Pattaya, Thailand-
The Pattaya Fireworks Festival saw tens of thousands of people pour into the resort for what was unquestionably the busiest weekend in Pattaya since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tens of thousands of people visited the beach for the two day fireworks event which also included concerts by major Thai bands like Big Ass, Mean, Boom Boom Cash and Buddha Bless. The event also featured cultural shows, a marching band and dozens of food vendors who covered the length of the beach, many who seemed to be doing steady business during the event.
Enterprising beach chair vendors were delighted as they rented out their beach chairs for the entire show and nearly every vendor near the South Pattaya end was completely full.
Hotel owners reported through the Eastern Seaboard Hotel Association that the majority of open hotels in Pattaya were at 100% occupancy, especially those on Jomtien and Pattaya Beaches. Seafood restaurants, Thai pubs, nightclubs, shopping malls, night markets, Thai BBQ restaurants and other venues popular with domestic Thais were very busy over the weekend with business owners seeing much needed revenue. Baht buses and motorcycle taxi drivers were seen busy throughout the event earning much needed revenue.
Even some foreign facing business which normally does not see a major lift from domestic Thai related events, like the beer bars facing Beach Road, were seen very busy with customers watching the fireworks and some western restaurants on Beach Road like Hooters, Wine Connection, Bon Chon and Sizzler were also seen to be doing much better busy than previously due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of foreign tourists.
However, on the other side of the coin, foreign facing bars away from the beach, such as on Soi Buakhao, LK Metro, Soi 6,7,8 and other areas did not report significantly higher earnings as a result of the event, although some did state that foreigners coming from Bangkok and other parts of Thailand slightly helped.
The Fireworks event will be followed with many more events over the next several weeks, with the Pattaya Jet Ski World Cup set for this upcoming weekend in Jomtien and the Pattaya Music Festival for the following week which is also expected to bring thousands to Pattaya. This will be followed by the Grand Flight Competition, the world’s biggest bird race, at Bali Hai Pier in late December and, finally, the New Year Countdown event.
Business owners would, of course, prefer to see borders open and the pandemic subside so international foreign tourists can return to Pattaya, but for now, the weekend events has provided a start for many.