Pattaya one step closer to 24-hour alcohol sales
(Natalia Sokolovska / Shutterstock.com)
The strict alcohol sales rules in Thailand are at odds with the ambition to promote international tourism. Although it was recently announced that Eastern Aviation City, located 60 kilometers from Pattaya, will sell alcohol 24 hours a day, there is no reason for great optimism yet.
Currently, only U-tapao Airport is free from alcohol sales restrictions. The Home Office announcement, published in the Royal Gazette, only brings the regulations in line with those of Bangkok's main airports.
Nevertheless, this relaxation of alcohol sales near Pattaya will increase pressure to extend closing times in the so-called 'Sin City' beyond the current time of 02.00am. This time is, by the way, quite selectively enforced. Damrongriet Pinitkarn, the secretary of the Pattaya Entertainments Association, has strongly pushed for later opening hours to increase revenue. The two new MPs from the Move Forward party for Pattaya have also indicated that they will argue for longer opening hours. All emphasize that bars and clubs must increase their turnover to compensate for financial losses during the pandemic. A similar movement is also underway in Phuket.
Given that both the old military-backed government and the new coalition government agree that boosting international tourism is a priority, the case for relaxing alcohol rules seems compelling. A local MP suggested that the most likely scenario would be an extension of alcohol sales until 4am in certain tourist areas across the country. Consideration is also being given to abolishing the existing rules, which restrict the sale of alcohol in shops and convenience stores between 11.00am-14.00pm and 17.00pm-00.00am. This is expected to take place next year.
Source: Pattaya Mail
The Bangkok Post is then not in line with the Pattaya Mail:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2636729/24-7-opening-hours-for-u-tapao-airport-only-not-pattaya-govt
We should not turn things around now.
The current rules for alcohol sales in Thailand are not the same as we are used to in the West, but tourists do not come to the Netherlands or Spain because alcohol can be purchased 24 hours a day. Tourists also do not avoid Dubai because the rules there are even stricter than in Thailand.
Ergo: relaxing the rules in Thailand will not result in additional tourists, only perhaps more satisfaction among existing tourists.
I find the fact that the opening hours of the hioreca have to be extended due to the loss of income during Covid to be discriminatory compared to all companies in other sectors that have suffered a loss of turnover. Then it would also be appropriate to release the closing times of retail and also to allow street sales on Mondays.
I believe that lowering prices will bring in more tourists than expanding opening hours.
I don't think Thailand is expensive at all. It has become more expensive than before, but where hasn't it?
I don't believe that lowering prices in Thailand will bring in more tourists.
Expensive airline tickets perhaps, especially if you look at it from a family perspective, but Thailand is not responsible for that.
And what and how much do you think they should reduce to get more tourists?
I think you're mainly saying that and hoping for the sake of your own wallet.
I think a tourist always looks for a way according to his budget. He will always find HoReCa that suits him and his budget.
But whether the prices are expensive or cheaper, what I think the tourist especially does not like to hear is that someone on leave tells him that it is over at a certain time and has to leave, or that he is not allowed to buy something at certain hours.
Personally, I think 2 o'clock is quite late and even exceptional now. For me it doesn't really matter how long something stays open.
But there was a time when this was not the case.
Bangkok has always applied a stricter closing time than was the case in Pattaya, among others.
We didn't like being taken out at a certain time at all, so we quickly left Bangkok and headed for Pattaya. It wasn't really looked at at that time and we ultimately kept coming there for that reason, among other things.
Just to say that opening hours were very important to us. Not so much what we had to pay.
Yes, great, let's go to Thailand for a few weeks with a club and then sit and drink every evening in a bar on Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy or Patpong.
And especially now that the times at which you can start (now after 17:00 PM) are being adjusted, we won't talk about the price of 180 baht per small bottle of beer.
It was rightly said that lowering prices will provide more relief than adjusting sales times.
I haven't visited a bar in those areas for years and so have many others, the times of the past are no longer there, Nana plaza is sometimes so quiet that you can shoot an AK 47 without hitting anyone, when a little singha was still there 80 baht, the tourist numbers and turnover were slightly different and therefore also the fun, although that is personal. No, incomprehensible decisions are sometimes made in Thailand too, but as an alcohol consumer you can reduce the prices a bit by pre-drinking with alcohol purchased in the 7-Eleven located next to the bar where you can get it for a third of the price. buy a can of beer with more content, yes.
When it comes to the price, you just drink with friends in your own place... house, garden, yard...
Or do you miss the beer/bar girls? You can invite them too, right? “Let's have a party”.
Opening hours? I do not care. I can't make it to 2:00 AM…Snore, snore…
I think a better first step would be to lift the incomprehensible, unexplainable alcohol sales restriction from 2 to 5 PM. No one can tell you why. Usually the answer is: “It's the law”. Then you're done talking.
I never understood why alcohol wasn't allowed to be sold between 2 and 5. I can still imagine something at night, but that's just it. No. Would also be very happy to see this abolished. Especially for the supermarkets