PUTTING The Cove Krabi up for sale is being seen in some quarters of the Phuket property market as a chance to draw ''new money'' investors from China and Russia.

With a similar Laguna-style development in the Thai Muang region north of Phuket already going ahead, it appears that The Cove may have to wait a little longer to take its turn in the spotlight.

The potential for the 460-rai Krabi site, now being offered for $41.4 million, has been evident for years, and the aim of replicating the success of Laguna Phuket is achievable . . . for someone with great patience.

Investors with very deep pockets and the preparedness to wait 10 or 20 years for a payoff are thinner on the ground than ever these days, though. Even Laguna Phuket has opted to replicate its much-admired resort and property business model in Vietnam, not Thailand.

There's also the question of how many large-scale Laguna-style developments the ''Greater Phuket'' market can bear at any one time.

In the neighboring province of Phang Nga, directly north of Phuket, the multi-billion baht Thai Muang golf course development remains top-secret. On a superb Andaman Sea site of 1071 rai, not too far north of Phuket International Airport, the idyllic stretch of real estate is said to be undergoing a period of intense activity.

The intention is to achieve a Laguna Phuket style development, with a marina as well. Given the increasing level of competition, there will need to be something idiosyncratic about this destination resort to turn on international tourists and villa buyers.

We're talking here about an attraction of the Splash Jungle waterpark kind, the sort of extra that brings people to look and admire the surrounding West Sands Resort's condos and villas at Mai Khao on Phuket.

Having a beautiful links golf course already in place when Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li bought at Thai Muang appears now to be a huge advantage. The timing has not been great, given two years of financial uncertainty. But it hasn't been bad, either.

At The Cove in Krabi, the Colin Montgomerie-designed course would have to be constructed from scratch. Good courses can cost as much as $20 million, and plenty of infrastructure is also required.

Over the past five years, the relationship between the Andaman region's two big industries, tourism and property, has changed dramatically. While it was the property market that kept Phuket's economy ticking over after the 2004 tsunami, it's apparent now that tourism is propping up property. Newspaper real estate sections have shrunk.

There are a few sales, but not great volume. Occasional highlights - like the recent purchase of a supervilla north of Phuket by a Russian buyer for $24 million - point to a more promising future.

At the top end, both in quality and scale, Laguna Phuket remains the model. In the beginning back in the 1980s, Laguna's timing was good . . . and we assume the price of the tin mine wasteland at Bang Tao beach on Phuket must have been part of the site's appeal.

Today, while seven branded resorts remain a vital ingredient of the model's success, property is the dominating factor as Laguna Phuket continues to develop real estate around the sanctuary precinct.

The swing from tourism to property seemed to be complete two years ago, but then there was a swing back as well. Now it's a more delicate balance.

And if Laguna Phuket is feeling the pinch in property sales, as managing director Michael Ayling admitted recently, then it's certain that the rest of the Andaman real estate industry is experiencing real pain.

The sale of the Greater Phuket supervilla to the Russian buyer was viewed as a light at the end of a tunnel. A transaction at The Cove Krabi will represent proof that the good times property train is not just back on track and rolling, but roaring in this direction.