Tourism property: resort developers hit the jackpot  While the other investors get bogged down in the frozen real estate market, the ones who poured money into high-end coastal resorts now can pocket big money they earn from the right investment deals.   The diagram of average room revenue of the 4-5 star coastal resorts in the area from Da Nang to Nha Trang City saw a jump in 2013. The upward trend continues since the prosperous 2012. Adam Bury, a senior executive of CBRE, a real estate service provider, noted a surprise that the average room rate and room occupancy rate of the coastal five-star hotels in Da Nang both are far higher than that in Hanoi and HCM City. The average hotel room rate at the 5-star hotels in the area of Da Nang and Hoi An ancient town is now the highest in Vietnam after making a 3.6 percent increase in 2013. With 3,800 4-5 star rooms and the regular room occupancy rate of 70-80 percent, the hotels have been running very well, which is quite a big surprise in the eyes of the investors who keep pessimistic in the current difficult conditions of the national economy. The big changes have created new “brands” to the area in the Vietnam’s tourism map. Just some days ago, Da Nang airport received a lot of special aircraft of the billionaires from the world’s big conglomerates who came to attend an important finance conference. The place where the billionaires gathered in Da Nang was a well known resort on the Son Tra peninsula which served 100 VIP guests – the international capitalists and journalists for four days. With the event, Da Nang has become a new brand that catches the eyes of the international event organizers as a tourism city with standardized services: the standard air traffic and in-land services, the international airport with 47 international and 247 domestic flights per week, the high end coastal resorts with well known cooks from Europe managed by foreign groups, the luxurious golf courses nearby and the ready taxi helicopter service. Analysts commented that it is a wise move for coastal resorts to make investments to attract MICE (meeting, incentives, conference, exhibition) tourists for now, when the world’s tourism market witnesses a sharp decline. The conferences of international organizations or multi-national groups, therefore, have become the “aiming points” of most of the event organizers and relevant service providers. The developers of the 4-5 star resorts and hotels in the coastal area have joined forces to set up a sea tourism association which gathers the strength of the members to promote tourism in the area, attract big conferences and international golf tournaments. While coastal resorts and hotels have been prospering, the hotels in the center of the cities, from luxurious to popular, have to struggle hard to exist. The hotel room rate and the room occupancy rate of the hotels in the area have tumbled for the third consecutive years. Also according to CBRE, the room occupancy rate there is 20-40 percent, while the average room rate is incredibly low. Especially, the food and coffee service there have the prices equal to that at middle class restaurants. The hotel supply has increased rapidly by 1,000 3-5 star hotel rooms a year. Hundreds of 1-2 star hotels developed by the investors from Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang have arisen over the last three years. K. Chi, VietNamNet Bridge