattaya entertainment still can mean go go dancers and transvestite cabarets, but it also means golf courses, leisure enters to attract families with kids, five star malls and luxurious hotels. In a recent column, Bangkok Stickman even speculated when the sex industry in Pattaya might become largely a thing of the past.
The traditional Pattaya market, the economy farang, still flourishes along Soi Buakhao where the competition to find the best English breakfast for under 120 baht or a cold beer for 50 baht is razor sharp. But the clientele are mainly male expats from the UK and continental Europe in their sixties, seventies and beyond. Visa shops in the area, which specialize in obtaining their one year retirement extensions without “hassle” appear to be worried that, as these guys die, they are not being replaced. There are also concerns that if immigration rules were seriously tightened, for example by compulsory medical insurance, Soi Buakhao would become a ghost district.
The international media, particularly in Britain, continue to label Pattaya as a 24-hour sex city even though the clubs close at 2 a.m. The Daily Mail, in its recent report on a missing British teen who inappropriately turned up in Pattaya, referred to claims that the city was a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. The reality is that the city certainly hosts sex tourists, but they are a rapidly falling percentage of the international market. If Thailand wants to update its licensing laws, best to introduce 24/7 across the whole country. No need to single out Pattaya.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ity-432336
I think the main problems would be drunk drivers and noise levels. If those could be restricted and controlled before becoming a serious problem, then I see no reason not to allow it. Families on holiday can take the kiddies elsewhere if they object to it.
However, I do find it interesting that members of the same political party that wants to restrict marijuana use, perhaps even re-criminalize it, would be in favor of opening the city to 24 hour drunk.
That's my opinion. Barry Kenyon has his opinion. What's yours?
___________________________________________
Pattaya MP will campaign for a 24 hours party city
By Barry Kenyon
May 29, 2023
The idea of Pattaya becoming a special zone with booze available 24/7, except for public holidays, has been invigorated by Move Forward MP Jaras Kumkhainam, recently elected to serve Pattaya and parts of Banglamung in the Thai House of Representatives. His party won the most seats in the national poll and is currently the front-runner to take the reins of government. Jaras said at a post-election celebration that Pattaya was a party city, favored by millions of foreign tourists every year, and needed flexibility.
The 24/7 Pattaya campaign has a long history. It was suggested by the Tourist Association of Thailand in the aftermath of the 2010 street demonstrations in Bangkok, which closed international airports for several days, in an attempt to boost new tourist arrivals in a privileged Happy Zone. The notion cropped up again during the latter stages of the recent covid crisis as a way of quickening the tourist revival in Pattaya. “Pattaya clubs and bars are recouping their losses right now, but need later hours in order to please customers and make a decent profit,” said Khun Tan, who manages several gin palaces in Walking Street and elsewhere. He also stressed that the new generation of clubs catered for Russians, Chinese, Indians and South Koreans rather than Caucasians.
Yet the chances of any government agreeing to prioritize Pattaya seem remote. Every recent city police chief has talked about the need to stamp out prostitution here even if the actual moves have been half-hearted. It is not even self-evident that Pattaya needs a 24/7 licence as the number of traditional fun-hungry European, American and Australian male tourists appears to be in significant decline. Immigration data shows that Thailand has welcomed around 10 million foreign tourists in 2023 so far. But the vast majority have been Indians, Chinese, Malaysians and Russians. Another factor is that almost half the arrivals have been tourist women, a fact which erodes the quaint notion that Pattaya caters mainly to men on personal night owl crusades.
Pattaya is changing. So says everyone. It is no longer the total preserve of journalist Bernard Trink who may have invented the term Sin City 40 years ago and once said, “If I didn’t smoke a pipe, I’d smell sex in Pattaya”. Several bar areas, for example in North Pattaya and along Beach and Second Roads, have been cleared by demolition to make way for five star complexes or posh condominiums. Neo or New Pattaya may not have arrived yet, but it’s on the cards. Pattaya entertainment still can mean go go dancers and transvestite cabarets, but it also means golf courses, leisure enters to attract families with kids, five star malls and luxurious hotels. In a recent column, Bangkok Stickman even speculated when the sex industry in Pattaya might become largely a thing of the past.
The traditional Pattaya market, the economy farang, still flourishes along Soi Buakhao where the competition to find the best English breakfast for under 120 baht or a cold beer for 50 baht is razor sharp. But the clientele are mainly male expats from the UK and continental Europe in their sixties, seventies and beyond. Visa shops in the area, which specialize in obtaining their one year retirement extensions without “hassle” appear to be worried that, as these guys die, they are not being replaced. There are also concerns that if immigration rules were seriously tightened, for example by compulsory medical insurance, Soi Buakhao would become a ghost district.
The international media, particularly in Britain, continue to label Pattaya as a 24-hour sex city even though the clubs close at 2 a.m. The Daily Mail, in its recent report on a missing British teen who inappropriately turned up in Pattaya, referred to claims that the city was a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. The reality is that the city certainly hosts sex tourists, but they are a rapidly falling percentage of the international market. If Thailand wants to update its licensing laws, best to introduce 24/7 across the whole country. No need to single out Pattaya.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ity-432336