The race for recreational tourism sites heats up
Developing tourism sites with entertainment services is a profitable business, but investors are poring large amounts of money into projects but seeing only 'small change’.
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Analysts said that real estate developers tend to pour money into two niche markets – resort real estate and recreational tourism sites. The increasingly high number of travelers promises great potential of the sites.
A series of recreational tourism sites have arisen in recent years with investment capital of trillions of dong, such as Trang An Ecotourism Complex, Ninh Binh, Ho Nui Coc and Thai Nguyen (VND15 trillion in investment capital), Cai Trap Island Spiritual & Cultural Tourism in Hai Phong City (VND10 trillion) and Tam Chuc Tourism Site in Ha Nam (VND11 trillion).
Realizing the great potential of the business fields, Hoa Sen Group, a steel manufacturer, has also jumped on the bandwagon developing the Da Huoai Spiritual & Ecological Tourism Site, capitalized at VND179 billion in Yen Bai province.
The site covers an area of 1,000 hectares, including 400 hectares of water surface.
Sun Group, a big real estate developer, has built Ben En complex in Thanh Hoa with the huge capital of nearly VND10 trillion.
The Song Cau Company develops a VND290 billion ecotourism project on Nhim Island on the Dau Tieng Water Reservoir.
Le Dung Lam, director of Long Phu Tourism Company, said that travelers nowadays like entertainment products useful to people’s health which allow them to relax and be with family members.
However, he said the investors in the field need to have large long-term capital, because they will see very modest profits in the first years of operation.
Therefore, the competition in the ‘playing field’ is compared with a marathon race, in which the winners will be those who are more enduring.
The Dao Hoa Lan (Orchid Island) Eco-tourism site has been making profit in the last four years after it met difficulties in the first 7-8 years of operation.
The investor of the Dao Khi (Monkey’s Island) initially was disappointed as the project incurred losses in the first years of operation. However, things got better in the last few years with the number of visitors increasing by 20% a year.
Similarly, after three years of struggling to survive, Bamboo has become prosperous. The investor revealed that some businesses want to buy Bamboo, but the investor does not intend to sell the ecotourism site.
A representative of Thac Giang Dien Tourism Site confirmed that the tourism site has begun making profits after five years of operation.
Meanwhile, the investor of Madagui Ecotourism Site said the site still cannot bring profits, but it still is optimistic about the project.
