Hotels in the Pattaya area will offer discounts of up to 50% on rooms from April to October — for Thais only — in hopes of replacing falling numbers of visitors from Russia and Europe.
Sanphet Suphabuansathien, president of the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Region, said the number of guests from major markets like Europe and Russia had dropped by about 30%.
Local tourists mostly planned to travel abroad or to other regions of Thailand during the Songkran festival in mid-April.
To counter this, hotels in the Pattaya area have shifted their focus to attracting more Thai tourists with the "Thai Way of Life 365" campaign offering up to 50% discount on room rates from Monday to Thursday, and up to 30% from Friday to Sunday.
The association aims for a 2-5% increase in the number of tourists visiting Pattaya in 2015, compared to 2014.
“We have to admit that Pattaya’s tourism market has slow growth this year, as foreign tourists are delaying their travels and Thai tourists overlook Pattaya for other destinations.
"It is expected that the occupancy rate in April will be similar to last year at 40-50% on average,” he said.
Mr Sanphet said the association would also try to attract more Asian tourists, especially Chinese, to Pattaya with roadshows planned for several cities in China, Indonesia and Singapore.