Thailand-
The following is a weekly feature article looking at this same time period LAST year in Pattaya and Thailand news. This week, we are mostly focusing on the one-year legal closure of bars and nightlife in Thailand.
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, follow 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 second week of April 2021, from Sunday, April 4th, 2021, to Saturday, April 10th, 2021.
Let’s go!
This week last year is when the Thai government legally closed bars and nightlife for “two weeks” in 41 provinces, including Chonburi after the third “wave” of Covid-19 began in Thailand. Eventually, this led to an eight-month ban on alcohol at all restaurants until the government finally relented just before Christmas last year, but only partially.
A year later, legally, bars, nightclubs, entertainment venues, etc. are still shut and operating in grey areas in some provinces, mostly tourist zones, as converted “restaurants” with various rules and restrictions.
These include rules like 11:00 P.M. legal closing, no dancing, required ATK checks in Pattaya, and more. In many provinces, alcohol is still banned even at restaurants!
Nightlife and entertainment industry operators have pushed for months for a legal reopening and later closing times but so far the Thai government hasn’t budged or given a roadmap to reopening. The industry was originally scheduled to reopen around December 2021, according to the Thai PM, but concerns of Omicron pushed that back indefinitely.
Now, we know enforcement of rules is very different than what is legal, however, the nightlife industry continues to call for a legal reopening. This is unlikely to happen until after the Songkran festival, which the Thai government has continued to show caution towards, from April 13th-19th in Pattaya.
Reference articles:
1. Thai Government announces entertainment venues in 41 provinces to close for fourteen days from tomorrow, April 10th
2. Chonburi governor releases closing orders for the province and other restrictions for Covid – 19 precautions
3. Closure of entertainment venues in Pattaya begins for “two weeks”, Police warn restaurants against becoming bars
4. A video tour of the last night of entertainment venues before a third Covid-19 shut down in a year
A video tour of the last night of entertainment venues before a third Covid-19 shutdown in a year
5. Thai CCSA officially approves of closure of entertainment venues in 41 provinces nationwide, effective tomorrow, waiting only for Prime Minister’s signature
