Pattaya authorities on Thursday sought cooperation from tourist bus and boat operators to discourage their clients from buying food or goods from vendors as part of the continued crackdown on vending on public beaches.
Setthapol Boonsawat, chairman of the Pattaya municipality legal team, said officials had called the operators to a meeting to explain measures to deal with illegal street vendors on the city’s beaches and along the beach roads.
Municipal officials early last month declared public areas at Pattaya and Jomtien beaches along with Walking Street, the city’s popular night entertainment spot, off-limits to vendors selling from mobile stalls, pushcarts and motorcycles with sidecars. The number of sellers in the three places has dramatically reduced after officials enforced a maximum fine of 2,000 baht against violators, under the city’s public cleanliness and public order act.
The measure has given a “satisfying result” so far, Mr Setthapol said.
However, he said many vendors continued to defy the ban and were causing a nuisance to tourists at pick-up and drop off points on the beaches for bus and boat services. The operators were urged to tell the visitors not to support the illegal vendors.
The meeting also discussed ways to solve traffic problems caused by tour bus operators picking up or dropping off holidaymakers on the two main beach roads.
Meanwhile, Pattaya deputy permanent secretary, Chanatpong Sriwiset Naklua, has signed an order to transfer tessakij (city inspectors) who previously worked in the city’s three main areas, Pattaya, Jomtien and Naklua, to work in other areas of the three places, effective from Thursday.
The directive was issued after Mr Setthapol, who heads a panel overseeing Pattaya beaches, said some tessakij had worked in the same area for a long time and had a close relationship with the vendors, which could hinder effective implementation of the policy.