The Pattaya Dragon will be located on a 23-rai site on Second Road in the city resort and is expected to attract both foreigners and locals. The project will consist of three zones - Moonlight, Ice Bar and Slim Pattaya.

Moonlight will be an outdoor area designed for staging events, including concerts and competitions. It will accommodate up to 10,000 people.

The Ice Bar will be the first cool pub in Thailand, with different temperatures in four areas. It will hold up to 600.

And Slim Pattaya will be a pub with four areas - a slim zone focusing on young people, a fashion zone aimed at drawing a business crowd, a cigar zone for smokers and a terrace and bar for dining.

Ana Wongsing, managing director and project director at Baan Beer Pattaya, said construction would be completed next year. The business is expected to grow 30 per cent a year.

She said the goal was to build a new tourist attraction in Pattaya that was different from all the others. "This place will also feature a hotel, shopping plaza, pub, spa, food courts, multinational cuisine and drinking booths," said Ana.

About 70 per cent of visitors are expected to be foreigners. Western tourists tend to visit Pattaya from November to February, while Asian tourists, particularly Taiwanese and South Koreans, prefer to come from August to October.

The location of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport will boost the number of tourists visiting Pattaya as well as the complex. Tour operators are being approached to include Pattaya Dragon in their itineraries.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation, Pattaya