VietNamNet Bridge – Around 3,000 new hotel rooms were put into service last year, taking the total number of guest rooms nationwide to 355,000, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Staff of a Chinese restaurant at The Reverie Saigon Hotel, a new luxury hotel in downtown HCMC, are seen prepared to serve guests. About 3,000 new hotel rooms were put into service nationwide last year – Photo: Dao Loan

Vietnam had had 18,800 lodging facilities as of last year. Last year saw more luxury hotels invested by domestic investors like Vingroup, Sun Group, FLC and Muong Thanh. However, the number of hotel rooms built by local firms was still small and those hotel rooms meeting three- to five-star standards numbered 82,328 by the end of 2015.

Nguyen Van Tuan, head of VNAT, told the Daily that the hotel sector has attracted many big investors. Many hotels have gone up in different parts of the country, including the resort island of Phu Quoc off mainland Kien Giang Province.

To attract more investors, VNAT has proposed land use tax and rental reductions for lodging facilities and tourist areas that use more land for public space and greenery.

The administration has asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to submit the proposal to the Government.

Many firms in the tourism sector complained that the land use tax is unreasonable as they are taxed for land used for tree planting at the same level as land for commercial purposes. The space for greenery and public utility accounts for 50% of the total area of tourist sites or more, so they have to pay a higher tax.

The local tourism sector served more than 7.94 million foreign visitors and 57 million domestic tourists last year. Its revenue totaled VND337.8 trillion.

SGT