Where Pattaya Is Heading: My View of the Next 10 Years

After 20 years here, running businesses in property, car rental and hospitality, I'm often asked where Pattaya is going. Here's my honest view.

What's the biggest change coming?

I think it's simply continued, steady growth. Pattaya will keep growing the way it has, as more condos get built.

There could be a big jump if the U-Tapao Airport expansion ends up bringing in international flights from lots of new places. That would have a major impact. But I don't think it will happen the way everyone expects. It will expand, just maybe not as promised.

Why am I sceptical about the big projects?

The track record. The U-Tapao plans have been around a long time and it should have been done already. The same goes for the monorail that keeps being talked about, and at one point cruise ships coming into the bay. Lots of projects that would have transformed the city have never happened. Whether it's environmental studies or finance, I don't know the details, but they just haven't come off.

The one big project I've seen actually happen in 20 years is the motorway from Bangkok. When I first arrived you had to go along Sukhumvit, and Bangkok was easily two and a half to three hours away. Motorway 7 has roughly halved that.

The high-speed rail to U-Tapao is a good example. It's been talked about for years, and in 2026 the original high-speed plan was dropped in favour of upgrading the existing railway line instead. Something will probably happen eventually, but I'm not sure how much Pattaya itself will benefit.

Where will Pattaya grow most?

Jomtien. It's already happening. Jomtien Second Road completely changed the area. Before, it was really just Beach Road and a few side roads. Now getting in and out is much easier.

There's still a lot of empty land along Jomtien Second Road. Condos are already built and being built there, but there's plenty of room left, so I think that's where most of the growth will come over the next ten years.

Who will be coming?

I think we'll see a lot more visitors from around Asia. Long-haul travel may hold steady or even dip. If flight costs keep rising, someone in the UK facing an 11 or 12-hour flight may choose Spain or France instead.

So I expect tourism to keep growing, but with lower spending per visitor than Thailand would ideally like.

Are my businesses changing because of that?

Not really. Most of my businesses have a well-established customer base that's still coming, just not in the numbers it used to. And you have to be careful about drifting away from your core customers, especially with restaurants. Hemingways Jomtien is an international pub aimed at Westerners, and that's what it will stay.

Pattaya Rent a Car is different. We've served a wide mix of customers for a long time, and our website is now in several languages, including Chinese.

Should you move or invest here?

I would still put money here. I think Pattaya has a lot of growth left in it. The Thai economy is a bit rocky at the moment, but I think the country is working to make it more stable.

If the world goes into another recession or a market crash, the next ten years could look very different. And I know Thailand's official growth figures are low compared with its neighbours. But Pattaya is a bit of an economy within an economy, and I think it's pretty resilient to a lot of that outside noise. That's my view, not financial advice.

For more, read the Pattaya property market right now, the best area to live in Pattaya and how my businesses got through COVID.