An Australian low-cost airline and a Canadian luxury resort and casino developer have launched two ambitious projects that aim to revolutionize Vietnam’s fast-growing tourism industry.
Jetstar, the budget offshoot of Australian carrier Qantas, teamed up with Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines to launch Jetstar Pacific on Friday, setting the stage for a dogfight with state-run Vietnam Airlines.
The following day Canadian developers broke ground on what they say will become Vietnam’s premier destination, a US$4.2 billion resort and casino strip near southern Ho Chi Minh City, scheduled to kick off in late 2010.
Between them, the two projects push forward a tourism industry that has grown strongly since the country emerged from post-war isolation in the 1990s to accept a trickle of backpackers.
Vietnam now aims to boost its domestic and international tourism industry — which has grown into one of the country’s five top economic sectors — to take on Southeast Asian neighbors such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Vietnam last year received 4.2 million foreign visitors, 16 percent more than in 2006. The World Travel and Tourism Council ranks it as No. 4 on its list of the world’s fastest growing travel destinations.
Visitors from China made up the largest group last year, followed by South Korea, the US, Japan and Australia.
Jetstar Pacific — at a lavish Hanoi launch gala on Friday, featuring Aussie marketing glitz, dance shows and lots of dry ice — promised to shake up Vietnam’s aviation sector.
“As Vietnam’s first low-cost, value-based airline, Jetstar Pacific will change air travel in Vietnam by making it more affordable for more people to fly,” said Jetstar Pacific chief executive officer Luong Hoai Nam.
The airline now has four Boeing 737s, with four more to come this year, and plans to add 30 Airbus A320s by 2014 with the option of drawing in additional Jetstar aircraft from the regional fleet.
Jetstar’s CEO Alan Joyce said the carrier entered Vietnam — an economy of 86 million people with a decade of growth more than 7 percent — hoping to “tap into a huge untapped market as the economy grows.”
“We felt that if you get your timing right you could be the biggest brand in Asia,” he said. “Vietnam is a very important part in that jigsaw puzzle.”
Vietnam, where many early visitors were put off by state-run hotels and the stodgy service, has now embarked on building up a string of luxury hotels in major cities and seaside areas to cash in on the high-end tourism sector.
International hotels are starting to crowd the “China Beach” area near Danang, and major resort plans are on the drawing board for the southern island of Phu Quoc, which lies off the Cambodian coast.
Toronto-based Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL) hopes to trump them all with the Ho Tram Strip of resorts and “Las Vegas-style” casinos in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, 80km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
“This is going to be the largest development of its kind in the history of Vietnam,” ACDL chairman Michael Aymong said.
“We’re building five major resorts, two full-scale casinos, a Greg Norman golf course, a celebrity tennis facility, a marina and a Dolphin Quest marine habitat, where families can swim face-to-face with dolphins,” he said.
The first phase will include two hotels with 2,300 rooms, retail areas and a convention center, and the entire 169-hectare stretch is scheduled to be finished within a decade.
Vietnam bans gambling for its citizens but allows foreign passport holders to visit casinos and use the betting facilities of major hotels.
Aymong said he could not comment on what Vietnam’s government may do but added: “I imagine that the government will examine and consider allowing Vietnamese to gamble in the next two or three years.”
For now, he said, “we’re targeting the Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese, the Australians and the Russians.”
He said the casino and resort strip would be a family-friendly destination with a strong environmental theme and complement — rather than compete with — Macau.
“This is a different type of product,” he said. “It’s a destination resort. Our real competition is going to be Singapore.”
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
FLOOD RECOVERY: “Post-Typhoon Danas reconstruction special act” is expected to be approved on Thursday, the premier said, adding the flood control in affected areas would be prioritized About 200cm of rainfall fell in parts of southern Taiwan from Monday last week to 9am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源) saw total rainfall of 2,205mm, while Pingtung County’s Sandimen Township (三地門) had 2,060.5mm and Tainan’s Nanhua District (南化) 1,833mm, according to CWA data. Meanwhile, Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County saw 1,688mm of accumulated rain and Yunlin County’s Caoling (草嶺) had 1,025mm. The Pingtung County Government said that 831 local residents have been pre-emptively evacuated from mountainous areas. A total of 576 are staying with relatives in low-lying areas, while the other 255 are in shelters. CWA forecaster
RSS