The city (mueang) had 104,318 registered inhabitants in 2007. As with the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, that figure excludes the large number of people who work in the city but remain registered in their hometowns, and many long-term expatriate visitors, for comparison the city limits of Bangkok 2010 census some 49% that were present during the count as residing in Bangkok did not have registration in Bangkok. Including non-registered residents, the population numbers for Pattaya were estimated by Thai sources at around 300,000 at any given time. Other estimates put the figure as high as 500,000. Pattaya additionally has massive population inflow from tourism, with its 2000 hotels and 136,000 rooms available as of 2015. Due to the tourist industry, many people from the north-east (known as Isan, the poorest region of Thailand) have come to work in Pattaya, and are counted for census purposes in their hometowns. There is a fast-growing community of foreign retirees living in Pattaya. Thailand immigration has a special visa category for foreigners over age 50 who wishes to retire in Thailand. Pattaya is attractive to many retirees from other countries not only because of its climate and exotic, easy lifestyle, but also because living costs are lower than in many countries.