Sleepy paradise opens its eyes

When Daniel Arnaud first set foot in the sleepy seaside town of Phan Thiet over a decade ago, little did he know he was laying down the foundations to develop the area into a coastal resort.
After deciding to leave his position with the chain of Hilton Hotels and venture out on his own, French-born Arnaud essentially kick started a resort construction boom in the coastal town.
Upon arriving in Phan Thiet, the small town was still a sleepy untouched paradise in comparison to more popular destinations like Phuket and Bali.
While these famous counterparts were internationally known and attract a large volume of visitors each year, Phan Thiet was still struggling to gain recognition as a beachside holiday destination.
Arnaud himself is even guilty of failing to recognise the natural beauty of Phan Thiet, actually passing the town on his way to Nha Trang and neglecting to even notice the place.
While searching the area a few months later for a location, Arnaud eventually chanced upon Mui Ne Bay and fell in love with the place instantly.
“It was a real holiday postcard,” exclaimed Arnaud.
Mui Ne reminded Arnaud of the western coast of Kho Samui in Thailand, offering vast stretches of white sand, clear blue skies and a plentiful supply of coconut trees.
Situated just a short distance from Ho Chi Minh City and its international airport, the area boasts an ideal location that would make it easy to tap into the Asian resort market.
“I was looking for that type of place and I just happened to find it,” said Arnaud.
Arnaud eventually opened CocoBeach in 1995 during a critical time in the nation’s economic development and also become the first resort in Phan Thiet.
A the time Vietnam was poised to develop into Asia’s latest tiger economy after the lifting of the US embargo, resulting in many foreign investors crowding for the chance to grab a slice of the pie.
Just like most projects trying to find their feet, CocoBeach had its own share of ups and downs during the initial development phase.
Although Arnaud was confident about the eventual success of the development, he did plan for a couple of tough years during the initial stages, especially since the area was known as the fish sauce making capital.
Another problem faced by Arnaud was the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the development of tourism, especially since the road from Phan Thiet to Mui Ne was merely a narrow stretch of sandy bitumen, and there was no electricity supply or telephone lines
“We actually thought it would take between three to five years before we could actually welcome foreign tourists,” he said.
However, to Arnaud’s surprise, three months after CocoBeach was opened, tourists flocked to Phan Thiet to see a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse.
Ever since this surprising turn of events, the once hidden oasis that was Phan Thiet soon flourished into a highly desired tourist destination.
Some additional small hiccups were encountered on the way, with the Asian economic crisis of 1997 slowing down development, however, Phan Thiet’s tourism once again took off a year later.
Once considered an untouched backwater, Binh Thuan is emerging as a resort hub with new developments opening every month, not only in Phan Thiet, but also in other regions.
“Competition is getting tougher and tougher due to the opening of new resorts,” said Tran Ngoc, general manager of Saigon Mui Ne, a 75-room resort next to CocoBeach.
Saigon Mui Ne opened six years ago in Binh Thuan as the area’s fifth resort, and developers are still coming, with numerous large-scale resorts and tourism projects planned for the future.
“We have already completed 78 tourism projects, and most of them are resorts,” said Nguyen Van Thu, vice chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee, which recently held the Green Convergence Festival to promote local tourism.
Thu said the province has lured 337 projects with registered capital of $600 million so far, yet this just seems to be the start of something bigger as the real growth is still to come.
While Binh Thuan has yet to transcend the status of its counterparts, resorts are continuously springing up alongside the fishing villages, sand dunes and unspoiled beaches, helping the province achieve its target of building 200 to 250 resorts by 2010, more than double the current number.
Despite Nha Trang, Hoi An, Danang and Phu Quoc still holding the potential to house resorts in ideal year-round conditions, more new projects are finding their way to Phan Thiet.
Once such example is a new French-Vietnamese joint venture planning to open the Princess Annam Resort with 58 luxury villas by mid this year, joining the recently completed Pandanus, Rock Garden Spa and Sea Horse.
American company South Fork Development is also hoping to promote Phan Thiet as Vietnam’s Hawaii, planning to build a Disneyland-styled complex with five luxury resorts and two golf courses on 600 hectares at an estimated $1 billion.
South Fork management said Phan Thiet is considered the prime area for resort development in Vietnam, and is rapidly becoming a vital tourist and commercial destination for people around the world.
Vietnam last year attracted 3.4 million foreign visitors, and the number is expected to double within the next five years, and resort developers are hoping numbers will also increase in Phan Thiet.
Foreign tourist figures in Binh Thuan have steadily grown to reach 150,000 in 2005, and rooms have grown in line with demand.
The province now has 3,000 hotel rooms and this figure will grow significantly in the near future since a handful of new resorts are under construction.
Tourism in Binh Thuan posted an annual growth of 30 per cent, earning revenue of $30 million last year. However, Vietnamese tourists remain the main feeder market for the expanding number of resorts in the province.
As living standards improved on the back of a national economy growing at an average 7.5 per cent over the last five years, hordes of tourists are willing to drive for five hours from Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Thuan for a weekend holiday.
The province attracted over 1.6 million Vietnamese tourists last year, becoming the hottest tourist destination in central Vietnam and outperforming rivals Quang Nam province, Hoi An and My Son.
“I had no idea that the overall development of roads, telephone lines, hotels, and resorts would happen so fast, and that Phan Thiet-Mui Ne would so smoothly gain international recognition as a famed tourist destination,” said Arnaud.
Nothing would have been possible if not for the willingness of provincial authorities to give Phan Thiet a chance to develop its tourism potential.
Vice chairman Thu said the province would focus on the construction of infrastructure for Phan Thiet town, investing in a transport system, electricity and a water supply as well as protecting the environment.
Thu said Binh Thuan was determined to improve its foreign arrival numbers as international visitors only account for 10 per cent of total tourist volume in the province.
“We plan to enhance the quality of services, accommodation, tour programs and entertainment facilities in order to increase the number of foreign arrivals,” said Thu.
Arnaud agreed with Thu’s sentiments, adding that the main goal for CocoBeach resort within the next two to three years was to upgrade and refurbish all rooms and position itself as the leading international boutique in the region.
The only other plans in the pipeline are Arnaud’s intentions to convince the local partner Binh Thuan Tourist Company to sell their half of the investment, making CocoBeach a 100 per cent foreign owned venture.
Arnaud also expressed his desire to stay in Binh Thuan to experience and enjoy the forthcoming tourism boom, and watch the once sleepy oasis continue its growth as a holiday destination.

No. 743/January 9-15, 2006