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Bang Saray to be a dream destination
Pattaya 2 Day
The country's tourism image is to get a further boost with the announcement that The Beaches, a major destination resort and spa, is to have its first phase completed in the next three years or so. According to the chairman and CEO of Pacific Shore Company, Liakat Sultan Dhanji, the project will have something for everyone — a water-theme park, man-made private beaches, a kilometre long boardwalk lined with shops and restaurants and even villas over the water, taking their inspiration from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
The whole site will be served by high speed internet and a cashless payment system. The concept is not actually that new, dating back to Walt Disney's vision for Disneyland followed by Disney World. Today, Las Vegas has been transformed from a gambling city into one which provides thriving family attractions.
Hong Kong and Tokyo have Disneylands of their own and Singapore is building two mega resorts with shows and entertainment as well as casinos. Mr Dhanji said that he had concluded that Thailand needed a facility to compete with the attractions taking shape across Asia.
He claims to have been spurred on by the statistic that 97% of the people who go to Las Vegas in fact don't play the machines or sit at the roulette table but rather want the entertainment, food and ambience.
Thus Mr Dhanji perceives that a mega-attraction in Thailand would work well even without the casino element. Another statistic is that 67% of all visitors to Las Vegas are from just one city Los Angeles. For Las Vegas read Bang Saray and for Los Angeles read Bangkok.
Having acquired a 200 rai land plot which is 1.8 kms long — larger in fact than the Las Vegas strip — Pacific Shore Company is now looking to put all the elements together. There will be a six star hotel and a state of the art convention centre. Some of the villas and condos have already been sold even at this pre-construction phase.
The residences offer 90 year leasehold deals because the venture has received Board of Investment promotion, according to the company. While some will object to the spoiling of Bang Saray, still a picturesque fishing village, Mr Dhanji says the company has taken pains to ensure low density with as much as 70% of all the space on the site being open.
In Dubai, meanwhile, there is Dubailand, which is being divided into six theme worlds with the first of four phases expected to be completed early next year. One of the most eagerly awaited attractions is Sahara World.
After Mr Dhanji returned to Thailand, it dawned on him that while the country was famed for its warmth and hospitality, and had a successful tourism business, competition was getting awfully stiff.
He became convinced that Thailand needed something to compete with the big attractions in place or taking shape across Asia. ''I decided I was going to find space and build an integrated destination resort to compete with our neighbouring countries. My strength is big projects, complexity doesn't bother me and big destination resorts are extremely complex.''
Spurring him on was an interesting statistic out of Las Vegas showing that 97% of the people who go there in fact don't gamble but are there for the entertainment, food and ambience. ''Because you can go to one place and it satisfies the needs of mom, dad, the kids of various ages because they have something for everyone from theme parks to golf courses to spas, so many types of restaurants, from casual to expensive, that somebody can take a week off and never have to leave Las Vegas.''
To him, this means that any such destination resort in Thailand would work and be able draw visitors even without the casino element.
Another interesting statistic led Mr Dhanji to choose a location close to Bangkok. It seems that 67% of all the visitors to Las Vegas are from one city only, and that is Los Angeles.
This led to the purchase of The Beaches site in Bang Saray, a small fishing village close to Pattaya. ''One day I happened to go to Bang Saray because somebody had invited me there and I said, 'Oh my God, it reminds me of Waikiki (in Hawaii) 32 years ago when my father took me there', and I said, 'Wow, this is right on my doorstep.'''
Having acquired the 200-rai land plot that is 1.8 kilometres long and bigger than the Las Vegas strip, he's now looking to put all the elements together.
The water park will be built by White Water West Industries, the largest specialist in the field, with customers including Disney and Sea World.
''Now, to make a destination resort work you need several features — hotels, restaurants, retail shops, entertainment. So what I did was I put together a boardwalk, a kilometre long, that is going to have a mixture of all kinds of restaurants.''
The private villas as well as private lagoons and man-made beach, are a nod to the location. ''Because the history of Bang Saray is fishing, and it's got to be one of the oldest and most beautifully preserved fishing villages. I am going to recreate a fishing village here and actually work with the fishermen — the village will be able to give us fresh seafood.''
Aside from a six-star hotel there will be a convention centre, given that the meetings and incentives market is the fastest growing tourism segment.
Pacific Shore has already sold some villas and condominium units. The residences offer 90-year leaseholds (three 30-year terms) because the venture has received Board of Investment promotion. Bangkok Bank will be providing some of the financing for the project.
While some might regret the modernisation of Bang Saray, Mr Dhanji says the company has taken pains to ensure low density, with as much as 70% of all the space on the site being open.
