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BANGKOK – It’s 10:30 PM on a Tuesday night and the tables at the Bangkok Sugar Club bar are filling up. As the DJ cranks up the volume and lasers vibrate overhead, two women in bikinis and face shields take the stage. Strangers flirt.
However, if you hit the streets on Sukhumvit Soi 11, the party is gone. Empty bars listen to music on the dark street that was packed with tourists before the pandemic.
Two months after Thailand allowed bars and clubs to reopen, Bangkok’s nightlife is returning from the dead. But the party capital, with establishments catering to both the raunchy and the sophisticated, is now dealing with divided fortunes.
Businesses that rely on Thai clientele are seeing the crowds return. Those geared towards tourists are either desolate or have simply closed.
Before Thursday (September 3), when Thailand recorded a case of community infection, the country had gone 100 days without any community transmission of Covid-19. So far there are more than 3,400 cases of infection and 58 deaths from coronavirus.
Fearful of encountering a second wave of infections like those in Myanmar and Vietnam, the Thai government has closed the door to most tourists. It still hopes to retain a slice of the extended-stay market by experimenting with more relaxed quarantine requirements on the island of Phuket.
But the economic forecast remains bleak. The Finance Ministry expects Thailand’s tourism-dependent economy to contract 8.5 percent this year.
You can hardly tell, judging from revelers on a Monday night in Bangkok’s Thonglor district, which caters to Thai and expat markets.
Ainu, a Japanese-style bar with live music, was packed with local people.
“We are recovering 100 percent of our customers, or maybe even more than before,” said manager Sasitorn Thanawat. “People were locked up and fearful during the confinement. Now they have returned to find happiness.”
Just before nightlife venues were allowed to reopen, Thailand’s Covid-19 Situation Management Center caused concern by proposing a long list of rules that required establishments not only to keep their distance, but to close at the same time. midnight and stop singing and dancing.
The operators, who argue that the rules are impractical, have quietly ignored some restrictions.
“After the first three weeks, everyone was trying to get back to normal,” said Mr. Sanga Ruangwattanakul, president of the Khaosan Road Business Association. “We cannot operate entertainment establishments with this type of practice.”
Still, bars and clubs have staff wear masks and face shields, wash their hands with alcohol, take their guests’ temperatures, and limit capabilities. Business owners interviewed say customers wander off on their own anyway when stores get too crowded for comfort.
Panthera Group, which runs both Sugar and Insanity, one of Bangkok’s biggest clubs, has changed its business model to keep the latter running.
“With Sugar, a well established brand in the Thai market, for the most part, we just opened the doors and people were there,” said Panthera’s chief marketing officer, Mr. Benjamin Baskins.
But Insanity was badly hit because half of its pre-pandemic customers were from Asian countries like China, Singapore, and Malaysia. To attract more Thai clubbers, Panthera decided to tweak Insanity’s music selection and cut prices by 30 to 50 percent.
“We are looking to break even,” Baskins said. “Our goal is to make sure our people get back to work. We have settled on the fact that we are not really going to be in the profit zone.”
Panthera is still betting on a big comeback by investing $ 500,000 ($ 682,400) in upgrading Insanity’s lighting.
“We are very optimistic about the comeback of Asia in particular,” Baskins said.
Sing Sing Theater, a luxury club that reopened in late July but chose to operate four days a week rather than six, is running at full or near full capacity every night.
“We have not fully recovered,” general manager Jonathan Siksik said. “However, we are optimistic that in the near future the situation will improve.”
Life should return to normal, albeit with health precautions, he said. “You have to do something to keep people happy and enjoy life and get out, because we are talking about a country that is famous for parties.”
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