Phu Quoc eyes 2.5 million visitors this year
The resort island of Phu Quoc in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang expects to welcome about 2.5 million tourist arrivals in 2018, up 25 percent from last year.
Since 2015, the island has received more than 4.7 million tourist arrivals, 20.5 percent of which were foreigners. Earnings from tourism grew 42.5 percent annually in average.
According to Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Quoc island district Pham Van Nghiep, Phu Quoc International Airport now has eight airlines operating 12 direct international flights to China, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Thailand and four domestic routes to Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Hai Phong.
The lodging services in the island have rapidly expanded to serve the increasing demand of visitors. The island now has more than 600 hotels and other accommodations, offering about 12,000 rooms, of which 10 are rated 3 – 4 star hotels and five rated 5-star
Phu Quoc is very famous for pearl farming, fish sauce, pepper and “ruou sim”, a wine made from sim fruit or Rose Myrtle. A variety of tours are provided for travellers, such as scuba diving, coral reef snorkeling, fishing and tours to visit traditional fish sauce making establishments, pearl farms, Ham Ninh fishing village, Phu Quoc National Park, pristine beaches and many more.
In addition, Nghiep attributed the success of the local tourism industry to new luxurious tourism services, including 500-hectare Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc – the first-ever and largest safari park in Vietnam, Vinpearl Resort & Villas, Vinpearl Land and Vincharm Spa. Earlier this year, the world’s longest sea cable car route was launched in the island, connecting An Thoi town and Hon Thom island, he said.
Phu Quoc was once a sleepy area of around 100,000 people. In recent years, however, the 567sq.m island has become a tourist mecca for thousands of visitors from around the world.
Located 46km from the mainland, the island can be reached by air from HCM City within one hour and from Hanoi within two hours.
In September, it was named by CNN among the top five up-and-coming Asia Pacific destinations to visit this fall.
According to CNN, for those planning their first trip to the Asia-Pacific region, major destinations usually top the list, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Singapore.
“If you’re dreaming of a beach getaway in Asia this fall, Phu Quoc in Vietnam should be a top contender. For starters, the dry season begins in November and runs till April,” CNN wrote on its website.
Formerly a prison island during French colonial times, Phu Quoc’s photogenic setting and clear waters caught the attention of international brands like JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay, which debuted its Bill Bensley-designed resort late last year.
There’s plenty to do aside from lounging and snorkeling around Ong Lang Beach.
The Phu Quoc Prison Museum offers a peek into the island’s dark history while the Phu Quoc National Park and Suoi Tranh Waterfall will spoil nature lovers, it added.
Source: Vietnam+
Football legend David Beckham
kicks-off Vietnam’s entry into the global automobile market
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star, David Beckham, was guest of honour, launching the new VinFast cars at the Paris Motor Show on Tuesday. “These cars are incredible, sleek and high-tech,” said Beckham. “It is amazing. It is so, so beautiful. To create something in such a short space of time is really incredible. VinFast is a miracle for Vietnam.”
The former England football captain was joined on stage in Paris by Miss Vietnam 2018 Tran Tieu Vy.
Speaking at the event, VinFast Chairwoman Le Thị Thu Thuy said VinFast was the newest member of the Vingroup, the largest private firm in Vietnam.”Vingroup’s goal is to build Vietnam’s international brand. The two cars are the first achievement on the path of realising that mission, naming on the map of the world car manufacturing industry,” she said. More than a dream, VinFast had a seemingly impossible journey: Within just a year, it turned a swamp into the leading modern automobile manufacturing factory.
Located in coastal land Cat Hai in the northern city of Hai Phong, the 335ha area of marsh land deserted nearly a year ago has now become a modern VinFast automobile plant with a capacity of 500,000 vehicles per year by 2025. Journalist Paul Eisenstain from CNBC said he was extremely impressed as he visited VinFast Hai Phong complex. “It’s huge and modern with scale no less than the modern automobile plant in the world,” he said.
VinFast’s sedan and SUV models used BMW’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines and Italian design from Pininfarina. The appearance of VinFast at the Paris Motor Show 2018 has astounded professionals in the industry and international media. Thousands of articles have been written about the vehicles, which have been developed in just over 365 days.
VinFast said it was currently co-operating with leading names in Europe and America in the automotive field such as BMW, Bosch, Magna Steyr and Pininfarina, who have the best technology and experience in the world, creating LUX A2.0 and LUX SA2.0 with superior “Vietnamese identity – Italian design – German technology – international standard”.
With the goal of producing a “national car” for the Vietnamese, VinFast organised the program “Choosing lovely car with VinFast” from the designs created by four famous Italian studios: Pininfarina, Zagato, Torino and Ital Design. The programme attracted 62,000 entries, resulting in two designs of Ital Design was voted the most.
