VietNamNet Bridge – Danang City’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has shown concern over an oversupply of hotel rooms of one and two-star standards, citing an excessive development of the segment in recent years.

The city now has a total of 355 hotels, with 300 of them meeting one and two-star standards and the remainder in the three-to-five-star segment, according to the department.

The number of visitors to Danang has grown strongly over the years, and demand for hotels of three to five-star standards has picked up as well. Meanwhile, lower-end hotels, especially those of one and two-star standards, have seen low occupancy.

Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the department, said many small investors in recent years had been focusing on developing low-end hotels in the city. However, demand for guest rooms at these hotels has been sluggish.

“We should help investors understand the present situation to make good investment decisions,” Cuong noted.

He said unlike the low-end hotels, the mid- and high-end facilities in the city still see growth prospects, buoyed by a steady rise of occupancy.

“Average occupancy at many high-end hotels ranges from 65% to 75% and even reaches 90% at some places. Investors still have room in the segment as the number of guests has kept surging year after year,” he said.

Local and foreign tourist arrivals in Danang have grown an average of 20% annually in recent years. This year the number is projected to amount to around 3.2 million, according to the department.

In 2011-2012 the number of new hotel rooms built a year in the city totaled 1,500, with average occupancy of all the hotels in the city reaching 51% last year.

An extra 1,700-2,000 new hotel rooms would be put into service in Danang this year.

Source: SGT