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in focus
The Nam Hai and Hyatt Regency resorts
and Montgomerie Links golf course.
However, a troubling issue has aris-
en - how to fill the increasing number
of rooms in the area. Of the 6.85 mil-
lion international visitors to Vietnam
last year, only a meager 630,000 went
to Danang, the main tourist hub in the
area. Blanco says both the private and
public sectors require more visitors to
make their investment viable. He be-
lieves this increase in arrivals depends
on effective marketing to increase
awareness of the destination.
It has long been agreed that cen-
tral Vietnam is rich in tourism poten-
tial, but the lack of shared market-
ing activities between hoteliers and
authorities in the region, as well as
a shortfall of international flights has
hindered its development.
Hoteliers recognised this weakness
in the early 2000s when they initiated
The World Heritage Road marketing
campaign, which aimed to promote
tourism in the area of three World Her-
itage Sites: Hue, Hoi An and My Son.
However, at that time, there were not
many hotels in the area; Furama Resort
was the only business actively promot-
ing the initiative and poor efforts by
tourism authorities and private finance
resulted in limited success.
Recently, golf courses in the area,
including Danang Golf Club, Montgom-
erie Links and Laguna Lang Co Golf Club,
joined forces to promote the area as Golf
Coast Vietnam, but this initiative is small
and has not been able to pull together all
the other players in the region.
“The Central Coast Vietnam, which
we define and market as the region from
Hue to Hoi An, is definitely in critical
need of a private sector effort to increase
awareness for this rich and unique desti-
nation,” Blanco told Timeout.
Prominent hoteliers, golf course
and resort owners and travel operators
have decided to establish the Central
Coast Vietnam Destination Marketing
Organization (CCVDMO) to promote
this scenically beautiful and culturally
significant region as a competitor to
established market leaders such as Bali,
Phuket and Koh Samui.
Founding partners in the CCVDMO
include The Nam Hai, Crowne Plaza Da-
nang, Hyatt Regency Danang, Fusion
Maia Danang, Furama Resort Danang,
Grand Mercure Danang, The Ocean Vil-
las, Angsana Lang Co and La Residence
Hue, plus Montgomerie Links and Dan-
ang Golf Club.
The promotion of the Central Coast
of Vietnam will be coordinated through
the new website
www.centralcoastvi-
etnam.com
.
“Considering this wide array of as-
sets, we feel it is time to join forces with
a united marketing initiative to build an
appealing brand that will better repre-
sent our destination and grow visitor
numbers.
“We are branding Central Coast Vi-
etnam as the region’s leading coastal
destination and a new destination for
discerning lifestyle and leisure travel-
lers to discover. We are fortunate to
have a uniquely marketable product,”
said Blanco.
Nguyen Duc Quynh, executive as-
sistant manager of Furama Resort Da-
nang, welcomed the initiative, stating:
“The establishment of this organisa-
tion will create a stronger and more
united marketing effort to promote
central Vietnam to internatioanl tour-
ists, especially those who have not
come to Vietnam.”
“This organisation will represent
hotels and resorts in the area to negoti-
ate and promote direct flights to central
Vietnam, hold press trips as well as
coordinate hotels and resorts to build
the competitiveness of the destination,”
said Quynh.
Blanco says tourism is under-fund-
ed publicly, so funding for promotion
needs to come from the private sector,
which is why they created the CCVDMO
which utilises 100 per cent of the fees
it collects from its members to market
the destination.
Contributions from hotels and re-
sorts in the area are being ear marked
for three key activities: the organisa-
tion’s attendance at trade shows; me-
dia events in target outbound cities
such as Hong Kong, Singapore and
Seoul; and finally for lobbying and as-
sisting airlines to consider direct flights
to Danang.
The CCVDMO has been working on
enticing international flights since last
year and as a result the direct flight
from Hong Kong on Dragonair will be-
come a reality on March 28.
With Hong Kong a key target mar-
ket, just less than an hour and a half’s
flight away, the introduction of direct
Dragonair flights is seen as a key ele-
ment of the marketing drive.
Dragonair’s new thrice weeky ser-
vice complements existing services to
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
“Danang’s mix of natural, historical
and cultural attractions makes it an ide-
al leisure destination,” said Dragonair
CEO Patrick Yeung. “Our new service
will facilitate more tourist traffic be-
tween Hong Kong and Central Vietnam
and further boost Hong Kong’s role as a
major international aviation hub.”
Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa
general manager, Zulki Othman stated:
“We are delighted that Dragonair will
start operating the Hong Kong to Dan-
ang direct route. Danang is a charming
city. It has stunning beaches, beautiful
mountains, world class golf courses and
natural charms waiting to be explored.
With the commencement of this direct
flight, Hyatt Regency Danang is looking
forward to welcoming additional Hong
Kong residents to our resort”
Flight numbers to the region are
also being boosted by carriers from Sin-
gapore and South Korea.
P
&I Resort Limited, a subsidiary
of Japan’s P&I Enterprises Ltd,
has just launched the Pulchra
Resort in Danang, marking the
first foray of a Japanese corporation in
the coastal city.
The project covers an area of 10
hectares and has received a total capi-
tal investment of $12 million.
Shoji Nishikawa, chairman of P&I
Enterprises, said the resort is designed
with Champa architecture and will be
attractive to customers. The first phase
of the project includes 31 villas, each
with a swimming pool. There are 18
garden villas, 11 lake-side villas and
two oceanview villas.
“The Pulchra brand is famous
in Japan because of its high qual-
ity services and unique architecture
that is suitable to Asia’s culture. We
designed Pulchra Danang with the
Champa architecture style, from ex-
ternal designs to internal decoration,
in order to create a unique style for
this resort,” said Nishikawa.
He also said Pulchra is ultimately
targeting customers from Japan, but
in the first phase the resort devel-
oper will launch many programmes
to meet the demands of domestic
tourists as well as those from Europe
and East Asia.
“In the future, I hope there will be
a direct flight from Japan to Danang
and Japanese tourists will easily be
able to visit the city, which is very close
to many world heritage sites,” said
Nishikawa.
Apart from Pulchra Danang, P&I
Enterprises owns Pulchra Philippines.
The developer plans to develop the
second phase of Pulchra Danang by
building more luxury villas, plus Japa-
nese restaurants and other facilities.
We are
branding
Central
Coast Vietnam
as the region’s
leading coastal
destination and a new
destination for discerning
lifestyle and leisure
travellers to discover
- John Blanco
Vietnam’s first Japan-backed
resort launched in Danang
Hyatt Regency Danang Resort
Montgomerie Links golf course