Best real estate in Thailand

Three overseas investors from Korea, Finland and Germany will invest around four billion Baht this year to develop real estate projects in major tourist destinations to serve long-stay visitors, says Prasan Wangrattanapranee, managing director of Thailand Longstay Company. He said the deal with the Korean investor KTCC, a joint venture between the Korean government and private firms that have strong connections with Lotte, Samsung and some Japanese firms, would be finalised within the first half of the year as Korean tourists normally start visiting Thailand in August each year.

Koreans love Pattaya, so KTCC would join local partners who have plots of land to invest about 400 million baht to develop a serviced apartment with 100 rooms on Jomtien Beach. From this deal, about 150,000 upmarket Korean tourists are expected to be Thailand Longstay members.

"The Korean government wants to be confident that their tourists will have a good package tour with worthwhile programmes. Our duty is to provide services with safety, convenience and attractive activities," said Mr Prasan.

"Actually, the day KTCC came to visit Pattaya was the same day that the bodies of the two Russian tourists were found. But KTCC was not afraid of the situation as tourism police clearly explained about it," he said.

Vivas Co, a large real estate firm in Finland, plans to spend three billion baht to develop a longstay complex, comprising condominiums, a hotel, a sports club and a spa. It will be located on more than 1,000 rai in the Bang Na-Trat Km 36 area.

There would also be a German investor to spend about 500 million baht to develop serviced apartments in Cha-am through a joint venture with local partners who hold land plots. Mr Prasan said the company would discuss suitable plots with the Treasury Department.

Currently, Thailand Longstay has 5,000 members. It was established in 2001 by the Thaksin Shinawatra government. Membership levels include silver, gold, diamond and blue diamond, with various services at rates of between 6,000 and 70,000 baht per year.

Of the 5,000 members, about 3,000, mainly from Europe and Japan, stay in Phuket. Their spending per head was more than 100,000 baht per month.

"Our weakness earlier was a short-term visa for longstay visitors," he said. "This kind of tourist wants to stay longer than 90 days. But now we can provide them up to one-year stay."

This article was first published in the BANGKOK POST 8th March 2007