Is Pattaya cleaning up its act????

It appears that the higher ups in Pattaya are finally realising their dream of turning the booming beach resort into a five star city is being jeopardised by rogue operators along the beach. It has long been a problem with jet ski vendors and all the scams they pull, leaving tourists with a bad taste about Pattaya and are not interested in returning....furthermore recommending to their family and friends not to holiday there.
There was a meeting in Chonburi to promote and protect tourism in the city. On the agenda was the growing problem of crooked jet ski operators and other beach vendors. Check out this article from Pattaya 103.

Pattaya: Provincial Governor and City Mayor look to protect Pattaya Tourists

Monday saw a large meeting of all concerned in local tourism as the Governor of Chonburi Province, alongside our own City mayor and representatives of the Tourist Authority of Thailand, headed  a meeting to promote and protect tourism in the city.

Pattaya’s Mayor has sworn to create a city that people want to return to  and a tourist destination second to none, and nothing is going to stand between him and that goal. Especially not a few itinerant  jetski rogue renters and tourist scammers. Pattaya City hall is determined to stamp out any corruption that affects visitors and create a resort that people look forward to returning to.

In addition to the Jetski problem, the agenda included ways to approach and solve the problems of  safety, security and confidence for visitors and improve the city facilities.

It was made clear that the rogue jetski operators were now a problem at national level, after international TV coverage and complaints from various foreign embassies in the capital.    Without a serious effort to introduce control and management  all  Beach vendors,  the damage to tourism is incalculable.

Specific jet ski locations were suggested along with the already planned idea of central ticket offices along the beach which would become the liaison between tourist and operator, ensuring that all rentals include insurance and that rogue operators be closed down.    

Boat and other rentals also came into the discussion and many disagreed with the rigorous bylaws that have been proposed.

Even those who disagree will have left with no doubt that the City, Province and Tourist Authority mean business and  will have the matter resolved quickly, as tourism is not only the life blood of the city, but also the future.

Tourists and ex-pats will have 4 new reasons to smile on Pattaya

There are four new projects in the works for the Pattaya area which will be beneficial to ex-pats as well. 

•    Firstly expats will be able to enjoy these venues and use them to entertain family and friends when they come to visit. 
•    Secondly these venues will help increase the value of their property. 
•    And finally these venues will help reduce Pattaya's image as only a sex tourist destination 

The four projects are worth a total of 2.23 Billion Baht worth of investment and are poised to open next year and include 

1. Kidzania 
2. Ramayan Water park
3. Amazon Falls Water Park
4. Siam World Art Company

Check out this article from the Bangkok Post:

     PATTAYA : Four projects in the tourism sector worth 2.23 billion baht that received Board of Investment (BoI) privileges are poised to open this year and next.

   The first is a Hong Kong investment of 550 million baht by the Kidzania Group, the world's fastest-growing edutainment brand, to set up Kidzania this December at Siam Paragon.

Kidzania is a role-playing activity where children aged 4-12 can try out different adult occupations.

The second project is a 900-million-baht Thai-Russian joint venture to set up Ramayana water park in Chon Buri's Sattahip district slated for next year.

The third is a 620-million-baht project by Pacific Shore Development to set up Amazon Falls Water Park. This joint venture between Hong Kong and Malaysia will be in Pattaya and is slated to open next year.

The last is a 162-million-baht project by Siam World Art Co to set up a cultural centre with investment from South Korea. The centre will be located in Pattaya exhibiting sculpture, paintings and Thai-Korean culture.

BoI secretary-general Atchaka Sibunruang said the board expects higher investment in the tourism sector, especially theme parks that will enable Thailand to compete with Hong Kong's Disneyland, Singapore's water park and Malaysia's theme parks. Amazon Falls will be the first water park in the world to use cartoon presenters.

The Ramayana is billed as the largest water park in Asia Pacific. Once these two open, they should attract investment in other areas, she added.

From 2007-12, a total of 23 projects applied for investment promotion in the tourism sector, totalling 3.48 billion baht.

Three projects totalling 1.47 billion baht were theme parks, four projects totalling 707 million baht were cultural centres, 12 projects worth 417 million baht were hiring boats for tourism, and three projects totalling 215 baht were tourist boat parking areas.

Dr Atchaka said the BoI is revising its promotion policies. The tourism sector will still be given a prominent place, but some adjustments might be made in terms of providing incentives for projects the government prioritises, such as theme parks and water parks.

To this point no global-scale theme park producers such as Disney or Universal have shown interest in investing in Thailand, said Dr Atchaka. Malaysia and Singapore provide many incentives to attract tourism projects, such as racing arenas, she said.

In the past the BoI provided incentives for a variety of tourism businesses, such as racing arenas, open zoos and electric hoists, but have not received any interest from business operators, said Dr Atchaka.