~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam needs 50,000 hotel rooms in next four years

Vietnam needs 50,000 more hotel rooms in the next five years so as to cater to 31mil tourists expected in 2010, states a plan by the national tourism authority.

Under the plan presented by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), in 2010 the tourism industry will expectedly cater to 31mil tourists, comprising six million international arrivals and 25mil local tourists. The current capacity of 130,000 hotels rooms therefore will not be sufficient, and the country needs to have an additional 50,000 rooms.

Pham Tu, deputy head of VNAT, said at a recent meeting that the tourism industry was facing a severe shortage of hotel rooms despite quick development in the past few years. "We have increased the number of hotel rooms from 57,000 in 1998 to 130,000 last year, but that will not be enough," he said, adding the country was calling for more investment into this industry. VNAT envisions huge demand for investment that amounts to billions of U.S. dollars. The tourism watch-dog will launch many investment promotions to call for more local and foreign investors to build more hotels in the country.

According to the plan, VNAT will organize tourism investment conferences to introduce potential projects to investors, and conduct investment survey trips for investors. The authority will also coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to bring out special preferential investment policies. Last year, the country's tourism industry catered to around 19.5mil tourists, including 3.43mil international visitors. VNAT expects total revenue of the tourism industry in 2010 to reach US$4-5bil, or twice the 2005 figure.

The Saigon Times - June 9, 2006.