Investment in tourism is imbalanced, says researcher

Foreign investment into Vietnam’s tourism industry has largely been focused on the development of accommodations like hotels and resorts, while the area of entertainment services and supporting services are not properly attended to, said a researcher on Wednesday.
Pham Trung Luong, deputy director of the Vietnam Institute for Tourism Development Research, told the Daily on the sidelines of a tourism investment conference that Vietnam’s hospitality sector is facing an imbalance. Foreign investors are still registering for more hotels and tourism real estate projects while the industry also needs entertainment services to cater to travelers.
“Up to 2008, over 80% of the total 307 FDI projects in the tourism industry were hotel projects,” he said in the Tourism Investment Conference on Wednesday in HCMC’s New World hotel. The conference attracted around 100 participants who are investors and tourism officials from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to talk about tourism investment.
According to Luong, the situation does not mean that foreign investors are not interested in such kinds of projects. One of the main reason is that “we are not open enough in the investment flow into tourism and entertainment services,” Luong said.
He mentioned the conditional service of casino as an example. Many big investors have pledged to invest billions of dollars in complexes but such projects have stammered because the Government still did not have a clear policy about the service.
“We will have more investment if we have a clear policy in attracting investment into the sector. There are big projects so we can reach a balance of the investment between hotels, resorts, and entertainment services,” Luong said.
Some foreign participants in the event said they are still interested in accommodation projects.
Alexander Wallace, vice president of acquisition of the Destination Properties in Thailand, told the Daily the company did not have any project in Vietnam. The investor is joining the two-day conference to collect information regarding tourism investment in Vietnam.
“We are looking for good locations to develop four- to five-star hotels in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC or resorts in Danang and Phu Quoc Island,” he said.
Kai Marcus Schroter, general director of the Hospitality Tourism Management Consultancy Vietnam, said Vietnam is still attractive for investors who want to build hotels and resorts.
“We are looking for signing new contracts in Phu Quoc and Vung Tau. I think that many foreign investors are interested in locations in Hanoi, HCMC, Halong, Hoi An, Hue, Danang and Phu Quoc,” he said.
The tourism investment conference is one of activities of the International Travel Expo in HCMC, which will take place today until Saturday. The event will include a tourism exhibition, meetings between buyers and sellers, and familiarization trips among others.
La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of HCMC’s department of Culture, Sport and Tourism as the organizer, told the Daily on Wednesday that finally the event has attracted more than 110 international buyers as well as more than 300 exhibitors.
The National Administration of Tourism, the city’s tourism department, and local tourism entrepreneurs on Wednesday organized a meeting to promote Vietnam as a destination to foreign buyers and media.