Southern Vietnam metropolis Ho Chi Minh City has seen some 130 new hotels opened just in the first half of 2012, mostly in the one- and two-star segment.
HO CHI MINH CITY- Around 130 new hotels opened in HCM City in the first half of 2012, mostly of the one and two-star classification, with an average of 10 rooms in the former and 20 in the latter, according to the City’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
In 2011, Ho Chi Minh City had 860 hotels. In just a year time, Vietnam’s economic centre has seen total accommodation growing to 1,000 hotels offering over 28,900 rooms. In terms of upscale accommodation options, the city has approximately 26 four- and five-star hotels in operation. They offer respectively some 4,300 five-star and 1,400 four-star rooms. The occupancy rate at three- to five-star hotels in the first six months was 67%, a drop of three percentage points from the same period last year, and the average room rent was VND 1.95 million (US$85) per night. In another development, HCMC city authorities announced that 35 new tour operators and travel agencies providing international services opened in the first six months of the year.
Tourism in Ho Chi Minh City brought last year a total of 3.5 million visitors. From this number, 2.65 million travelled by air, up by 6% over 2010 with largest foreign incoming markets being the United States, Japan and China. Tourism generates around US$ 2.75 billion revenue and represents some 11% of the city’s GDP. Despite expecting 3.8 million visitors for 2012, budget for tourism promotion from the city administration remained unchanged compared to 2011, topping approximately US$ 530,000.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
