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.”
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
‘SPECIAL CHANNEL’: Taipei’s most important tasks are to stabilize industries affected by Trump’s trade tariffs and keep negotiations with Washington open, a source said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on Jan. 20. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was also a part of the delegation. The visit came days after China concluded war games around Taiwan and amid Trump’s
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
RSS