Athletes and officials from five continents head to Phuket’s leading integrated resort for a trio of tournaments, held at Angsana Laguna Phuket, the five-star beachfront resort that specialises in outdoor activities
Laguna Phuket, the premier destination resort spanning 1,000 acres of parkland and beachfront on Phuket’s west coast, continues to raise the bar for international sports tourism and world-class event organization as the sports tourism market returns to the island, hosting three major international beach volleyball tournaments.
The recent AVC 2021 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships ran from 23-27 November 2021, gathering athletes, coaches and officials from 10 countries in Asia Pacific – Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Iran – to compete on the soft sands outside Angsana Laguna Phuket.
Organised in partnership between Laguna Phuket, the Sports Authority of Thailand – Phuket province, Thailand Volleyball Association (TVA), Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and PPTV HD, the occasion highlighted the ability of Laguna Phuket to stage exceptional events and accommodate international visitors for safe, seamless and salubrious seafront stays.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship was then hosted from 6-11 December 2021, and the FIVB Beach Volleyball U20 World Championship followed from 14-16 December 2021. These two global events featured 28 male teams and 28 female teams from 48 countries and five continents!
Angsana Laguna Phuket was the ideal location to host these beach volleyball championships. This five-star resort specialises in creating outdoor lifestyle experiences, with a wealth of sporting facilities and nature-inspired activities. Surrounded by fresh water lagoons, the resort features a 300-metre-long free-form resort pool, fully-equipped fitness centre, water sports, mountain bike hire, island tours, diving and snorkelling excursions, award-winning golf and more.
Sports tourism has helped to put Phuket on the global map in recent years, and it will play a key role in the island’s recovery in the post-pandemic era. The recent SMASH IT webinar, co-produced by C9 Hotelworks and Delivering Asia Communications, learned how the Phuket Sandbox initiative gave the island “first-mover advantage” and allowed it to capitalise on the return of sporting events.
Phuket will also host Asian Tour golf tournaments this year, and the Laguna Phuket Marathon and Laguna Phuket Triathlon are set to return in 2022. With many of these contests being televised in multiple countries, Phuket is likely to become even more attractive to global guests seeking healthier ways to live and travel.
Phuket was the first Southeast Asian destination to safely reopen to international visitors when it launched the Phuket Sandbox programme in July 2021. Laguna Phuket was instrumental in the success of the initiative, creating a series of “Safe Haven” packages at its collection of seven SHA Plus-certified hotels and resorts, and partnering Bangkok Hospital Phuket to open a PCR test centre in its Canal Village.
“Phuket is a global hub for sports tourism. With the island’s outstanding infrastructure, year-round outdoor climate and world-class hospitality, we have proved that we can stage any size of event, from small groups of active travellers to major international competitions. Laguna Phuket is at the heart of this sector, so we are delighted to have been able to welcome the AVB and FIVB back to the island for these important tournaments. I am confident that this will help to kickstart the recovery of Phuket’s tourism industry in 2022 and beyond,” said Ravi Chandran, CEO of Laguna Resorts & Hotels.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
