International luxury tourists to Vietnam
12/12/07 (GMT+7)
International luxury tourists to Vietnam, a series of high-grade resorts are being built in Phu Quoc, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, Hanoi and Quang Ninh. It is expected that three resorts will open in five years, including one in Hanoi.
More high-grade resorts in the north
Le Thi Thu Lan, Chairwoman of Khanh Hoa Trade and Investment Company, which is running Evason Ana Mandara, Evason Hideway and Evason Ana Mandara villas Dalat, said that her company is planning to build other 5-star resorts in famous tourism destinations like Phu Quoc, Ha Long, Hue and Hanoi. She said that the total investment capital for the projects may reach $40mil.
In Hanoi, the company plans to build a resort with the specific characteristic of the culture of the northern region. The 20 ha land plot in Van Tri, near Dong Anh district seems to be the ideal place for the high-grade resort. Besides, the company is also eyeing Ba Vi district in Ha Tay province, with hot springs and laterit, which the company plans to turn into a health spa resort.
“Hanoi lacks luxury resorts which bear the specific characteristics of the northern region’s culture. We want to build more hotels in Hanoi,” said Mrs Lan.
“We can imagine who will be the target clients and which prices should be applied. However, the biggest problem for us is the location for the projects and the project implementation,” she added.
The company is facing difficulties in making procedures with the project in Van Tri, because it is necessary to remove a stretch of railway out of the resort area.
In a visit to Vietnam, TJ Grundl-Hong, Business Director and Project Development Director of Six Senses (which, together with Khanh Hoa Trade and Investment Company, is running three resorts in Vietnam), said that Vietnam has a beautiful 3,200 km coast, but only 10% of which have been developed, while a lot of other areas have been untapped.
Vo Anh Tai, Director of Saigontourist, also said that Vietnam has too few resorts to meet the traveller’s demand. If Vietnam cannot improve the current situation, it would lose international tourists.
More tourists choose Vietnam as their destination
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, by the end of 2006, Vietnam had 26 resorts nationwide with 1,972 rooms. The resorts accounted for 0.4% of total accommodations for tourists, and 1,51% of total rooms. Most of resorts are located in coastal provinces in the central and southern regions. On average, the investment capital for every resort is VND1bil.
According to Mr Tai, Saigontourist has received 90,000 tourists so far this year, an increase of 45% over the same period of the last year. The number of US tourists has increased by 49%, French by 67%.
Several days ago, Saigontourist served a group of US businessmen, who stayed in the most luxurious hotels and resorts in Vietnam, including Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi, La Presidence or Park Hyatt in Ho Chi Minh City, or Furama resort in Da Nang.
Mr Tai said that Saigontourist’ US clients are mostly high income travelers. They always book long day tours which cost some $2,000m, and require high quality services, especially hotel and tour guides.
Mr Tai also said that the number of travelers from other countries to Vietnam has also increased considerably, which makes hotels and resorts fully occupied.
According to Do Thu, Business Director of the Khanh Hoa Investment and Trade Company, said that in 2006, the occupancy ratio of resorts reached 90-92% with 85,000 travellers. The number is expected to be lower this year since several areas are under repair. Most travelers came from Western European countries including Germany, and the UK, as well as Australia and Japan. The potential travelers will come from Russia, Spain, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.
Mrs Thu has acknowledged that not many domestic travelers stayed at the resorts. The high room rates ($500/room/night) in Ninh Van bay, $180/room/night in Dalat and Ana Mandara in Nha Trang) were also one of the reasons that kept domestic travelers away.
“Ana Mandara has been operating for the last 10 years, but we really have not paid appropriate attention to the domestic market development,” Mrs Lan said. However, she hopes that the number of domestic travelers to the resorts will increase considerably in the near future when more and more Vietnamese people become rich and want a good resort for relaxation.
(Source: VTC)
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