The Pearl of the Andaman, as Thailand’s Phuket is sometimes called, is the quintessential tropical isle, where coral reefs grow beneath crystalline waters, and platinum sands give way to dramatic karst topography and verdant green vegetation.

Until the 1960s, Thailand’s largest island was shaped by its tin mining industry, but with the opening of the Sarasin Bridge in 1967, which adjoins Phuket to the mainland, everything changed.

By the late 1980s, the luxury segment had replaced the backpackers as the island’s primary tourist market, bringing overseas investors in search of their own piece of paradise.