Hanoi- Travellers to Vietnam trying to find a bargain may find they are sorely disappointed, industry experts warn. Vietnam has long had a reputation as an inexpensive but exotic destination. For many years, elegant four-star hotel rooms in downtown Hanoi or along Vietnam's white sandy beaches could be had for under 50 dollars a night.
But a shortage of hotel rooms, coupled with a significant jump in prices, means a visit to Vietnam is no longer the bargain-hunter's dream vacation it once was.
During this year's peak spring travel season, many hotels in Hanoi were sold out for days and even weeks at a time. Travel agents report that prices for accommodation rose as much as 60 per cent over the previous year's rates.
"The main causes are a shortage of international standard hotel rooms and a huge increase in foreign tourists coming to Vietnam to attend conferences since Vietnam's admission into the WTO (World Trade Organization)," said Hoang Thi Mai, director of ERA Co. Ltd., a Hanoi-based travel firm.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) estimates that the country will receive more than four million foreign visitors in 2007, a 14 per cent increase over last year. Yet the number of hotel rooms has not increased at the same pace.
Mai said the crunch has caused massive headaches for travel agents who are forced to put guests in dodgier accommodation. The rise in hotel rates also forces tour companies to constantly renegotiate package tour costs.
Ironically, Vietnam runs the risk of pricing itself out of the market compared to other countries in the region, Mai said, "thus affecting our future ability to sell tours in Vietnam."
Despite the hotel shortage, Vietnam is still hoping to lure six million foreign visitors annually to its shores by 2010.
As a quick-fix measure "We are encouraging families to take in home-stay guests," said Vu The Binh, the director of the Tourism Department at VNAT. "And we have urged two-star hotels to make investments to upgrade to three-stars."
The government says it will need to attract 5.5 billion dollars in investment to properly develop the country's travel infrastructure.
