‘Golden week’ ghost town: Thailand’s Pattaya party zone struggles with no Chinese tourists

Last year Thailand was second only to Japan in attracting the most Chinese golden week visitors, but coronavirus restrictions kept them away this year

Pattaya has empty streets, closed bars, for sale signs, and its famous transgender cabaret is shut – but it is still pinning its future on Chinese cash

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A man runs along the beach in Pattaya in Thailand’s Chonburi province. The resort city is reeling from a lack of tourists due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00am, 6 Oct 2020Updated: 9:24am, 6 Oct 2020

During “golden week” last year, the cash flowed at Nam Sing Bird’s Nest Restaurant in Pattaya as flush Chinese tourists packed into the Thai party town for the big spending holiday period.

But this year the restaurant – which sells bird’s nest and shark fin soups for up to US$60 a bowl – has not yet had a single customer, as the racy resort city faces its toughest times in memory with mainland Chinese visitors staying at home due to travel restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus.

“We made 300,000 baht (US$9,500) a day during the last golden week,” said a staff member who gave her name as Joy. “Now we haven’t had a single Chinese customer … even the ones that live here.”

Golden week was conceived as a way to give a late year jolt to China’s domestic economy following the National Day holiday on October 1. As Chinese wealth multiplied, mainland cash has been spread across the world during the holiday week.

With its guarantee of sun, good food and wild nightlife, as well as daily flights, Thailand has scooped up an oversized proportion of that money.

Last year, Thailand was behind only Japan as the most visited overseas golden week destination for Chinese tourists, according to bookings giant Agoda, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pattaya, a city with a special semi-autonomous status which allows its edgy nightlife to thrive, is feeling the economic pain of the coronavirus restrictions particularly sharply after hooking its economy to Chinese money.