Last updated: 16:56 - July 29, 2006
Resorts attractive to foreign investors http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/travel/290706/travel_re.htm
Foreign investors are rushing to Vietnam to build large resorts in tourist areas of provinces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Quang Nam, Da Nang, etc. Late in June, experts of the US based Platinum Dragon Empire (PDE) came to Vietnam to survey the city of Vung Tau for a tourism and entertaining project, which would be invested as much as $550 million.
According to Mr. Uong Si Long, Chief Representative of Good Choice Imports - Export & Investment in Vietnam, a subsidiary of PDE, that was the final survey before the firm concluded the study to present to the Vietnamese Government. It is sure that Vietnam would become one of the best places of tourist interest in Asia in some years and the project was to prepare for this wave of tourists, he further said.
Also in Vung Tau, the Ministry of Planning and Investment earlier had granted licence to the US's Winvest LLC's $300 million 5-star Saigon Atlantic Resort. The 2 projects both target MICE tourists from every part of the world. There thus will be international convention centres, which is capable to accommodate thousands of people.
Mr. Dinh Hai, Director of the Tourism Department of Quang Nam province said the local authorities only granted licence to projects with acreage larger than 5ha and construction space of no more than 20%. "There is not so much land in coastal area left while there are so many investors. We thus have to adopt this policy to choose the best investors", Mr. Hai emphasized. In other localities like Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Da Nang, etc, foreign investors are also eyeing the tourism places. A resort project in Da Nang of the joint venture between the US-based Silver Shores and Vietnam's Hoang Dat, which is worth $86 million, has just got licence. In this project, there will be a 5-star 600-room hotel with international conference hall and 50 high grade villages in the sea shore of Bac My An.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first half of this year, tourism and service sectors represented nearly 38% of total new registered FDI, much higher than in the same period last year.
There are more and more tourism projects or tourism-related projects applying for licence. A Japanese project worth millions of dollars is under survey in Lam Dong and Nha Trang. "It is a considerable shift in FDI in Vietnam", remarked Mr. Phan Huu Thang, Director of the Department of Foreign Investment.
However, a National Administration of Tourism official warned tourism projects must be considered thoroughly otherwise coastal areas would be in disorder. Only investors with sufficient capacity should be licensed, experts said.
(Tuoi Tre and Vneconomy)
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