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Islands for Life
Get ready for the future of the resort
| Text : Elizabeth Kerr |
Southeast Asia is a prime location fortropical resort vacationing and living.Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippinesand Indonesia have been mining touristdestinations like Bali, Cebu and Phuket fordecades and any of those locations is nowhome to scores of private villas and brandedresidences that are popular with travellers andinvestors the world over. There’s no shortageof five-star luxury and infinity pools. Twodevelopments are getting ready to add tothe region’s stock, but with a slightly differentattitudes and end products in mind.
Cambodia’s The Royal Group has justbegun its meticulous development of KohRong, an island 30 minutes away by boatfrom Sihanoukville In Phuket independentdeveloper Mark Palmer is working towardsmaking Five Elements Thailand a reality. Bothare thoroughly modern projects in that theyaim to bring a new level or sustainability todevelopment in an area of the world thatdesperately needs it.
The Royal Group has just completed its masterplan for Koh Rong, and the final product will bea completely integrated, sustainable, sociallyand environmentally conscious resort — thefirst of its kind planned as such from minuteone. The hope is to avoid the mistakes ofthe past and set the tone for the future. “Theproblem with Phuket is not necessarily theAmanpuris or Banyan Trees, in some ways it’sthe local guy who stops being a farmer whothinks he’ll set up a bar or rent motorbikesand services them in the streets,” theorisesDavid Simister, Chairman of CBRE (Thailand),Koh Rong’s investor agent and advisor. “Youend up with a lot of unplanned developmentthat seeks to get rich quick. Patong was themost beautiful beach in Phuket, which is whyit was the first to get spoilt.”
David Clarke, director of MAP Architectureand Planning in Hong Kong, which designedthe island’s master plan, agrees. “There’s anold saying, ‘Failure to plan is a plan to fail’,”he begins, also citing Thai errors, this time inKoh Samui. “Koh Samui suffers greatly fromenvironmental pollution because there wasno sustainable plan in place in the beginning.”
Koh Rong’s meticulous planning is built ona 25-year development scale, with the firstphase scheduled to be ready in 5. Cambodiais currently sitting on the cusp of touristboom, but of the 2.2 million tourists thatvisit Cambodia every year, only 7 percentget to a Cambodian beach. “[Koh Rong] isbest raw material as a resort I’ve seen in 30years of dealing with resort markets,” statesSimister of the island’s potential. “You’ve gotMaldives quality sand and water … but aninteresting island with 28 separate bays anda lot of contrasting scenery. It’s a situation not dissimilar to Phuket or Koh Samui, in a country that’s desperately striving to go forward, and people — in terms of hospitality — that will rival Thailand.”
Both Simister and Clarke recognise there’s a fundamental disconnect between the island’s eco-plan and the basics associated with getting there — like jet emissions. But both are realists and Clarke in particular sees his job as finding way to mitigate the carbon footprint. Koh Rong’s plans are ambitious and include a biology school teaching sustainable fishing practices, consumption of locally grown food, rainwater harvesting and low impact power generation like wind farms. Institutional investors will be expected to abide by the master plan and demonstrate a willingness to live up to those ambitions. Clarke doesn’t believe any of the demands are unreasonable and are completely viable and cost-effective. Using Six Senses’ as an example of a developer with both a clear sustainability policy and five-star luxury profits, he says bluntly, “I don’t see any reason why other developers can’t do the same thing.” In other words, if developers can talk the talk, they need to start walking the walk.
Hop across the Gulf of Thailand and continue on to the Andaman and you’ll eventually hit perpetual hotspot Phuket, where Palmer is working on Five Elements. The resort’s concept was born when Palmer, a martial arts devotee, was studying and travelling around Asia. “Before I went to China I was working in the banking sector. Life was expensive, unhealthy and stressful. So I know what people want to escape from when they go on holiday,” he explains. Seeing a gap in the market at the five-star level and in the inclusion of women travellers, Five Elements took shape.
Phuket was a logical location as its existing infrastructure made access easy, and Thailand is one of the world’s most popular medi-tourism destinations. Five Elements will provide classes in a range of martial arts including kung fu, tai chi and yoga, and demonstrate how they complement each other, detox programmes designed for enhanced energy and nutrition education that can actually be replicated in the real world. “I want to provide them with a means of improving their mental and physical well being whilst they are with us and to take away the knowledge and understanding of themselves to control and manage whatever stresses they encounter when they go back home to their world.”
On two different scales, Koh Rong and Five Elements are doing much the same thing. So is this the future of resort planning and travel? “Absolutely,” Clarke states emphatically. “The ethos, the desire to do things properly and responsibly, that is the future.” Socially and environmentally sustainable development is not an option, or a “value-add” to Clarke’s mind. “I think it is. I think people are going to become more conscious about where they go,” Simister concurs. Will everything be perfect? Maybe not but you do “want to avoid rows and rows of shop houses, rows of rows of beer bars. Provided we get the first two or three key developments right, it will help set the tone,” he finishes.
“Five Elements is to be a socially responsible business too. I want a share of the profits to be put back into Phuket and to support the community that supports us,” says Palmer, echoing Koh Rong’s philosophy. “In short, I want to demonstrate that doing good is good business.” Mark your calendars.
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