While the government announced Thailand would be fully reopened to foreign tourists by October, many Pattaya residents say they can’t last that long and are leaving town.
The city has seen a massive population exodus since the middle of last year, with local officials saying last fall that 300,000 people had already gone back to their home provinces. No statistics have been released this year, but people are still leaving.
Nidneung, a former worker at a bar on Soi Marine Plaza off Walking Street, is one of them. Her bar closed and her own attempt at a food business failed. She’s now packing up to go back to Udon Thani.
Nidneung and her boyfriend, who worked at a now-closed hotel, collected some money from the government, but not enough to survive in “expensive” Pattaya. Together they made less than 10,000 baht a month.
She tried to sell food for two months, but failed to register for the government’s “Let’s Go Halves” campaign in time. As a result, her potential customers went to other vendors who did register in time and sell their products for half-price, with the government paying the other half.
Now her savings are gone and Nidneung said she can’t wait until October. She’ll go home to Issan and wait until Walking Street fully reopens.
