Phuket
City by the Bay – Laguna Phuket’s urbanisation

by Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com
If you were going to play a soundtrack to this story, perhaps it could be started off best with the 80’s hit “We Built This City”.
If you toured the Laguna Phuket area in the year the song charted in 1985, the area was an eerie lunar landscape of a former tin mining domain. Today the virtual wasteland had been turned into a resort wonderland and the past is a far distant memory.
What’s impressive about Laguna has been its ability to rewrite the map, and continue to evolve and adjust to market changes over the years. First, as an integrated or destination resort, then as mixed-use hotel and residential community and now it is turning into an affluential urbanising resort city by the sea.
Ask travellers where Cherngtalay is, and they only get a blank stare, but mention Laguna and the recognition is clear.
When you look at Laguna’s pioneering leisure real estate model, a similar trend or evolution has occurred. It’s been a long journey that started with the investment oriented Sheraton Island Villas (now branded under Angsana), to the condominium hotel Allamanda, and onto KP Ho’s core Banyan Tree branded residences and later resort lots on the Laguna Phuket Golf Course.
Other components followed such as the vacation ownership offering that is now known at Laguna Holiday Club, a dedicated residential community tagged as Laguna Village and shift to selling landed properties instead of house lots with their signature villas and townhomes.
More traction was gained with partnerships such as the Dusit Laguna Villas, or else inhouse new brands like Cassia, Dhawa, Angsana or the entry level Laguna Park residences.
Laguna’s journey from tourism to real estate today best be demonstrated in the sheer number of real estate units that well outnumbers hotel keys. In a period covering a bit more than two decades Laguna has sold 1420 properties and presently has about 435 for sale, for a total of 1855 units. Impressive considering the period hit two enormous economic downturns in 1997 and 2008, along with Thailand’s political roller coaster. In the end, real estate has emerged as the lead component of what is now becoming an urban resort city.
What is most apparent to visitors and residents alike is how the current development footprint of Laguna, along with most of Phuket is the push up into the sky. The building footprint of coastal areas is now going from low-rise structures, and now into midrise buildings of seven or more stories. Once green areas are now being filled up with tower cranes. There is a price to be paid for urbanisation and that is now evident in the growth of condominiums compared to the legacy property market of freestanding houses and villas.
Traditionally, resort property was premised on the vision of beachfront or ocean view properties. What Laguna Phuket successfully packaged was the ability to add value to back land areas and still commend premium pricing. Today lagoon aspect properties far outnumber ocean aspects and this is where the future lays, inland, beyond the beach.
As I write this piece heading into 2019 the latest Laguna property offerings reflect the overall pressure of the broader trend to smaller units at lower pricing points. This is evident in the new Dhawa offering at the main resort entrance, or the third phase of the successful Cassia. Another trend is investment properties and a new round of Dusit branded villas as well as Angsana products are rising amongst the lagoon areas.
The economic influence of Laguna Phuket is evident in the peripheral areas that are expanding, with Boat Avenue becoming a decided success and upcoming attractions like Blue Tree and Central’s upcoming Porto de Phuket.
To sum up the story, while the road trip from tin min to veritable resort city has taken many different turns, the impact of real estate as a driving force remains a clear and present example of how the development has set the standard for Asia’s mixed-use resorts most successful offerings.
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Phuket
Phuket police officer charged with attempted murder for shooting and critically injuring a noodle vendor

The drunk, off-duty police officer in Phuket who has caught on camera shooting and beating a noodle vendor on Bangla Road is now facing attempted murder charges as well as charges of carrying a firearm in public without a necessary reason and firing a weapon in a public area. The commander of the Phuket police station said he ordered investigators to prosecute the officer Pornthep Channarong with every criminal charge that can be applied.
The officer had gotten into an altercation just before dawn yesterday and shot a young vendor who was walking by. Surveillance camera footage show the 25 year old suddenly falling to the ground after being shot. The officer walks up and shoots the vendor at a close range, but it appears the second shot did not hit the vendor. The officer also slapped the vendor in the face, picked him up and shoved him over, and then kicked him as he lay on the ground.
The vendor has a 4 year old daughter and 3 month old son. His wife says normally he works as a motorbike driver, but he was helping his mother selling noodles. He was shot while he was walking back from collecting a noodle bowl, she says. The vendor is in critical condition and being cared for at Vachira Phuket Hospital’s intensive care unit. He’s in need of Type B blood.
“For his condition, the doctor told me that the bullet went through his lung. He lost a lot of blood. We need a lot of Type B blood for him.”
A disciplinary investigation into the incident was launched by police and Pornthep was officially dismissed from the Royal Thai Police force. Region 8 Police Commander Kitrat Panpetch says the incident does not reflect the police force in Phuket.
“The incident was caused by an officer who did something wrong that our organisation does not want. We are a big organisation with more than 200,000 officers under our control. Our officers are not all bad like this.”
Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pornsak Nuannu says he has reminded the police chiefs across the island to discuss reasons for carrying firearms in public.
“Carrying firearms is to prevent any type of crime that may happen, not to commit a crime by themselves like this incident. If I see any police doing such a thing, I will decisively proceed in terms of both officer discipline and criminal charges.”
SOURCE: Phuket News
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Phuket
Thai Vietjet resumes Phuket-Chiang Rai flights, launches promotion on air fare

