The plan on developing the Bai Dai tourist area kicked off seven years ago in 2004, when 50 investors registered investment projects. However, it is surprising that the wonderful tourist area remains deserted.

The tourist area in the north of Cam Ranh peninsula, or Bai Dai, with its wonderful charm, is considered the ideal place to develop tourism. That explains why tens of investors come here to seek business opportunities. However, licensed investors have still been slow in implementing projects.

Why hasn’t the wonderful tourist area woken up?

In 2004, the Khanh Hoa provincial authorities approved the plan to develop Bai Dai tourist area which covers an area of 2300 hectares. More than 50 investors immediately registered to make investment in the area.

In order to help investors to speed up their projects, the provincial authorities requested local relevant agencies to build infrastructure items, including the 110KV transformer station, the water supply and drainage system and the waste water treatment system.

However, investors have been very slow in implementing the registered projects. In 2007, the provincial people’s committee revoked the investment licenses from the investors of 20 projects who had bad financial capability.

In an effort to force investors to take more responsibility for the projects’ implementation, the provincial authorities requested investors to advance the money for land leasing. Nearly 30 investors paid 560 billion dong in rents. However, the projects’ implementation speed has not been improved.

There are 30 valid projects in Bai Dai tourist area. Of these, only projects have got the permission for construction, and six projects have completed the procedures relating to the land leasing. Meanwhile, other projects are still following legal procedures: some investors are still projecting the construction, while others are trying to complete legal procedures.

To date, only three projects have been officially started, while others have not taken any move.

The Khanh Hoa provincial authorities have pointed out that all the tourism projects in Bai Dai area have been implemented at a snail’s speed. Some projects got the permission for construction three years ago, but they have not fulfilled any commitments made to the provincial authorities.

At the meeting between the Khanh Hoa provincial authorities and investors on May 18; investors blamed the delay in the projects implementation on the legal procedures. Some said they met difficulties in the site clearance work, while others said they still have not fulfilled necessary procedures due to the changes in the planning and investment capital.

The investor of Bai Rong project said that the investor has decided to make some changes with the project. Since the project now has a bigger investment scale, the investor needs to wait for the decision from the central agencies; because this is beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial authorities. The investor also blamed the changes in the regulations on ranking resorts for the delay.

Stronger sanctions to be applied to speed up projects’ implementation

The Khanh Hoa Construction Department has denied the reasons; stressing that the projects have been slow in implementation not because of the changes in the investment capital. The department’s representative affirmed that the reasons cited by investors were not reasonable.

Vo Tan Tai, Director of the Khanh Hoa Planning and Investment Department, also said: “There is no problem in the investment procedures. The projects’ implementation has been slow because of the problems in the investors’ capability”.

Chair of Khanh Hoa People’s Committee, has stated that if investors do not speed up the projects’ implementation, the provincial authorities will revoke the investment licenses and allocate the projects to more capable investors.

Thang said an inspection team will be set up which will supervise the implementation of the projects in Bai Dai, and that stronger sanctions will be applied to speed up the projects. He wants to see the projects become operational by 2014 at the latest, and promises to give preferences to the projects which can begin operation in 2013.

Source: SGTT

‘Free & Easy’ tour service which arranges air travel tickets and hotel bookings without tour itineraries and tour guides is gaining popularity in Vietnam due to escalating prices in domestic travel.

Local tour operators offer cheap deals in a bid to maintain domestic customers, though the popularity of the ‘Free & Easy’ service has made many tourism agencies unhappy in recent time.

The number of people registering for ‘Free & Easy’ tours increased sharply this year. By choosing ‘Free & Easy’ tours people can meet their tightened budget but tour companies have seen a reduction on package tours this year.

Pham Duc Hoa, deputy head of the Domestic Travel Department of Saigon Tourist, said that the number of people registering for package tours has dropped considerably; hence, the company has been compelled to promote ‘Free & Easy’ tours.

During the recent four-day long holiday, the number of people registering for ‘Free & Easy’ tours was about 25-30%.

