Russians enter Pattaya's real estate market in large numbers
By Jon Fernquest
Language skills are essential
in Thailand's tourism sector. English, and to
a lesser extent Japanese and Chinese, are essential
for work in restaurants or hotels.
In the last few years Russian language skills have become increasingly important, especially in the beach resort of Pattaya, 100 kilometres south of Bangkok. Russians have been an important segment of the Pattaya tourism market for over a decade, but in 2007, 889,656 Russians visited Pattaya, a huge increase of 84%. The only country that had more visitors was Thailand itself with 1.51 million Thais checking into Pattaya's hotels last year.
Over the last two years, Russians have began to purchase Pattaya real estate in large quantities. In 2007, Russians bought 22% (US$7.7 million) of the condominiums sold by real estate giant Raimon Land in Pattaya. Many of these are luxury properties next to the beach, such as the Northshore Pattaya and Northpoint condominium developments, are priced at over 120,000 baht per square metre. This year experts believe that Russians will account for 40% of real estate purchases in Pattaya. Since Russians often don't speak English, Russian speaking staff and Russian language advertisements are essential for attracting Russian business at real estate agency's and other tourism-related businesses.
Russians are attracted to Thailand by many things. First, the price of real estate is a lot lower than Russia where apartments can run as high as 600,000 baht per square metre. China, Cambodia and Vietnam are also attractive spots for Russian real estate investment money, but since Pattaya has been around for so long, it already has lots of restaurants and shopping malls. It's location near Bangkok and the new international airport also makes more convenient than other locations. Pattaya's international schools have also proven to be a popular and inexpensive way for Russian families to give their children an English language education. Avoiding the very cold Russian winter, some families even relocate to Pattaya for the winter and their children's schooling.
Pattaya began as a small fishing village and started growing as a beach resort for American soldiers on R&R during the Vietnam War. In the 1970s and 80s Pattaya became popular with Europeans who have a long month long holiday each year. Chinese, Korean, and Russian visitors began arriving in large numbers in the late 1990s and 2000s. As it grew, Pattaya became a popular location for second homes or retirement homes among the British, Germans and Scandinavians (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland).
Russians are following the same pattern in the Pattaya real estate market as Scandinavians. For both countries, sunny Pattaya is a nice place to escape from a very cold winter. Both countries prefer to develop communities of people that come from the same country and speak the same language. For Thai tourism businesses looking for new customers, it's clearly time to start seriously thinking about learning Russian.
Read a Newsweek article about Russian tourists in Europe.
For further reading see more Bangkok Post articles on real estate in Thailand.
Photo above of The Sails condominium development in Pattaya.
(Source: Bangkok Post, business section, Peter Janssen, page B10, 04-06-08)
skills - a type of work or task
requiring special training and knowledge ทักษะ ความสามารถเฉพาะทาง
essential - necessary and important
ที่จำเป็น ที่สำคัญ
the tourism sector - the part of the economy
offering services to tourists such as hotels, restaurants,
condominiums, tours, international schools, and other leisure time
activities ภาคการท่องเที่ยว
X and to a lesser extent Y - X is true, but Y is less
true สิ่งแรกนั้นสำคัญ และสิ่งที่ตามมานั้นสำคัญน้อยกว่า
a segment, a market
segment - a
smaller market with specialised needs within a larger market (See glossary) กลุ่มตลาด /
กลุ่มลูกค้า รายย่อยที่มีความต้องการเฉพาะอย่าง
a decade - 10 years ทศวรรต
luxury properties - high priced for high
quality อสังหาริมทรัพย์ระดับหรูหรา
condominium developments - the actual building with
apartments in it, as well as the land around the building, the swimming
pools, and other recreational facilities
คอนโดมีิเนียมและสิ่งอำนวยความสะดวกแวดล้อม
X accounts for Y% of Z - X is Y% of Z
สิ่งหนึ่งเป็นส่วนประกอบร้อยละ ...ของสิ่งที่ตามมา
a real estate agency - a business that offers real
estate services, such as finding condos or houses to buy or rent, (real
estate managment) renting the condo out to other people while your are
not there ตัวแทนขายอสังหาริมทรัพย์
has been around for so
long - has
existed for a long time ที่มีอยู่มานานแล้ว
international schools - schools that operate
outside of the educational system of a country, usually teaching in
English, and using either a British or American set of subjects
(curriculum), the IB
Diploma programme
is particularly popular (See Wikipedia) โรงเรียนนานาชาติ
relocate - move to another location
ย้ายไปตั้งอีกที่หนึ่ง
soldiers on R&R
(Rest and Recreation)
- a term used for the free time of military men in the US military,
when they are not on active duty and they go on vacation, this has long
been associated with prostitution, as when a ship docks off Pattaya and
all the soldiers go ashore (See Wikipedia)
ทหารอเมริกันที่อยู่ระหว่างการพัก (ทหารที่มาขึ้นบกที่พัทยา)
retirement - the period of time later in
life when you stop working and relax เกษียรอายุ
prefer to X - would like to do X more
เลือกหรือ ชอบสิ่งแรกมากกว่าอีกสิ่งหนึ่ง