Hôi An on the fast track

Hoî An was nominated on the Unesco World Heritage list in 1999. Very well preserved, the central old town is a major tourist destination. 30km west of Hôi An is My Son, the main Cham civilization site in Viêt Nam; and the old Imperial city of Hue is 120km north. Both sites are on the World Heritage list, thus making Hôi An a major cultural hub for the country. The coast from Lang Co, north of Danang, to Tam Hai, 50km south of Hôi An, has been ranked by the vietnamese government as one of the four nationwide prioritary tourist areas. It is developing extremely fast. China Beach, the 30km-long beach stretching from Danang to Hôi An, will be an almost uninterrupted line of five-star resorts and golf courses by 2012. Over 5700 4 & 5-stars hotel rooms and more than 1500 luxury villas are being built by all the major hospitality names: Intercontinental, Hyatt Regency, Four Seasons, Sofitel, etc. The number of visiting international tourists, already up every year by 15-20%, will grow drastically with the resort developments. Tourism is switching from medium-income groups to upscale, wealthy individuals. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

From the press :

VietNamNet Bridge - “The central Quang Nam province welcomed the one millionth foreign visitor of 2007 at the ancient town of Hoi An on December 28.”

“Viet Nam targets to welcome 5 million foreign visitors in 2008, or a year-on-year increase of 19 percent.”

“The socio-economic structure of foreign tourists to Vietnam is changing. The number of luxury travelers,
who stay in nice hotels and spend lots of money, is on the rise, while the number of backpackers is decreasing. Most of foreign luxury travelers come from Western European countries. In 2007, Vietnam welcomed 170,000 French guests (annual number of French traveling to Vietnam hasn’t exceeded 100,000 in the last ten years). Vietnam also welcomed high numbers of travelers from the UK (100,000) and Germany (100,000). Russian visitors increased sharply, 50%, in 2007.”

“We have long believed that Da Nang-Hoi An will become the next great Southeast Asian resort destination” said Peter Ryder, CEO of Indochina Land, whose development portfolio includes the GHM-operated super-luxury Nam Hai Resort in Hoi An.

“Son Tra – Dien Ngoc area is now considered the golden strip of land, which a lot of investors have been
eyeing to build international-standard complexes of resorts and apartments. The total registered investment
capital of the projects has reached nearly $1bil.”