Quote Originally Posted by Marc K View Post
One more point, I think the "New Pattaya" in any case will be very different from our nostalgic reminisces. I think the "New Pattaya" will be even more technologically enabled (the "apps" that we know today are still very crude IMHO) and most of the visible sleaze will have been erased (for all the reasons which have been discussed on this forum). The reason I am optimistic is that Thais in general are fun loving, much more relaxed about sex than the rest of the "Victorian" world, and also strangely entrepreneurial.
Seriously, what is there left for Pattaya if you get rid of the sleaze? Don't most gay visitors go there for precisely that? They want to see and be titllated by the boys in the bar and get to know them a little before they decide to off them. If dependance on the apps becomes the norm, other parts of the country could become as attractive, if not more so.

Then as more and more boys take to the apps, doesn't the sex tourist run the risk of more and more boys putting up photos and profiles that make them seem wonderfully appealing. How does the sex tourist of a 7 day visit react when after that knock on the door the boy turn out to be 15 years older and several kgs heavier? Once is maybe understandable. If that happens more often a vacation in Pattaya becomes a dog.

Take technology a bit further. Will we eventually just see holograms of the boys in skimpy pants on stage, pick a number and he miraculously turns up at our hotel?

Since western sex arrived, Pattaya has always existed because it offers 'live' girls and boys and sleaze. Get rid of the 'live' element and it dies. The Mayor can then spend billions more in his quest to make it a family destination.