Chasing numbers, losing soul — Expats say Pattaya’s focus on short-term tourists is killing the city’s long-term appeal. (Photo – Pattaya Beach, Thailand) PATTAYA, Thailand – As low season bites harder than ever, seasoned foreigners say the city has lost its way. Pattaya, once the beating heart of Thailand’s tourism industry, now feels like a ghost town to many of its most loyal residents—its long-term foreign visitors. As this year’s low season hits new depths, foreign retirees, digital nomads, and working-age Westerners are asking a pointed question: If City Hall won’t listen to the people who live here year-round, who exactly is Pattaya listening to? “I’ve never seen Pattaya this quiet,” says one veteran expat, reflecting on the eerily empty streets and shuttered businesses. “This isn’t just low season. It’s lowest season.” According to several long-term residents, the city’s attempts to chase mass tourism numbers—particularly from short-term markets like China and India—have come at the cost of alienating those who gave Pattaya its original international appeal. “Been here full-time for ten years and it looks the same as low season pre-pandemic, 2015–2019,” one user wrote online. “Except back then there weren’t cars parked 24/7 along Theppasit and Pattaya Tai. Now it seems many long-term residents have moved here permanently—but spending has dropped off.” Others point to a shift in nightlife quality as a key reason for the downturn. “Bars were full until around 2010,” said another longtime resident. “After that, the women just got worse and worse, the harassment for money and lady drinks got worse. Spending Westerners stopped coming. The numbers were filled with non-spending tourists from China—and you know who.” It’s a bitter reflection of changing times: quantity over quality, short-term gains over sustainable growth. “Now the girls are double the age, double the weight, and double the cost,” one longtime expat said bluntly. “People aren’t paying it—why would they?” Many seasoned visitors say it’s not just nostalgia talking. The high prices, dwindling quality, and persistent push for lady-drinks have made Pattaya’s bar scene a hard sell. “These conditions just don’t attract Westerners anymore,” he added. “It’s not worth it. That’s why they don’t come.” Meanwhile, small business owners and bar operators are already feeling the decline firsthand. “Bars are closing down everywhere,” one observed. “Hotels are running on a skeleton crew. Everyone’s trying to survive.” Thailand’s tourism authority continues to tout impressive arrival numbers—more than 15.5 million tourists from January to June 2025. Meanwhile, critics argue those figures hide a more complex truth: most new arrivals don’t spend like the Westerners of the past and don’t stay long enough to sustain the city’s local economy. Without meaningful dialogue with the expat community, many fear that Pattaya may continue to lose the very people who once made it unique—a city shaped not just by its visitors, but by those who chose to stay. “Who’s Pattaya really for now?” one resident asks. “It used to be for all of us. Now it feels like it’s for no one.”