Pattaya eyes becoming economic hub of EEC

The Mayor of Pattaya Sontaya Kunplome has revealed that the city administration has adjusted the city’s development goal to comply with the growth of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), by reducing administrative obstacles and adapting development models from cities in foreign countries, to accommodate expected population growth of three million, three times more tourists, and 1.7 trillion baht in initial investment.

He said according to the Board of Investment of Thailand’s (BOI) report, there are currently about 800 billion baht’s worth of investment promotion requests in the EEC, covering three provinces of the eastern region, with 650 billion baht alone marked for investment in Chonburi province.

Chonburi province and Pattaya city share 1 trillion baht GDP, the second highest in the country, and generate more than 200 billion baht in tourism revenue, making Pattaya city and Chonburi province attractive to investors.

The mayor said EEC investment and development will change the city’s economic structure, from the current 80% dependency on tourism, to support from a more varied group of business categories.

Meanwhile, the city has commenced many infrastructure development projects to complement the expected changes, such as cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning on flood prevention; the installation of a large-scale waste water treatment system with a capacity of 130,000 cubic meters; cooperation with the Ministry of a Digital Economy and Society on a 5G mobile network installation along Pattaya beach; the installation of an information technology system for city services; cooperation with the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) to position the city as a destination for international conferences and exhibitions covering infrastructure development, marketing, and human resources development, as well as cooperation with the Marine Department to expand Pattaya and Jomtien beaches to promote tourism.

TCEB’s Executive Director Jirut Itsarangkul Na Ayuthaya, said today that Pattaya City is recognised as a quality tourism city, and a hub of tourism activities in the EEC in the future.

He said the bureau will attract more international events to take place in Pattaya, such as the Air Show event coordinated by TCEB, which is now planned to take place at U-Tapao airport as the main venue, helping promote Thailand’s ambition to become the latest and largest aircraft maintenance and logistics hub in ASEAN.