Beyond Bali and Phuket, four Southeast Asian markets are producing genuine institutional-quality resort opportunity for the first time.
Southeast Asia's established resort markets — Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui — are mature, liquid and, for buyers seeking scarcity, largely spoken for. The more interesting question in 2026 is which of the region's second-tier markets have crossed the threshold at which serious capital can operate.
That threshold has less to do with beauty than with three unglamorous conditions: enforceable tenure for foreign capital, adequate air access, and a planning regime that produces decisions in a predictable timeframe.
Palawan, Philippines
El Nido and Coron have the finest island scenery in the region and, until recently, the least workable regulatory environment. Reform of the foreshore lease process and the environmental compliance regime has changed that materially.
The opportunity here is concentrated in part-built and consented sites. A generation of local developers obtained permits and began infrastructure between 2019 and 2023, and a number now need capital to complete. For an incoming buyer that is close to an ideal entry: the regulatory work done, the hard infrastructure built, the fit-out remaining.
The Trat archipelago, Thailand
Thailand's far eastern islands have stayed almost entirely outside the country's development boom. Koh Kood and Koh Mak in particular have building height and density controls that Phuket never had, and consequently retain a character that the western coasts lost decades ago.
Entry pricing here remains a fraction of comparable Thai coastal product, and the emerging eco and wellness positioning suits the constraints rather than fighting them.
Central Vietnam and northern Sumatra
Vietnam's coast between Hoi An and Quy Nhon now has the air access it lacked, and land assembly along it is achievable at a scale that is no longer possible in Thailand or Bali. The constraint is quality of execution rather than opportunity.
Northern Sumatra — specifically the Banyak and Weh island groups — is the region's genuine frontier. Tenure is workable, the marine environment is exceptional, and access is improving. It is early, and it should be underwritten as early, but it is the market our clients ask about most often that we do not yet transact in.
Written by
Priya Raman
Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Resorts International
This article is fictional editorial written for a demonstration site. It is not investment advice and describes no real market, transaction or property.
