has been upgraded into a three-star spa offering many services such awild, beautiful beach of Ho Coc, the former Binh Chau Resorts mud soaking, mineral water baths, hot water soaking for feet therapy, and camping. The new Binh Chau Resort is safe and attractive because it is in the middle of a rare primitive forest in southern Vietnam.
Another new resort is Siva Tourist Village in Mui Ne, Phan Thiet Municipality, Binh Thuan Province. The Binh Thuan Food Co. has spent VND10 billion constructing the hotel-restaurant complex after the ancient Champa architecture. Apart from sea bathing, guests can entertain themselves by fishing, flying kites and scuba diving.
Some southern localities have focused on building new recreational areas or upgrading existing ones. Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has upgraded National Highway 55 linking local resorts from Vung Tau to Long Hai and Binh Chau to attract more visitors to these sites. To raise the attraction of the Ba Den Mountain Resort, Tay Ninh Province has spent VND22 billion installing a cable railway system up and down the Ba Den Mountain, a thrilling ride for those who are tired of cable cars. Daklak Province has plans to invest VND124 billion in upgrading 16 tourist facilities at the Lak Lake Resort, Trinh Nu (Virgin) Waterfalls and Dray Sap Waterfall.
These resorts have attracted a large number of local and foreign investors. Ben Thanh Tourist is engaged in a cooperation project to build the Non Nuoc Resort in Danang and a hotel at Lao Bao border gate in Quang Tri Province. A South Korean investor has just been licensed to build a high-class resort in Phan Thiet Municipality with an investment capital of over US$1 million. The Victoria Hotel Group (France) has invested an additional US$12.8 million in perfecting their hotels in Sapa, Can Tho, Chau Doc, Hoi An and Phan Thiet. The four-star Pha Le Resort is under construction in the seaside city of Nha Trang with an investment capital of VND73 billion by the Khanh Hoa Trading and Tourism Co.
As estimated by the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism, the total investment capital in the hospitality industry realized by local and foreign investors amounted to over US$2 billion over the past few years (foreign investment projects licensed in the industry have a combined registered capital of US$4 billion).
Ecological and cultural resorts introduced. Local resorts fared well in 2001 and 2002 with an increase in the number of local and foreign tourists. Mui Ne in Phan Thiet houses 60 resorts while Ha Long in Quang Ninh (with the famous Ha Long Bay) has more than 30 hotels. Room occupancy rate in these hotels and resorts is often higher than 50%, even 100% during peak seasons. High-class resorts such as Furama (Danang), Victoria-Hoi An (Hoi An), Saigon-Mui Ne (Phan Thiet), Saigon-Phu Quoc (Phu Quoc Island) and Saigon-Ha Long (Quang Ninh) posted room occupancy rate of 60%-80%.
It is noteworthy that resort operators have competed with one another healthily through quality services instead of cutting prices (i.e. reducing services). They have operated their hotels and resorts in accordance with culture and ecology. Typical of the cultural tourism business is XQ Embroidery-Tourism Village in Dalat. Visitors are attracted by the unique ambiance of the traditional craft village as well as the sophistication of embroidered works on display there. Some recreational areas are combined to cultures of ethnic minorities like the Bana Village in Kontum Province, or to mausoleums and pagodas like the Sam Mountain Resort. Recently, the Furama Resort has coordinated with the tourism sector in Danang and a hotel chain in central Vietnam to form the Heritage Road connecting the ancient city of Hue, ancient town of Hoi An and My Son relics, the three world cultural heritage sites of Vietnam (see details in The Saigon Times Weekly, No. 23-'02 (556), dated June 1, 2002). Eco-tourism is the strong point of seaside resorts. The Saigon-Phu Quoc Resort offers fishing service and squid catching at night. Ben Tre Province has turned the Vam Ho bird sanctuary into an attractive resort. Furama Resort has opened scuba diving and underwater sports while the Ba Na Resort has opened tours to discover orchid caves and the primitive forest.
Together with the optimistic growth of the industry, the establishment of unique and diverse tourist sites has contributed to improving the image of Vietnam.