Delta tourism to go through the roof

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A Saigontourist representative just unveiled the holding company would kick-off the construction of its four-star Saigon-Vinh Long hotel in Vinh Long city in the Mekong Delta at a cost of VND157 billion ($7.58 million) in the first quarter of 2012.

The prospective hotel, consisting of nine floors, 84 rooms covering 2,300 square metres, is slated to come online in the third quarter of 2013.

Later, the firm will inject $85.08 million into building five-star Saigon-Phu Quoc eco resort in Kien Giang province’s Phu Quoc island district. Construction of the 205.6 hectare resort with 900 hotel rooms and one 27-hold golf course will take place in the second quarter of 2012 and be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

“The Mekong Delta is a huge market with lucrative green tours and home-stay tours on offer. We will further pump capital into upgrading the region’s tourist residences to better serve visitors,” said the firm’s representative.

Saigontourist is set to put around VND1 trillion ($48.3 million) into inland tourism development annually from now up to 2015.

Vingroup recently pumped a great sum into launching Vinpearl Luxury and Vinpearl Resort high-class property lines in central Danang and coastal Nha Trang cities, according to the group’s deputy chairman Le Khac Hiep.

“In the coming period, we will scale up investment to expand our business in diverse locations in Hoi An, Phu Quoc and Da Lat,” said Hiep, adding that more investment would be poured into Vinpearland to diversify entertainment.

Reality shows that a big chunk of money channeled into tourism was mostly private equity capital.

Ministry of Planning and Investment figures show that private equity capital injected into Mekong Delta’s tourism mounted to VND2.197 trillion ($106 million) from 2006-2010, quadruple the state budget total investment into the region.

Lately, two travel firms inked agreements to promote the delta entertainment services. A recreational centre in Bac Lieu city’s Tran Huynh Park with VND90 billion ($4.3 million) in total investment will soon be developed by Trade and Service Global Company Limited and Cong Tu Bac Lieu resort project in Bac Lieu city’s ward 3 developed by Saigontourist in cooperation with Rong Viet Bac Lieu Ecological Joint Stock Company. Construction of the latter, worth an estimated VND250-300 billion ($12.1-$14.5 million), will also get off the ground within 2011.

According to industry experts, infrastructure, human resources, tour diversification and promotion bottlenecks must be addressed for delta tourism to take off.