The resort of Pattaya – now witnessing some of the most exciting Asian Property Developments in the country – hasn’t always been such a hip and happening place. In fact, until about sixty years ago, Pattaya was nothing more than a tiny fishing village known as Pad Tha Ya, where fishermen made a simple living from the sea.

The village wasn’t even deemed large enough to have the status of a municipality, falling under the sub-district of local town Chonburi, now ironically a relative backwater compared to the tourist Mecca of Pattaya which is home to some of the most luxurious property in Thailand.

Pattaya first came to international attention in the late 1950s, when American GIs began to flock to the coastal village from their base in Nakhom Ratchasima, in the north of Thailand. Within a short time the resort became almost like an official base for American troops for R&R during the Vietnamese war.

The soldiers were flown into U-Tapao Airport, a military and public airport 45 minutes from the beach resort of Pattaya, to chill out and try to forget the horrors of the war in which they were embroiled. And as their numbers swelled, so too did the number of hotels, shops and bars which signalled one of the first booms in Asian Property Development of the 20th Century.

But it wasn’t just American GIs that were amassing on the shores of the Gulf of Thailand in Pattaya. Many Thai people, especially those from Bangkok which is only two hours away by car, began to see Pattaya as some sort of weekend retreat and as a result, some of the most luxurious property in Thailand began to appear along the coast near the town.

The growth from fishing village to international resort was so rapid that by 1978 the national government granted it city status to reflect its position as one of Thailand’s most prominent tourism destinations.

Once a city, there was no turning back for Pattaya, and its success has gone from strength to strength. Now home to more than 100,000 people, it attracts more than six million tourists every year.

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