Da Nang wants $2 bln golf course, horse racing track

The golf and hospitality complex will be located 17 kilometers southwest of Da Nang International Airport and cost $1.72 billion, the municipal People’s Committee has proposed to the city legislature.

The complex, covering 497 hectares, would comprise a 36-hole golf course, a 2,000-room hotel and resort, an ecotourism park and other entertainment facilities.

Construction is set to start this year and be completed by 2028.

The $200-million horse racing project, to be located 27 kilometers to the south of the airport, covers 136 hectares, comprising a racetrack and a stud farm. It will allow betting.

The two projects in Hoa Vang District are aimed at boosting tourism in one of the most popular travel destinations in central Vietnam.

Da Nang welcomed 5 million visitors in the first 10 months, up 24 percent year-on-year, 60 percent of them foreigners, according to its tourism department.

Vietnam approved a bill legalizing sports betting last year and the government promulgated a decree regulating the sports-betting business earlier this year, throwing open opportunities for foreign investors to build racecourses in the country.

Hanoi last month granted an investment license for a $500-million racetrack. Foreign firms are also said to be pursuing plans to build horse racecourses in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc, as well as the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City.