Tracing the History of Pattaya, it was a small fishing village like many others in the Gulf of Bangkok till the late 1950s. Called Pad Tha Ya, which means the ‘wind blows from the southwest to
the north-east at the beginning of the rainy season’, the name in due course became Pattaya. Before 1956 Pad Tha Ya was just a sub-district of Chonburi and did not even have the status of a municipality.
History of Pattaya could be traced from the late 1950s. In about 1959 Pattaya started to expand into a resort for visiting American GIs from a base in Nakhon Ratchasima with plenty of money to spend. US navy men from nearby Sattahip, particularly during the Vietnam war, enabled great expansion of facilities available to visiting forces by local entrepreneurs, and Pattaya became an official centre of ‘Rest and Relaxation’ for American troops. They were flown into U-Tapao airport, which was built for American use at the time, and hotel accommodation, shops, bars and services in Pattaya grew rapidly due to the increasing demand.
From that point on, Pattaya grew very quickly as a holiday destination for both Thais and foreigners, and in 1978 the national government granted it city status to reflect this. ‘Pattaya City’ came into being on 29th November 1978, and this anniversary is celebrated every year.
The 1980s and 90s were also a boom time for history of Pattaya with a large influx of tourists from European countries, particularly in their winter. Later, as well heeled visitors moved south to the Andaman coast and Samui, a new generation of Russian, Eastern European and Arab nationals began arriving. The city’s administration has grown to cater for the increasing size and demands of Thailand’s biggest resort town, which now receives several million visitors every year, both Thai and foreign.
Due to its proximity to Bangkok, and partly as a legacy of the GI R&R activities during the Vietnam war, Pattaya developed a reputation as a party city, a badge it still honorably holds today. With this came an influx of girls from the poor Isaan region of Northeastern Thailand who supplied the ever-growing sex trade, which is very much part of the city. However, history of Pattaya also has its serious side and provides for a growing community of foreigners employed in the burgeoning eastern seaboard industries of the area. An estimated 12,000 people from all parts of the world live permanently in Pattaya, supporting a large establishment of restaurants, bars, clubs, societies and services set up specifically to support them.
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