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No to nightlife, yes to vaccinations: can Thailand’s Pattaya rebrand and reopen?
- The resort city has launched a campaign to inoculate much of its population in a bid to offer quarantine-free travel to foreign tourists
- It is also looking to pivot from its reputation for go-go bars and sex work to more upmarket and family-friendly businesses
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The city of Pattaya has for decades been one of Thailand’s top tourist draws, but the Covid-19 pandemic has proved catastrophic to local businesses. Wellness entrepreneur Chairat Rattanopas puts it best: “We’ve hit rock bottom.”
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Mass vaccinations appear to be the only way forward for Thailand’s battered tourist industry, which before the pandemic accounted for a fifth of Southeast Asia’s second largest economy – likely more, if businesses in the informal sector such as tuk-tuks and food stalls are included.
But the combination of ongoing travel restrictions, a deadly new wave of the pandemic that has killed more than 1,000 people, and a slow vaccine roll-out have piled bad news upon bad news for Thailand’s tourist hotspots.
From Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Hua Hin to Pattaya, bars and restaurants have been closed and visitors have stayed away as near-lockdown conditions extend into an eighth week.
“Around 80 per cent of tourist businesses have gone in Pattaya,” said Chairat, who is also a regional representative for the Thai Hotels Association.
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