PATTAYA, September 23rd, 2026: Operators of beach umbrellas and sunbeds in Pattaya marched to City Hall on Wednesday, carrying protest signs and submitting a petition that asks the city to expand parking along Beach Road after they say new traffic rules sharply cut their earnings.
The group was led by Weerawit Charoenritthaweechok, 30, president of the Pattaya Beach Umbrella and Sunbed Club. About 117 licensed plots currently operate along the beach, many of them family businesses that have served tourists for decades.
Deputy Mayor Wuttisak Roemkitkan and Pornpirom Sueadaeng, director of the Environmental Health Promotion Division under the city’s Public Health and Environment Office, received the petition and heard the operators’ complaints.
Protesters held signs reading “We are part of Pattaya City. We have families to support,” “We have come to claim the campaign promises, the policy we have been waiting for,” and “We can’t get rich anymore. If you can’t think of a solution, tell the mayor.”
Weerawit said operators have long cooperated with the city on beach cleanup, order and safety. Tourist and local traffic has risen, especially on holidays and during events, while parking near the shore remains scarce. In the past two months, the city has painted no-parking lines along the road and designated large-bus stops. Operators say visitors now struggle to park, so fewer people reach the beach and revenue has fallen.
The pressure is tied to a broader shift in who uses the coastline. Domestic travel to Pattaya and Jomtien has become a larger share of the city’s visitor mix, with Thai families and weekend groups crowding the sand during public holidays and long weekends. Beachfront businesses say those day-trippers often arrive by private car rather than hotel shuttle or taxi, so demand for spaces near the water has grown even when overnight hotel occupancy is uneven.
Parking close to the sand has not kept pace. City enforcement along Pattaya Beach Road has tightened this year, with no-parking markings, limits on roadside stops and a crackdown on vehicles left in public spaces for rental or private use. Officials say the rules are meant to keep traffic moving and sidewalks clear. Operators argue the same rules make a short beach visit harder for Thai visitors who used to pull in, rent a sunbed and stay for a few hours.
Some overflow options do exist, but they are uneven and often a walk from the water. During major events and holiday periods, temples such as Wat Chaimongkol and Wat Nong Yai, along with shopping centers including Lotus’s, Central, Terminal 21 Pattaya, Royal Garden Plaza and Big C, have opened lots or served as free or designated parking points, sometimes linked to shuttle routes. Those sites ease congestion when the city publicizes them, operators say, but they are less useful on an ordinary Saturday when a family simply wants to park near the beach.
Jomtien faces a similar squeeze even as the city expands parking there toward more than 700 spaces as part of a beachfront upgrade. Weekends and festivals still fill the road, and council members have recently flagged congestion on Jomtien Beach Road. The result, vendors say, is that more Thais reach the coast than before, yet many turn away when they cannot find a nearby place to leave the car.
The club asked Pattaya City to add or reallocate parking along the beach and to find ways to ease the impact so operators can keep working, support their families and continue serving the city’s tourism economy.
Wuttisak accepted the letter and invited the operators to send representatives to a formal meeting with city officials to seek a solution that would allow all sides to coexist.
