Pattaya tourism started in the end of the 50's with the visit of American soldiers from Korat. The first hotel dating from 1960 and today one of the first hotels is still open, the Nautical Inn. The first bar dates from 1964 and is located in Nova Lodge Hotel, which is still open today. In the 70's the construction of large hotels started with Pattaya Palace, Orchide lodge (today Amari), Tropicana, Merlin, today Hard Rock, Siam Bayshore,  Asia and Royal cliff. In 1980 500,000 tourists visited the city. In 1986 the Royal wing opened, an exclusive wing in the Royal cliff, and it was considered one of the best hotels in Asia since the end of the 90's. Built in 1988 for the main building and in 1993 for the tower, the Ambassador Hotel is the largest resort in the world right on the beach with over 4800 rooms. In 1995 about 2 million tourists visited the city.

  Nautical inn gardenNautical inn garden

New luxury complex es have opened recently like Sheraton (2005) and Garden Cliff (2006). New projects include Royal Meridien in the luxury Sails condo and a large hotel on the site of the old Cental wong amat. In 2006 it will expect about 6 million tourists (4,000,000 foreigners and 2,000,000 Thais)

pattaya palacePattaya palace in 2006

Ambassador tower