Record numbers of tourists have grabbed their bags and hopped on a plane to Phuket in 2007. With the best Low Season numbers in the last few years, hopes have been high for the High Season 07/08 and so far, arrivals have been living up to expectations.

This has been a time of rapid change on the island, and not just in terms of high rises and other buildings cropping up in every available space. That there has been widespread building activity in Phuket is a given, but there has also been an exponential change in the kind of tourism related development.

The Jungceylon mall, a project that has been under way for years now has finally seen completion, and launched itself in its entirety just in time for the High Season. Phuket now boasts a multi-million baht Gateway in the North of the island, the beginning of construction of comprehensive Aquapark in Kathu with the latest in aqua entertainment was announced, and is expected to be finished in 2008. Phuket is gearing up to meet the demands of the ever-increasing tourists.

Another change that has been perhaps slightly less apparent, has been the radical growth of the time-share or holiday ownership industry on the island.

Where time-share, a few years ago was an industry regarded with some apprehension, stemming from reports of hard-selling techniques in Europe and other areas around the world coupled with dissatisfied guests who claimed they weren't getting what was promised; it has slowly but steadily shed its dubious image, and more and more hotel chains around the world have been led to acknowledge the benefits and endorse the trend.

On Phuket itself, the number and scale of these conversions have been significant. The group of reputable brands that are incorporating holiday ownership into their business structure is ever growing and includes heavy-weights like Laguna Phuket and the J W Marriott.

The reasoning is simple, every hotel wants their rooms full, every night, around the year. And every hotel chain is keen to see their guests return, rather than lose them to a competitor down the street, or in another location.

Ownership is the key that provides the extra edge regular hotels do not have. While guests at a hotel can be lured away to another property for a number of reasons or sometimes no reason at all, owners will, more often than not, stick with the place they can call 'home', even if they do share it with other people for the rest of the year.

Running a time-share unit in tandem with a regular hotel in a strategy employed by a number of hotels on the island. The guests that check in to the hotel side of the establishment hence have already seen what the property and management can offer, and have a good idea of what to expect when they buy into their holiday time.

Top-end properties like J W Marriott and Laguna Phuket have gone a long way to establish the new reputation enjoyed by the time-share industry and have also done their bit to eradicate previous misgivings about the workings of the industry. The world-class facilities offered by these and other high-end properties have also contributed to the progress of time-share from the fringes into the mainstream arena of tourism business.

On Phuket, the time-share wave shows no signs of receding. The Absolute Group of companies only recently the Ground Breaking ceremony of the The Absolute Sea Pearl Villas & Spa resort, the first David Lloyd ownership resort on Phuket. In an interview with the Post, Bryan Lunt, Chairman of the Absolute group of companies explained that the property would consist of a selection of high-end apartment and villa options. Studios with plunge pools, one and two bedroom apartments with their own pools are being planned, with all the imaginable luxuries. The fully managed apartments will even feature care-taker personnel and a butler service is included.

Fractional rather than shared ownership will be the mantra for this property. Owners will buy into the property for a certain period in the year, and will then 'own' the apartment/s for that period every year. So if a particular client tends to holiday in the months of say, February and March every year, they can buy into their property for that exact time period. This would eliminate the necessity to 'book' their owned weeks as they would be guaranteed use of their property for that time each year.
The guests of course would be free to do with their owned time what they wish, holiday themselves, or gift or rent the space out.

“Shared ownership minimizes risk and makes investment a much more attractive option,” Mr Lunt told the Phuket Post.

Minimised risk maybe all the more relevant in the scope of the present property scenario on the island and the rest of the country.

With the advent of five-star properties into the time-share arena, confidence in the industry itself has boomed. New standards have been set and dubious operations that did not deliver what they promised have increasingly found themselves becoming redundant. On the other hand, ethical and professional operations have continued to flourish and expand, and from the looks of things on our island, are poised to capture a great portion of the holiday-making segment.