A look back at this week last year in Thailand news: Pattaya plans Quarter 4 events, Bangkok suffering without tourists, and more Deja Vu

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The following is a weekly feature article looking at this same time period LAST year in Pattaya and Thailand news.

This weekly feature takes a look back at news from the same period last year (and sometimes different time windows, such as six months or three months) to see how things have changed, following up on the progression of stories, as well as look at potentially broken promises or things that didn’t take place as promised in Pattaya and Thailand.

As we publish dozens of stories a week this is a quick way for people to take a look at what the biggest stories were a year ago, as chosen by our editorial team, and how they impact us today and relate to current news. They are in no particular order of importance, however, are roughly in order of publication.

This week, we cover the third week of SEPTEMBER 2020, from Sunday, September 13th, 2020 to Saturday, September 19th, 2020.

  Let’s get into the top stories from this week LAST year!

1. Bangkok expected to lose the highest number of tourists in the world in 2020

In 2021 due to Covid-19, that number is even more drastic. In fact, a country that welcomed nearly 40 million tourists in 2019 is forecast, depending on the next quarter, to hit around 140,000 this year. Pattaya, Phuket, and Bangkok, tourism epicenters, have been devastated by the loss.

Bangkok expected to lose the highest number of tourists in major cities in the world by the end of 2020, according to Oxford Economics

2.  Thai Hotel industry in trouble due to Covid-19

This year is no better, with equally dire warnings from the industry due to months of closures and Covid-19 restrictions this year, including for domestic tourism which was not hit as hard last year.

Total of one million hotel employees laid off amid Covid-19 pandemic in Thailand so far, Thai Hotels Association urges government financial support or warns nearly entire industry may collapse

3. Pattaya City releases a massive event schedule for the latter part of the year to boost domestic tourism, Fireworks, Halloween, Loy Krathong, Music Festival, Car shows, New Year, and more

Due to Covid-19 will we see events this Quarter 4? We could. We haven’t covered this yet in-depth but Pattaya City officials are betting big on vaccines and easing restrictions from the government to allow economy-growing events in the next few months. We will see what happens.

Pattaya City releases massive event schedule for latter part of year to boost domestic tourism, Fireworks, Halloween, Loy Krathong, Music Festival, Car shows, New Years and more

4.  Prominent doctor warns of protests sparking Covid-19 spread in Thailand

A year later, he is still giving warnings, although now it is around the return of foreign tourists to Bangkok, Pattaya, and other areas.

Leading Thai doctor warns that major scheduled weekend protests could ignite deadly second wave of Covid-19 in Thailand

That is all for this week! We hope you are well!