The following is a press release from Thai Vietjet on its new promotion “Welcome Back to the Sky” and the resumption of Phuket-Chiang Rai flights.
Thai Vietjet today announced the flight resumption of its domestic cross-regional service between Phuket – Chiang Rai, in response to the increasing travel demand after the government began relaxing travel measures in each province. The airline will resume the service for four (04) round-trip flights a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with the flight duration around 2 hours and 5 minutes, starting from 26 February 2021 onwards. The flight details are as follows:
Flight No. | Departure from Phuket | Arrival at Chiang Rai | Flight No. | Departure from Chiang Rai | Arrival in Phuket |
VZ400 | 8:15am | 10:20am | VZ401 | 10:50am | 12:55pm |
In addition, the airline also announced the resumption of other domestic cross-regional services including the flight between Hat Yai – Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai – Nakhon Si Thammarat from 19 March 2021 onwards.
Following the service resumption announcement, the airline launched special promotion “Welcome Back to the Sky”, offering special fares from just THB 99 (not inclusive of taxes, fees, surcharges, and add-ons) for Thai Vietjet’s flights between Phuket – Chiang Rai and the flights to/from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi). The special fares are available for booking from 24 – 28 February 2021, with travel period between 8 March – 30 June 2021 on SkyFUN.vietjetair.com
As the COVID-19 situation is under control, Thai Vietjet has been adding flight frequency in line with the increasing demand for travel. The airline has also recently introduced its new product on SkyFUN, the ‘TRIP EASY PLUS’ – travel insurance with coverage of COVID-19 starting from THB 180, which provides further convenience and travel confidence to passengers to travel with the highest level of safety during the pandemic. For more information, please visit https://skyfun.vietjetair.com/insurance.
The promotional fares are available on SkyFUN.vietjetair.com, applied to Thai Vietjet’s domestic flights in Thailand from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi, Udon Thani, Hat Yai , Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ubon Ratchathani and the domestic cross-regional flight Phuket – Chiang Rai. The tickets are also available on all other distribution channels including www.vietjetair.com, mobile app “Vietjet Air”, via Facebook at facebook.com/VietJetThailand by clicking “Booking” tab, as well as travel agencies and booking offices. Payment can be easily made with ‘True Money Wallet’ and international debit/credit cards.
Thai Vietjet is committed to providing on time scheduled flights with the highest safety complied with the standards and regulations of the relevant authorities. Thai Vietjet was named the fastest growing low-cost airline in Thailand 2020 by The Global Business Outlook Award. The airline also owns one of the world’s newest and most modern fleet with an average age of only 2.7 years and was awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars by the world’s only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com. The carrier has been strictly performing aircraft disinfection dailythroughout its fleet in compliance with Thai Ministry of Public Health.
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
4 top tourist destinations to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccine distribution

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says 4 of Thailand’s major tourism destinations are to be prioritised in the distribution of vaccines. They are Phuket, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai and Surat Thani. In addition, a further 9 provinces with significant infection numbers are being prioritised in the rollout of the first vaccine doses arriving in the Kingdom today.
Taweesin Visanuyothin from the CCSA says 70,000 doses will go to the hard-hit “highest control” area of Samut Sakhon, where Thailand’s second outbreak began late last year. 8,000 doses are being set aside for medical officials in the central province, along with 6,000 for frontline healthcare workers, 46,000 doses for seriously ill patients, and 10,000 doses for migrant workers and local residents.
Another 105,000 doses will be distributed to similar groups in Bangkok, in the central provinces of Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Songkram and Samut Prakan, and in the western province of Ratchaburi and the Mae Sot district of Tak.
The Pattaya News reports that 14,700 doses will be sent to 4 major tourist destinations, with 4,700 going to the eastern province of Chon Buri, 4,000 to the southern island of Phuket, 3,500 to the northern province of Chiang Mai, and 2,500 going to the island of Samui in the southern province of Surat Thani.
In the case of the vaccines going to tourism spots, it is not yet known which groups will be vaccinated first, with that decision being left to the Provincial Communicable Disease Committee and other related authorities.
Meanwhile, the CCSA says other plans for the 4 tourism destinations are being considered, including the possibility of “area quarantine”, which would allow vaccinated foreign arrivals to remain within certain boundaries during their quarantine period. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has been pushing for a vaccine passport policy for vaccinated visitors, while PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says the government may consider lifting quarantine restrictions for vaccinated tourists.
SOURCE: The Pattaya News
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