Ho Chi Minh City needs hotels

Ho Chi Minh needs more four-to-five- star hotels, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism head of the Hotel Department, Truong Vinh Tho.

Commenting to local media, Friday, he said a boom in tourists to the city was encouraging hotels to increase rates and adding more pressure on reservations.

He estimated that by 2012, the city would need 17,000 rooms to serve 5 million tourists by the end of the year.

HCMC is considering hotel capacity for 2015 to 2020 and is expected to release permits for companies to build more hotels.

Some properties such as Majestic Hotel have undergone a major renovation and another 500 new rooms are due to open this October.

Saigontourist director general, Tran Hung Viet, said that with the continuing growth rate of 15%  more hotels were needed in the city.

The state company is responsible for about a third of all hotels in the city. It has renovated and added a new wing at the Rex Hotel in HCMC at a cost of US$14.4 million. It also plans to build two new hotels, Germadetp and Kim Do Hotel, that should open by 2015 giving the group 2,000 rooms.

Accor will open a Novotel Saigon with 250 rooms and a Pullman Saigon Centre with 300 rooms as early as 2012.

According to the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism statistics, the city has 836 hotels including 13 five-star hotels, 13 four-star hotels, 47 three-star hotels, 167 two-star hotels and 596 one-star hotels.

Source - ttrweekly