Pattaya —
Pattaya business owners, Pattaya police, and Bang Lamung District Administrative Department representatives discussed the re-opening of Walking Street this weekend after the CCSA (Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration) committee extended alcohol selling hours and changed legal opening hours for converted restaurants, which is what entertainment venues currently are.
Kunlachart Kunlachai, the superintendent of Chonburi Police Station, presided over a meeting Friday, April 29th, to discuss guidelines for the re-opening of Walking Street. He stated that the CCSA had relaxed many regulations after Covid-19 was likely to become endemic, so many business operators wanted the Walking Street to be closed to vehicle traffic for tourism as well as the legal opening of all entertainment venues and extended closing hours to pre-Covid-19 hours, which was 3:00 A.M.
However, the superintendent requested Walking Street business operators to collect signatures first to petition with the Chonburi Provincial Police Commissioner because he wanted the process to be done in accordance with the law.
Initially, Walking Street will be closed to vehicle traffic between 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day, but the businesses alongside the street still needed permission to open because certain Covid-19 regulations were still currently in effect. Kunlachart also stated that in regard to pre-covid closing hours for entertainment zones or legal reopening of nightlife, this needed CCSA permission as well as provincial police and the Governor, but was being discussed.
According to Narit Petcharat, chairman of the South Pattaya Walking Street Business Association, 30 percent of Walking Street businesses have already reopened following the Test&Go cancellation. He predicted that Thai tourism would significantly improve because most international tourists now had a stronger incentive to visit Thailand. The meeting over the weekend not only laid out guidelines for the Walking Street’s closure to vehicle traffic, but also many practical ideas, such as installing more surveillance cameras, street lights, urgently needed road repairs, and keeping records of employee and guard identification to prevent an undesirable circumstance, Narit stated.
Also, Friday, April 29th, Mr. Sakchai Tang Ho, an independent Pattaya mayoral candidate, met with 30 business operators to talk about extending the opening hours for alcohol-serving venues.
According to Mr. Sakchai, most people encountered several living issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, which rendered some of them jobless or having to close their business for two years. Despite the relaxed regulations, there were still some problems left in terms of limited alcohol selling hours, which business owners believed deteriorated the tourist’s will to come out to spend. Business owners believed midnight was far too early for legal closing for nightlife in Pattaya entertainment areas.
However, Mr. Sakchai said to the 30 business operators that he had a good understanding of the problem because he used to work as a Deputy Director General of the Department of Provincial Administration. He said he would expedite the extension of the opening hours across Pattaya and would do his job as a new mayor, if elected, with as much transparency as possible. Sakchai said he fully supported “late” closing hours as before Covid-19, depending on the entertainment zone.
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