GLOBAL CHAINS TAKE OVER VIETNAM TOURISM
UPON the news of Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) hotel investors have flocked to the country with plans for large-scale beachside resorts, hoping to turn the golden sands of the burgeoning holiday destination into a gold mine. Amid the wave of interest, industry experts caution that Vietnam will have to choose between mass tourism and a more sustainable approach that looks beyond profits and preserves the country’s cultural and ecological heritage.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of announcements for new luxury beach resorts which leading developers are hoping to build in Vietnam over coming years. Dubai-based Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) said it plans to build a US$65-million Raffles resort by 2011 on China Beach, the famed rest & recreation site of American troops during the war. The Raffles Da Nang complex would feature about 150 hotel suites and 15 private villas for sale on 154,000 square metres of beachfront land, said KHI.
Singaporean Banyan Tree group has pledged US$200 million to build an international standard tourism and services complex in central Vietnam. The 200-hectare complex in Thua Thien-Hue province's Chan May-Lang Co special economic zone (SEZ) will include six resorts and hotels with 2,400 rooms, according to a memorandum of understanding the firm signed recently with the local government.
In the far south, Vietnam’s largest island, Phu Quoc, is drawing unprecedented interest as the government is planning to turn the sleepy, coral-fringed get-away into what is called an ‘eco-aqua-tourism’ destination. Under ambitious plans, Hanoi hopes Phu Quoc, an island now best known for its fish sauce production, will draw up to three million tourists a year by 2020, rivalling Phuket and Bali.
High-end developers from the US, Switzerland and Canada have applied to invest billions of dollars in luxury tourism complexes on the island near the Cambodian border. One project by the US-based Rockingham Asset Management boasts a 2,000 room resort with a 36-hole golf course, villas for rent, entertainment and health care facilities, and even a motor racetrack, according to Thanh Nien News.
Switzerland’s Trustee Suisse that specializes in international tax and estate planning is planning a US$2.6 billion development on Phu Quoc. In addition to the resort area comprising of hotels and holiday villas, the 200-hectare complex, to be named ‘Asian Pearl’, will also include a financial centre and residential units.
Until recently, Vietnam attracted mainly ‘off-the-beaten-track’ tourists, pioneer travellers who braved visa hassles and cheap hotels when the socialist country emerged in the 1990s from post-war poverty and political isolation. Since then rapid economic development and global integration have raised Vietnam’s profile.
“From a PR point of view, the WTO entry sends a message that Vietnam is open and welcomes investment,” said Rick Mayo-Smith, founding partner of Ho Chi Minh-based Indochina Capital, a company that invests in hotels and manages US$300 million in property funds. Vietnam wants to boost tourist numbers to six million by 2010, up from 3.6 million arrivals in 2006. Tourism is now the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country after oil and gas. However, there are increasing worries that the government’s keen interest in tourism development will bring unwanted cultural and environmental impacts, as experienced in mass tourism destinations such as Thailand.
UPON the news of Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) hotel investors have flocked to the country with plans for large-scale beachside resorts, hoping to turn the golden sands of the burgeoning holiday destination into a gold mine. Amid the wave of interest, industry experts caution that Vietnam will have to choose between mass tourism and a more sustainable approach that looks beyond profits and preserves the country’s cultural and ecological heritage.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of announcements for new luxury beach resorts which leading developers are hoping to build in Vietnam over coming years. Dubai-based Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) said it plans to build a US$65-million Raffles resort by 2011 on China Beach, the famed rest & recreation site of American troops during the war. The Raffles Da Nang complex would feature about 150 hotel suites and 15 private villas for sale on 154,000 square metres of beachfront land, said KHI.
Singaporean Banyan Tree group has pledged US$200 million to build an international standard tourism and services complex in central Vietnam. The 200-hectare complex in Thua Thien-Hue province's Chan May-Lang Co special economic zone (SEZ) will include six resorts and hotels with 2,400 rooms, according to a memorandum of understanding the firm signed recently with the local government.
In the far south, Vietnam’s largest island, Phu Quoc, is drawing unprecedented interest as the government is planning to turn the sleepy, coral-fringed get-away into what is called an ‘eco-aqua-tourism’ destination. Under ambitious plans, Hanoi hopes Phu Quoc, an island now best known for its fish sauce production, will draw up to three million tourists a year by 2020, rivalling Phuket and Bali.
High-end developers from the US, Switzerland and Canada have applied to invest billions of dollars in luxury tourism complexes on the island near the Cambodian border. One project by the US-based Rockingham Asset Management boasts a 2,000 room resort with a 36-hole golf course, villas for rent, entertainment and health care facilities, and even a motor racetrack, according to Thanh Nien News.
Switzerland’s Trustee Suisse that specializes in international tax and estate planning is planning a US$2.6 billion development on Phu Quoc. In addition to the resort area comprising of hotels and holiday villas, the 200-hectare complex, to be named ‘Asian Pearl’, will also include a financial centre and residential units.
Until recently, Vietnam attracted mainly ‘off-the-beaten-track’ tourists, pioneer travellers who braved visa hassles and cheap hotels when the socialist country emerged in the 1990s from post-war poverty and political isolation. Since then rapid economic development and global integration have raised Vietnam’s profile.
“From a PR point of view, the WTO entry sends a message that Vietnam is open and welcomes investment,” said Rick Mayo-Smith, founding partner of Ho Chi Minh-based Indochina Capital, a company that invests in hotels and manages US$300 million in property funds. Vietnam wants to boost tourist numbers to six million by 2010, up from 3.6 million arrivals in 2006. Tourism is now the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country after oil and gas. However, there are increasing worries that the government’s keen interest in tourism development will bring unwanted cultural and environmental impacts, as experienced in mass tourism destinations such as Thailand.
