I can’t believe how quiet it is in Pattaya. We should really be well into the high season now but the place is ever so quiet. Of course the hot spots such as Walking Street do have tourists but even there the numbers are visibly low and usually large numbers of Japanese and Koreans.

2nd and 3rd road are almost completely dead at night with handfuls of customers in bars and complexes and many bars with no customers at all. Last night Jomtien was like a ghost town!

Many bar owners are saying “high season really starts next week” but they have been saying that for almost 3 weeks now. As so many businesses make 50%-60% of there annual turnover in a 3 month period there are going to be many suffering very soon if there is not a dramatic turn-around.

Official TAT figures say that numbers to Thailand are down 15% on last year but that must be Nationwide as it is far higher than this in Pattaya at the moment. Given that its 15% down on LAST year which was low anyway being post Tsunami it doesn’t bode well.

I hope things trun around – I have friends with small beer bars and they will bear the brunt of the shortfall.