La Veranda is a luxury four- star hotels in Phu Quoc Island where there is no five-star hotel yet .— VNS photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The southern island of Phu Quoc, with its under-developed hospitality industry, holds immense potential for investors, according to a recent report from CBRE Viet Nam.

The report says Phu Quoc with its warm, turquoise waters, secluded, deep sandy beaches and its lush, mountainous interior has attracted more than 622,000 tourists last year.

There is also an average increase of 24 per cent in the number of tourists in the last seven years. However, the island lacks standard five star hotels and resorts.

In this case, the report envisages that the lack of big brand names also creates a good opportunity for the presence of new investors on the island.

Currently, most of the accommodation revolves around local guesthouses and small uncertified hotels. Out of 100 establishments offering approximately 2,900 rooms in Phu Quoc, CBRE calculated only 15 with 952 rooms as top-tier hotels.

This includes four-star luxury hotels (206 rooms), six standard four-star hotels (580 rooms) and five luxury three-star hotels (166 rooms). There is no five-star hotel in Phu Quoc as yet.

However, the report also states that the characteristics of the hotel market in the island will fundamentally change when the Vinpearl Phu Quoc Resort & Spa goes online by the end of 2014, as the largest five-star hotel with over 500 rooms and the largest swimming pool measuring 800 sq.m.

Another five-star hotel, the 120 key Salinda Premium Resort & Spa, developed by Salinda Group, is now being readied, and will be also put into operation very soon this year.

Apart from these two resorts, a range of new projects have also kicked off in recent months including the five-star Crowne Plaza Phu Quoc Hotel by BIM Group with 400 luxury rooms, the four-star Novotel Phu Quoc Resort, a part of the 80 hectare Sonasea Villas & Resort by CEO Group, with 406 luxury rooms and 40 bungalows and the 24-hectare Sunset Sanato Premium Complex by Chin Chin Nui Company.

All of these projects are located on Bai Truong beach and are scheduled to be completed in 2015-2016.

The report also points out that hotels in the island are among the best performers in Viet Nam over other tourism destinations of Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Da Nang, Ha Noi, Vung Tau and HCM City.

Revenue per available room of the luxury four-star segment there was recorded at US$124 per room per night in 2013 while equivalent rates were only $115.80 on the "capital of resorts" Phan Thiet, $123.20 in HCM City and $102.27 in Ha Noi for a similar segment.

According to the report, since the American group, Rockingham first invested $1 billion in a tourism project on Phu Quoc Island in 2006, there have been nearly 200 other big projects pouring their billions into the island up to now.

Phu Quoc Island, the country's largest island, spans 563 sq. km and is to the west of Viet Nam. It has a population of 103,000. The island is 120 km apart from Rach Gia City on the mainland and approximately 4.5 kms from the coastal border between Cambodia and Viet Nam. Flights between it and HCM City take one hour.

Phu Quoc, with a 150km coast line that is safe from the wrath of the sea, is also a famous hub of the local pepper and fish sauce.— VNS