Source: The Nation
Hanoi’s FDI attraction in nine months far exceeds yearly target
Hanoi lured 6.27 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of 2018, up 5.4 times over the same period last year and exceeding the yearly target by 64 percent.
The result made Hanoi the top locality nationwide in terms of FDI attraction.
Of the total, 5.17 billion USD was poured into 417 new projects, while 661 million USD was added into 116 underway ones and about 431 million USD contributed by 543 foreign investors to domestic firms.
At the same time, 70 non-budget invested projects were implemented with combined capital of 163 trillion VND (7 billion USD), while 41 others received additional 86 trillion VND (3.69 billion USD).
The feasibility reports of four public-private partnership projects were approved with total investment of 14.42 trillion VND (620.06 million USD).
Meanwhile, the city also issued investment licences to four new projects worth 13.94 trillion VND (599.42 million USD).
Hanoi stands ready to aid European investors and will offer them more preferential policies, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung.
The official made the commitments at a dialogue between the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam and the municipal People’s Committee on September 25 in the capital.
Chung reviewed Hanoi’s development since its administrative boundary expansion 10 years ago.
He told the delegates that the city is stepping up infrastructure building towards the smart city model, administrative reform, personnel training and environmental protection.
Chung expressed his hope that these efforts will help Hanoi improve its business environment and consolidate confidence of foreign investors, including those from Europe.
European partners are leading foreign investors in Vietnam, with total investment of nearly 25 billion USD, and the continent is the country’s biggest provider of non-refundable aid, while two-way trade rose five times in 2006-2017, exceeding 50 billion USD last year.
Ho Chi Minh City Maintains Top Position in FDI Attraction
According to Vietnam Plus, since policies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) were applied from January 1, 1988, Ho Chi Minh City has led the way in luring investment.\
Statistics from the municipal People’s Committee show that after 30 years of FDI attraction, the city has hosted 7,700 FDI projects with a total capital of 44.87 billion USD, clinching the first position in the field.
In 2016-2018 (as of June 2018), the city lured 14.4 billion USD in new projects and through deals with domestic ones, along with 2.14 billion USD injected into 525 underway projects. The city also approved 6,340 investors to contribute capital and buy shares of Vietnamese firms to the tune of 7.27 billion USD.
This year, Ho Chi Minh City is still the hot spot of attracting foreign investment capital. In the first 7 months of the year, total 4.69 billion USD was poured into Ho Chi Minh City, an increase of 70.5 percent year-on-year.
According to the Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh city, during this period, total 553 new projects got the new investment licenses. Total investment value reached 508.25 million USD.
Also in this seven months, Ho Chi Minh City administration approved for 1,628 foreign investors to raise capital to buy more stakes. The registered capital is equal to 3.73 billion USD. Compared to the same period of last year, the number of cases rose by 31.4% and 2.3 times in capital.
Source: Bizlive.vn
Vietnam Hopes to Raise its Status from the WEF ASEAN Summit
The 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) ASEAN summit was hosted in Hanoi, Vietnam, from September 11th to 13th. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, pointed out that the summit explores the region’s developmental prospects and the manifestation of the region’s new economic status. The summit, is a representation of the region’s Industry 4.0 Initiative, which calls for innovation and reformation for business and domestic development.
Prime Minister Nguyen released his article, ‘2018 WEF ASEAN Summit: TO JOIN HANDS IN BUILDING THE ASEAN COMMUNITY IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ERA,’ upon his arrival at the WEF ASEAN summit earlier.
In his article, Nguyen explores the theme of WEF ASEAN: ‘Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ which focuses on the discourse and recommendation of ideas, orientations and policies to explore the potential of the region’s rising business opportunities.
The WEF ASEAN summit is symbolic of the ‘fundamental and innovative changes’ occurring in the region with a rapidly growing workforce and the summit is a representation of the region’s innovative business opportunities. Vietnam and the leaders of its surrounding countries have agreed to explore the potential in the development of the region’s digital economy, employment challenges and sustainable development.
Prime Minister’s Nguyen’s article strongly emphasized that the summit will aid to seek new ways to propel Vietnam’s own Industry 4.0 Initiative in order to extend its economic development to improve the region’s competitiveness on the global platform.
Nguyen stated that the summit was one of the major events across the nation this year, attracting a number of state and government leaders, executives from leading firms and leading figures from all ASEAN countries from over 43 countries to attend. The success of the summit shall continue to create new drivers to propel the region’s economy. On the other hand, Vietnam will be the platform for internationals partnerships and its foreign policies will continue to attract businesses to expands its economy.
Source: CNA
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