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[Garcia]

"Pattaya is struggling after the April protests that resulted in the collapse of the Asean summit, so local administrators and businesses are stepping up promotions to lure back tourists. Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome said the city asked for 100 million baht from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the local administration and private operators to stimulate the industry.

"Before red-shirted protesters forced the cancellation of the Asean Summit after they stormed the meeting site, foreign and Thai visitors were still visiting Pattaya as usual despite the economic recession," said the mayor. "But after the unrest, tourism nosedived, particularly among foreigners."

Average occupancy at the 60,000 hotel rooms in Pattaya has fallen to 30-35% compared with 50-60% last year.

Mr Itthiphol expects foreign visitors will drop by 500,000 this year from 5.5 million in 2008, with revenue falling 17% to 40 billion baht. Thai visitor revenue is forecast to drop to between 600 million and 750 million baht from 1.2 billion a year earlier.

Pattaya City recently set up a tourism committee to work on confidence-building and marketing activities as well as participate in roadshows abroad.The committee also wants to persuade the government to hold more meetings and seminars in Pattaya. The first activity his month features a promotion with 20,000 free hotel rooms. Private operators are also offering discounts for entertainment and services between May and July.

For the international market, Thai Airways International and some low-cost airlines will offer special discount packages covering accommodation and air tickets for two or three nights.
From August to January, activities will focus on foreign visitors with a Korean festival, Asean Week, Loy Krathong festival, music and sports events.

The city also backs the upgrading of U-Tapao airport. The Royal Thai Navy has sought 995 million baht from the government to build new parking facilities and a passenger terminal to double capacity."

tp://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism/16894/pattaya-maps-revival-plan

[DOLLY]

Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome said the city asked for 100 million baht from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the local administration and private operators to stimulate the industry.

I'm afraid that 100 million baht sent to Pattaya could end up stimulating a lot of bank accounts that have nothing to do with tourism. I have lost track of the useless "civic improvements" that come and go to pad the payrolls.

They might try paving the streets with some of that money now that the streets are doing their annual melt in the rain. I never saw streets that dissolved this way from rain. The stretch of Thapraya Road between Pattaya and Jomtine just outside the Hall of Justice building has become almost impassable with huge potholes and that huge hole they dug on the sea-side of the road is a death trap at night for oncoming traffic forced to cross over the line to get by. It's a site waiting for a tragedy.