Extreme Makeover Attempt for Pattaya
April 19th, 2007 Posted in Cheap Asia Travel, Destination reports, General, Travel industry
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal says the Thai city of Pattaya is trying to clean up its image and promote the city to a wider range of tourists.
Yeah, good luck with that. They hired an ad agency to come up with a slogan and the agency came back with “Extreme City.” The mayor didn’t like that and changed it to “City of Variety.” (More proof that politicians should leave the marketing to the marketing people.)
If you have never been to Pattaya, just picture the most seedy and decadent place you have ever been, fill it with hookers until the streets are overflowing with them, put a few bars on every block, then fly in planeloads of sex tourists. Throw in some boy toys so there’s equal opportunity and a few transvestite shows to check out for laughs. (If you ever want to see a transvestite who can really pass for a woman, Thailand’s got them by the klong boat load.)
Naturally, this doesn’t add up to a Singapore-like safety environment. In February two Russian women were gunned down in their deck chairs on the beach under mysterious circumstances. Nice family atmosphere, right?
Well, the city is spending $420,000 anyway to push its new image, but “It would be the ultimate challenge” says the Asia-Pacific chief executive for Grey Global Group.
The article quotes a visitor from Istanbul saying, “In Europe you have cities with red-light districts. This whole city is red light!” The Mercure hotel is apparantly hedging its bets: their family suites feature PlayStations and cartoon wallpaper, while all other rooms have condoms in the minibar.
The article ends on a kicker, with a quote from the city council chairman. “People don’t come to Pattaya city to pray.” Amen to that.
Related posts:
