Dau tu has quoted the report of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) as saying that 1.8 million foreign travelers came to Vietnam in the first 3 months of the year, a decrease of 6.2 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year.

Meanwhile, according to CBRE, a real estate service provider, 425,000 foreign tourists came to Hanoi during that time, up by 18.9 percent over the same period of the last year.

The increase in the number of tourists to the capital city has brought benefits to local hotels in the context of the economic recession and less spending on tourism. The hotel occupancy rate has increased slightly by 0.65 percentage points to 58 percent.

However, the occupancy rates varied for different market segments. While 5-star hotel room occupancy rate increased by 1.29 percentage points to 61 percent, the ratio of 4-star hotels decreased by 1 percentage points to 52 percent.

The 5-star occupancy rate improvement has been attributed to the 4.8 percent room rate decrease, now hovering around $103 per night. Meanwhile, the hotel room rates of 4-star and 3-star hotels decreased by 4.16 percent and 0.74 percent, respectively to $62.3 and $34.47. This has led to the increase of the RevPar (revenue per available room) of 3-star hotels and the decrease of the index for 4-5 star hotels.

According to Savills, also a real estate consultancy firm, Hanoi had 7,750 hotel rooms from 53 hotels in the first quarter of 2013. The three hotels Golden Silk Boutique, Lan Vien and Tan Da Spa & Resort have just been recognized as 3-star hotels. The average revenue per room available was VND930,000 in the first quarter, down by 5 percent in comparison with the quarter before, but up by 2 percent if compared with the same period of the last year.

The yearly occupancy rate remains unchanged at 57 percent, while the hotel room rate was VND1.64 million per room per night on average, a slight increase of 0.2 percent over the quarter before and 2.4 percent over the same period of the last year.

In general, the Hanoi’s hotel market remains stable, while there have been signs showing the increase in the hotel room supply and the upgrading in the quality to better satisfy the market demand. 

Commenting about the Hanoi’s hotel market in the near future, Do Thu Hang from Savills said 5-star hotels would dominate the market by 2015.

According to Hang, 8 hotel projects would provide 1,400 more hotel rooms to the market in 2013. Many hotels would be managed by international firms like Intercontinental, Marriott, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Candeo.

It is expected that by 2015, the Hanoi market would have 1,765 rooms from the 10 out of the 13 new projects, of which 5-star hotel rooms would account for 54 percent.

Richard Leech from CBRE believes that the demand in Hanoi does not change heavily like other markets thanks to the regularly organized conferences, exhibitions and other entertainment activities.

According to the International Air Transport Association, Vietnam would become the third fastest growing cargo and passenger transport market in the world. This has given more reason to investors to pour money into high end hotels.

Vietnamnet