Room rates at three- to five-star hotels fall 18pct in first half

The room rate at three- to five-star hotels in HCM City has fallen by 18 percent in the first half of this year to an average of $92 per room per night while the average room occupancy has reached around 63 percent, up 10 percentage points year-on-year, the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Tuesday.

The department explained in its report that the room rate fell strongly as some international hotel management groups have cut down their rate after a period of strong rates in 2006-2007 to raise competitiveness.

In addition, greater supply of rooms has also tended to bring rates down. The city had more than 600 new three- to five-star rooms in the period, including around 300 five-star rooms at the newly opened InterContinental Asiana Saigon hotel.

According to the report, the city currently has 60 three- to five-star hotels with nearly 8,600 rooms.

While the average room tariff has fallen, the number of foreign visitors has increased 12 percent to1.5 million in the first half. Around 50 percent of the visitors come as tourists, 30 percent for business and the rest for other purposes, including medical treatment, according to the department.

The department commented that HCM City needed to develop new tourism products and services to attract visitors to stay and spend more time in the city instead of just dropping in for a while and then going to tourist sites elsewhere.

“The city’s tourism products are still poor. It has still not made the most of its advantages, such as rich culture and quality shopping centers, to boost tourists’ spending and their stay here,” the department said.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the department, had told the Daily the day earlier that the department was focusing on the two main activities, namely promoting and developing tourism products.

He said the department had completed the HCM City � One Hundred Excitements programme to select 100 best tourism brands for international visitors and 100 best brands for local tourists in the city.

It is surveying the river routes in HCM City and neighbouring provinces to develop river tourism.

“The city’s leaders and our department will have a meeting on Thursday to further discuss river tourism development. The city has a strong potential to develop it,” Khanh said.

The department said tourism revenue reached 18.5 trillion dong in the first half of this year, up 16 percent year-on-year.

Tags: five-star hotels, Vietnam hotels