Globally known for its beaches and nightlife district, Pattaya City is one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations. Although it is designated a special autonomous region, allowed to elect its own mayor and regulate its tourism industry, it faces numerous limitations due to a lacklustre decentralization policy. Its stakeholders are now concerned that the city and its tourism sector would be outpaced by other global cities unless changes are made in its governance.

The Pattaya Beach Nourishment project has been underway for 6 years now in an attempt to solve the problem of beach erosion. Even though the approach is widely accepted internationally, there have been questions from the civil society sector about the project’s sustainability and inclusivity, once it was discovered that part of the beach was damaged by drainage water from the city. There are also concerns among local fishers about the disappearance of their source of income from the beach.