Now not just tourist agencies but also airlines seem to exploit this service for domestic and foreign destination travellers.

Hoa believes that the widespread popularity of this service will surely affect businesses and sales in tourist agencies.

Package tours were always the best choice for the elderly, but ‘Free & Easy’ tours are very popular with the young who need not depend on tour schedules and can afford a reasonable rate.

Hoa thinks that single tourists or those wanting to travel in small groups are more interested in this service because they can arrange more personalized tours. Customers can call the company to ask for ‘Free & Easy’ service and book air tickets or hotel rooms and plan their vacation as per these bookings.

Source: SGGP

Collected by Vietnam hotels

Thirty to forty percent of foreign tourists to the southern province of Binh Thuan are Russian, and 95 percent of them go to Ham Tien – Mui Ne water area.

In recent years, people always use the nick name “Russian village”, instead of “resort capital” when talking about Ham Tien – Mui Ne in Phan Thiet City of Binh Thuan province, a famous tourism destination of Vietnam. If someone goes to resorts, guest houses, bars, restaurants, shops drug stores in Ham Tien and Mui Ne, he would hear Russian words among visitors.

Russian travelers – who are they?

First arrived in Ham Tien – Mui Ne three years ago, Polina from Saint-Petersburg loves the sea there and decided to work as a sailing coach, the job which allows her to stay there for nine months a year.

She said Russians like traveling to the places where there are beautiful, sunny, windy and quiet beaches. Therefore, Ham Tien – Mui Ne is the ideal destination for Russian travelers with mild weather, sunny but not too hot, with much wind and long seashores suitable to play windsurfing and parasailing – the hobbies of many Russians. Local residents are peaceful and friendly, streets are not noisy, while security is good.

According to the Binh Thuan provincial authorities, in the last three years, every day, Ham Tien – Mui Ne receives 400-500 new Russian travelers. Suggested that every Russian traveler stays there for 15 days; then, there are at least 5000-6000 Russian people every day at the sea village.

A lot of Russian travelers stay there for a long time, from one to three months. Some others stay for six months. While local newspapers complain that many foreign tourists do not return to Vietnam for the second time, many Russian travelers return to Ham Tien many times.

The owner of the Chau Linh Guest House said that he knows a Russian family with six people, who come to Vietnam in the last four consecutive years and stay there for 3-6 months each time. The family has introduced Ham Tien – Mui Ne to other Russian families, who also travel to Vietnam and stay for long periods.

“Staying for long time and spending much money” is the comment by local residents about Russian travelers. The hotel room occupancy level is always stable at 80-100 percent. A man, the owner of pearl shop, said that Russian travelers spend 2-3 times more than European travelers on shopping. Restaurants also like to serve Russian travelers because the guests always order delicious meals and they are ready to pay for expensive seafood.

Golden opportunities for local businessmen

A lot of shops and restaurants can be seen on the long 10 kilometer road of Nguyen Dinh Chieu – Huynh Thuc Khang. Especially, the words in the signboards hung over the shops and restaurants, are written in Russian. Menus at restaurants, service fee quotations and advertisement leaflets all provide information in Russian. Even vendors, who cannot speak Russian, also have introduction papers in Russian to give to travelers.

Nearly 40 resorts in the region have opened windsurfing, parasailing clubs to serve the demand of Russian travelers. To date, ½ of the Mui ne resort provide the training for the kinds of sports.

Having realized the high demand, local residents have decided to upgrade small guest houses to receive Russian travelers who stay for long time. Chau Linh guest house, for example, which has eight rooms equipped with modern facilities and mini playing field, is the choice of Russian families. Duy An guest house has a large garden, where Russian travelers can pick up fruits, and sleep on hammocks.

The owner of Thanh Oanh restaurant related that Russians began traveling to Mui Ne – Ham Thuan in 2006, and the locality has become a Russian village. Even the drug stores, which once only served local residents, now also serve Russian travelers, who like the herbs that help beautify skin, functional foods, cordials, or massage drug extracted from snake venom.

Source: SGTT