Said Ho: \u201cPhuket is now seen as a global destination alongside places in Europe like Ibiza or the Caribbean. There have only been two major beach tourist destinations in Asia \u2013 Phuket and Bali. But Bali\u2019s been slipping behind because it\u2019s got its own issues of waste management, and the traffic congestion is even worse now. Also, Phuket has got the perfect weather; the whole of the Andaman Coast where Phuket is is nice and dry [perennially, making it attractive for those escaping harsh winters at certain times of the year].\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is expected that up to 5,000 residences will be built in Laguna Lakelands over the next five to 10 years. Five themed residential areas \u2013 Hillside, Orchard, Forest, Lakeside and Lagoon \u2013 will be connected by extensive walkways and cycling trails. Phase 1 will include Lakeview Residences condominiums \u2013 a four-storey complex and another seven-storey complex complete with rooftop infinity pools and housing one- to three-bedroom units \u2013 and Waterfront Villas with four bedrooms that average a built area of 560 sq m as well as private pools and gardens. Prices start at US$190,000 for the smallest apartments and US$1.7 million for the waterfront villas.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is timely that such an ambitious project has been added to the Banyan Group\u2019s fold as it turns 30 this year. Alongside this, Ho aims to increase its hotel list to 100. \u201cWe never want to brag about what impact we reach but we\u2019ve seen what we did in terms of sustainability 30 years ago to now. It was never with the intention of trying to impress other people, leaving a legacy and so on. It has led other developers to look at us and say that\u2019s not a bad thing to do.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTo that extent, we\u2019ve done things in hospitality that is quite novel, but we haven\u2019t actually done anything in property development that is new and that can make an impact, but Laguna Lakelands could make an impact.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The relatively affordable prices in Phuket also factor in its popularity. Added Stuart Reading, managing director of Group Property Development at Banyan Group: \u201cHigh-quality property is still significantly cheaper in Phuket than in most of the buyer source markets like Russia, China or Europe.\u201d Said Ho: \u201cPhuket is now seen as a global destination alongside<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}