Pattaya: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Pattaya beer bars along the waterfront

Pattaya (Thai พัทยา) is a city of 65,000 habitants (2000) in Thailand, located at the coast to the Gulf of Thailand, about 165km southeast of Bangkok in the province Chonburi. It is the biggest center of tourism in Thailand, with some 1.5 million visitors in 2003.

History

Originally Pattaya was just a small fishing village until the rich of Bangkok discovered it as a beach resort in the 1960s. Not much later, American soldiers from the air force base U Ta Pao in the Rayong province began to use the area for "Rest and Recreation" (R&R). The city grew quickly, mostly due to go go bars and other nightlife. When the Americans left after the end of the Vietnam war the city fell into crisis, but with the rise of mass tourism especially from Europe the tourism buisiness grew again. In 2001 more than 24,000 hotel rooms were available in Pattaya. Even though sex tourism is still quite prominent, the city has recently attempted to present a family friendly image and all-inclusive tourism now makes up the bigger part of tourism.

The excess tourism business gave Pattaya many unique problems such as water pollution, child prostitution and so on. These were out of the central governments's abillity to handle. Thus, in 1976, the Pattaya City Act passed the parliament, and Pattaya became a self-administrating municipality governed by a Council-manager government. However this administration system has some problems such as that the mayor may disagree with the city manager, so critics have suggested to abolish the system.

Pattaya's sex tourism gives rise to some criminal and mafia activities. The local newspapers announced in June 2004 that the current police chief intended to crack down on all mafia activities, including the extortion of protection money from taxi drivers.

In 1996, a six-member gang was arrested for repeatedly robbing tourists that had been drugged by prostitutes. Some of the tourists died; the police was investigating some 150 suspicious deaths of male tourists that occurred in Pattaya hotels from 1994 to 1996.

In 2004, a British national with connections to organized crime was killed in Pattaya, and another British national was arrested as a suspect. This gave rise to worries that the area might serve as a hideaway place for foreign criminals.

Pattaya can be reached by aircon coach from Ekamai Bus terminal (Ekamai Skytrain Station) for 90 Baht, from Morchit Bus terminal or directly from Bangkok's International Don Muang Airport. The ride is about 2.5 hours and is available every 30 minutes. Advance reservation is generally not necessary.

Its entertainment possibilities are wide ranged, from the about 4 km long beach and its watersport activities, over golf, kart racing, shooting, cabaret shows, shopping, elephant riding, and a close-by country-park to the Phra Tamnak heights.