Nam Hai Resort. Photo: Internet

Viet Nam’s tourism sector will focus on improving the quality of services, protecting the environment and developing sea and island tourism in the 2010-2020 period. Based on the development trend of tourism demand and supply, worldwide tourist accommodation establishments and forecasts on Viet Nam’s socio-economic growth, tourist establishments in Viet Nam’s coastal and island areas will continue to grow in both scale and quality as investment demands and markets remain open.

In 2000, Viet Nam had only 800 tourist accommodation establishments with 30,000 rooms. By 2010, the country had seen a 15-fold increase in the number of establishments and an eight-fold rise in the number of rooms compared with those ten years ago, mainly in central coastal and southern provinces. 2010 was also the year marking the establishment of a series of tourist accommodation establishments of 100-600 high-quality rooms in coastal areas. Silver Shores and Hoang Tra Furama Hotels in Da Nang city; Nam Hai, Victoria and Riverside Hotels in Quang Nam province; Sheraton in Khanh Hoa province; Celadon Palace in Hue; and PetroViet Nam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) Hotel in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province became spotlights in Viet Nam’s sea tourism development.

Economic development on islands has also recorded remarkable results, especially on islands with residents and infrastructure funded by the East Sea Programme. High-quality tourist accommodation establishments have appeared in Van Don, Co To, Cat Hai, Con Dao, Phu Quoc and Hon Tre islands, making them the country’s main marine economic centres. Favourable climate and beautiful natural landscapes have created the attractiveness of Viet Nam’s sea and seaside resorts, resulting in a strong development of tourist accommodation establishments that better meet the demands of domestic and foreign tourists. Since April 2008, despite the global economic and financial slowdown, the number of tourists to Viet Nam’s sea and island destinations has been increasing. In the 2009-2010, tourist accommodation establishments still maintained their capacity at 50-55 percent, even 65-80 percent in some central and southern locations.

The formation of marine economic centres with multi-profession development and important traffic routes has promoted the development of the tourism sector in general and marine tourism in particular,  Viet Nam now has 4,357 sea and island tourist accommodation establishments with 101,494 rooms, accounting for one-third of the total establishments and half of the total rooms in the country. High-quality and luxury establishments with three-star standards and upwards account for up to 20 percent of the total, providing jobs for hundreds of thousands of fulltime workers and millions of part-time labourers./.