In The Year 2025INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS, CLEAN AIR AWARD, TOURISM ON THE UP - GOOD TIMES AHEAD FOR THE AREA?

In The Year 2025

INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS, CLEAN AIR AWARD, TOURISM ON THE UP - GOOD TIMES AHEAD FOR THE AREA?

The headline doesn’t scan as well as the 1969 hit song “In The Year 2525” by Zager and Evans, but thankfully the year so far in Hua Hin and the surrounding areas has been a long way from the dire predictions that song made for human existence, and some might say that the future for the area is looking very bright (maybe “so bright we gotta wear shades” – credit to Timbuk 3 for the lyric steal!). We weren’t so bold as to include the launch of the Hua Hin Citizen Journal in our subtitle, but the positive outlook for the city and its environs was a fundamental part of our decision to revive the spirit of AWOL, although not the physical printed publication that ran from 2008 to 2018. It seems that, at last, the city has finally shaken off the spectre of Covid, although many people have still not rid themselves of the mask wearing habit.

As we are about to enter the crucial high season period, there is an optimism on show from a business and investment perpective as well – dozens of new bars, restaurants and other businesses are appearing or have been announced, while many are also being refurbished and renovated; the property sector also seems to have kicked into a higher gear, with new and existing projects being heavily promoted.

Probably the highest profile announcement has been that the Hard Rock Cafe will be opening at the Hilton hotel (planned to be December), but several other well known names have already opened in recent months, including Stumble Inn and PrimeBurger, both in the Soi 94 area. Another notable recent announcement was that Ezy Airlines will start flights between Hua Hin and Phuket, Hat Yai, and Surat Thani – this was originally announced to be in September, but the latest update is that it will now be December.

The most activity in the city this year though has been from the local authorities, carrying on from last high season and completing the snazzy new pavements on both sides of the main Phetkasem Road, stretching as far north as soi 35 (next to Klai Kangwon Palace), and south almost to the flyover (around soi 104/106 area), finally (almost) completing the much needed drainage and road resurfacing of soi 94, starting and finishing the new roundabout and road widening at the junction between the canal road and Pala-U Road (the “Moon Curve” roundabout), plus a host of smaller but needed infrastructure improvements. In addition the improvements to the bypass road between Pranburi and Cha-Am were finished, and in combination with previous work carried out over the last few years, this should alleviate the traffic running through the centre of Hua Hin, and allows smoother northbound travel towards Bangkok and southbound traffic towards Hua Hin and Pranburi.

The ‘clean air award’ referred to above is the ASEAN Clean Air for Small Cities award, presented during the 18th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment (AMME-18), held from 2–3 September 2025 in Langkawi, Malaysia. Hua Hin received a Certificate of Recognition in the category of Clean Air for Small Cities, after being selected by the ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities. This award will seem at odds to the flood of social media posts by a small but ardent number of people who were complaining about the air quality in the area earlier in the year, but equally supports the opinion that the data available for Hua Hin may not be reliable due to a combination of the relatively few monitoring points, most of which are private, and not necessarily maintained or located to give accurate readings. The “lived experience” for most expats who have been here for a number of years is that the air here is very good, unless you have a very local issue with burning or similar. Anyone who suffers from such local issues can report this to either the tessaban (local authority) (032 511 047) or the police (191), if they believe someone is illegally burning.

Quite possibly the key event in 2025, that may have triggered a lot of the above, was that Hua Hin officially transitioned from a town to a city municipality on March 28, 2025, a change that reflects its significant growth in population (over 50,000) and economy. This upgrade, formalized through a Royal Gazette announcement, grants the city increased administrative autonomy to better manage its expanding tourism-driven development and associated challenges. We are sure that every reader can identify something in their local area that needs addressing, be it potholes in the roads, inconsistent water supply, or the incomprehensible mess of overhead wires that are an unfortunately common feature, but the progress made this year in particular should give all of us hope that, eventually, these will be fixed. Of course, not all of these are within the power of the local authority to address, and reporting things like utility issues is the responsibility of us, the citizens, and you can find contact numbers (and other useful information) on our Weather and Information page.

And finally, tourism. Love it or loathe it, it is a key industry for Thailand, and particularly for Hua Hin. Overall, in the last couple of years, Thailand, and Hua Hin, has been very slowly recovering from the consequences of the disastrous policies pursued worldwide during the Covid period; this recovery hasn’t been easy or as fast as it might have been due to the staggering and continued strength of the Thai baht, and recent reports are still suggesting that Thailand will feel the effects of that this high season. However, this year so far, while there are no figures available for Hua Hin specifically, Prachuap Kiri Khan province is one of a handful of provinces that is bucking the trend and has higher tourist numbers for the first 6 months of 2025 versus 2024, and with Hua Hin being the major tourist destination in the province, both for domestic and international visitors, it is safe to assume that it accounts for a large portion of that, and observation of life in the city would seem to support that. When you add in the explosion of YouTube videos about Hua Hin in recent months, the social media chatter, and the business activity, we have concluded that there is a high chance of a high season to remember this year, and an impending boom in the next few years. Only time will tell of course, and maybe you disagree – if you do, why not leave a comment on here, or on our Facebook page or group?

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