Vietnam’s Phu Quoc positions itself as Southeast Asia’s prime island holiday destination
Phu Quoc, a picturesque island off the south-western coastline of Cambodia and in sight distance of Cambodia’s coastal city of Kampot, is working on making itself a name for being one of the most desirable island holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, challenging other established locations such as Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui, Mactan-Cebu and Boracay in the region.
The island, which housed a notorious prison during the French colonialist rule to detain captured Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers and whose economy was largely based on producing its renowned two traditional products, fish sauce and black pepper, was opened to larger numbers of tourists in 2012 when the new Phu Quoc International Airport with connections to wider East Asia, including China, Russia and seasonal trips from Europe opened.
In the year 2013, it was designated as a special economic zone and in 2014, international tourist were allowed to enter the island without a visa, while more and more hotels and resorts were built at the island’s clean white sandy beaches, now waiting until the Covid-19 pandemic subsides and visitors return.
Island to become “prominent regional resort destination”
Le Khac Hiep, vice chairman of Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate, in April said the island was on its way to becoming a prominent regional resort destination. He was speaking at the opening of Grand World, a “sleepless city” on the formerly sleepy island, offering a variety of day and night attractions, 365 days a year.
Within the park, more than 1,000 restaurants, various boutiques and shop houses line each side of a canal, and a water show is held every night. Vingroup has since invested $2.8 billion in the island. A theme park, casino and golf course are already operating, and the number of hotel rooms has reached 12,000.
Sun Group, a leading Vietnamese real estate company, has completed an over-the-sea aerial tramway that is one of the world’s longest, a theme park and other facilities.
Residential developments at idyllic beaches
Several developers have built villa projects especially in the southwestern part of the island with its kilometer-long stretches of lonely, idyllic beaches.
So far, $16 billion worth of tourism-related corporate investments have been made on Phu Quoc, part of Vietnam’s southwestern Kien Giang Province.
In 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the number of visitors to Phu Quoc increased by 27 per cent from the previous year to 5.1 million. This year, the island expects to welcome three million holidaymakers, almost all domestic.
A pre-pandemic, stress-free,white-sandy Phu Quoc beach © Arno Maierbrugger Phu Quoc, a picturesque island off the south-western coastline of Cambodia and in sight distance of Cambodia's coastal city of Kampot, is working on making itself a name for being one of the most desirable island holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, challenging other established locations such as Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui, Mactan-Cebu and Boracay in the region. The island, which housed a notorious prison during the French colonialist rule to detain captured Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers and whose economy was largely based on producing its renowned two traditional products, fish...
Phu Quoc, a picturesque island off the south-western coastline of Cambodia and in sight distance of Cambodia’s coastal city of Kampot, is working on making itself a name for being one of the most desirable island holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, challenging other established locations such as Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui, Mactan-Cebu and Boracay in the region.
The island, which housed a notorious prison during the French colonialist rule to detain captured Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers and whose economy was largely based on producing its renowned two traditional products, fish sauce and black pepper, was opened to larger numbers of tourists in 2012 when the new Phu Quoc International Airport with connections to wider East Asia, including China, Russia and seasonal trips from Europe opened.
In the year 2013, it was designated as a special economic zone and in 2014, international tourist were allowed to enter the island without a visa, while more and more hotels and resorts were built at the island’s clean white sandy beaches, now waiting until the Covid-19 pandemic subsides and visitors return.
Island to become “prominent regional resort destination”
Le Khac Hiep, vice chairman of Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate, in April said the island was on its way to becoming a prominent regional resort destination. He was speaking at the opening of Grand World, a “sleepless city” on the formerly sleepy island, offering a variety of day and night attractions, 365 days a year.
Within the park, more than 1,000 restaurants, various boutiques and shop houses line each side of a canal, and a water show is held every night. Vingroup has since invested $2.8 billion in the island. A theme park, casino and golf course are already operating, and the number of hotel rooms has reached 12,000.
Sun Group, a leading Vietnamese real estate company, has completed an over-the-sea aerial tramway that is one of the world’s longest, a theme park and other facilities.
Residential developments at idyllic beaches
Several developers have built villa projects especially in the southwestern part of the island with its kilometer-long stretches of lonely, idyllic beaches.
So far, $16 billion worth of tourism-related corporate investments have been made on Phu Quoc, part of Vietnam’s southwestern Kien Giang Province.
In 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the number of visitors to Phu Quoc increased by 27 per cent from the previous year to 5.1 million. This year, the island expects to welcome three million holidaymakers, almost all domestic.
