Thanks to the investment of domestic and foreign investors in tourism infrastructure, especially resort real estates, poor rural areas have been turned into enchanted destinations for tourists, making Viet Nam more attractive to investors.

Boasting 3,260km of coastline with about 400 beaches and thousands of natural landscapes and relic sites across the country, Viet Nam is an ideal place for strategic investors such as SunGroup, Vingroup, FLC and VinaCapital.

Many modern hotel chains meeting international standards have been built, mostly in popular tourist attractions in Ha Noi, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phuc Quoc, HCM City and Ha Long.

Meanwhile, many reputable international brands such as Accor, Mariott, Hyatte, IHG, Four Seasons, and Archipelago have marked their presence in Viet Nam, contributing to enhancing the governance capacity and tourism service quality of the country.

According to Dr. Phan Huu Thang, former Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, foreign direct investment (FDI) in tourism and resort real estate has been helpful for Viet Nam from the first years of opening and integration, with the development of a system of high-end resorts and hotels.

In the last 20 years, investment in tourism accommodation has boomed. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the number of accommodations in Viet Nam increased from 12,500 facilities in 2010 to 33,330 in 2022, with 667,000 rooms. As of the end of 2022, Viet Nam had 215 five-star hotels with 72,000 rooms, and 334 four-star hotels with 45,000 rooms.

According to statistics from the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA), the country is home to 239 tourism real estate projects with a total value of VND681.8 trillion, or about US$30 billion.

Su Ngoc Khuong, Senior Director of Savills Viet Nam, said that despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism real estate in Viet Nam is still an attractive segment for investors, where they can find opportunities to join the Vietnamese market.

In reality, amid the difficult situation in the real estate sector, foreign investors, especially those from the Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong (China), have still shown great attention to resort real estate, especially in the south central coastal region. Many big names such as Mandarin Oriental, JW Marriott, M Gallery, Le Meridien, Wink Hotels and The Ascott Limited are likely to launch their projects in the region.

According to CBRE, Da Nang drew 10 projects as of the end of 2022. Binh Thuan expects more than 5,000 vacation villas by 2025, while Phu Yen will provide more than 72 villas and hotel rooms to the market by 2026. Experts held that in 2024, the accommodation occupation rate will recover to the pre-pandemic level of 63 per cent.

According to Ha Van Sieu, Vice Director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), this year, the tourism sector aims to serve about eight million foreign visitors and 102 million domestic tourists, earning about VND650 trillion ($27.71 billion).

The sector plans to announce the Viet Nam tourism planning for the 2021-30 period with a vision to 2025 right after it is approved. It has implemented a marketing strategy until 2030, along with a project to strengthen the application of new technologies in developing smart tourism and turning tourism into a spearhead economic sector of the country. A community-based tourism project is also underway, said Sieu. — VNS