When Hong Kong businessman Paul Barton paid the deposit on a luxury villa in Phuket this month he was not concerned about the Asian tsunami.
On December 21, he and his family were holidaying in Thailand on Phi Phi Island, a stone's throw from Phuket.
'Before the tsunami struck on Boxing Day, I had been looking at buying a villa in Phuket. But after that tragedy, I didn't know what to do. Was the tsunami a one-off? Of course, I worried about safety,' he said.
Mr Barton's concerns are shared by other foreign investors. Property consultants and investment advisers in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia reflected those concerns, warning of a significant drop in investments in the short-term in the affected areas. The recent earthquakes which hit Indonesia have heightened these fears.
The tsunami's high death toll, coupled with continuing tremors in various parts of the region, have raised questions about the investment prospects for one of Thailand's most prominent resort destinations.
But while many prospective investors are wavering, Mr Barton is not. On April 1, he arrived in Phuket - his first visit since the tsunami - for a holiday and to see if its investment prospects had changed.
