New ‘Tropical Nomad Lifestyle’ program

After the Sarasin Bridge opened in 1967 connecting Phuket to the Thai mainland, the 1970s and early ’80s saw Thailand’s biggest island become a haven for adventurous backpackers, many of them Australians, who travelled for 17 hours from Bangkok on rickety buses to stay in simple family-run bungalows on the beach.

Authorities drew up a master plan to get a more congenial kind of tourism happening and Club Med Phuket opened in 1985, forging the island as an international beach destination, kicking off an onslaught of tourism development, and prompting Thai Airways to schedule daily flights to Phuket from Bangkok. A whole new scene was born.

While Club Med resorts in the Maldives, Japan and China reopened late last year after shutting due to COVID, the…