Vietnam’s next major integrated resort casino finally has a name and a launch date.
This week saw Vietnamese real estate investment and development firm VinaCapital Group proudly announce that its $4b “integrated tourism and leisure destination” would operate under the name Hoiana. VinaCapital says the property’s first phase will open in Q1 2019.
Hoiana will occupy four kilometers of beachfront just outside the UNESCO World Heritage site Hoi An in Quang Nam province. Hoiana’s first phase will include a 445-room hotel, 220 residential apartments operated by Hong Kong’s New World Hotels, a luxury Rosewood resort offering 75 villas and 25 residences, a golf course and, oh yeah, a casino.
Vietnam’s government has fast-tracked plans to expand the Danang International Airport to accommodate the expected influx of tourists to the “thriving township of hotels, residential and lifestyle zones” that the completed Hoiana will feature when it’s fully completed within the next decade or so.
The Hoiana project is a joint venture involving, VinaCapital, Gold Yield Enterprises (a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises) and Macau junket operator Suncity Group. VinaCapital had originally partnered with Malaysia’s Genting on a proposed project in Quang Nam province but Genting bowed out in 2012.
Project chairman Don Lam said Hoiana represents “a new benchmark for high-end tourism in Vietnam” and would eventually come to be regarded as one of “Asia’s most renowned resort destinations, bringing a self-contained world of entertainment, leisure, pleasure and luxury lifestyle.”
After years of dilly-dallying, Vietnam’s government is said to be prepping a three-year trial in which the country’s citizens will be allowed to access certain casino floors, which are currently accessible only by international tourists. Assuming the trial concludes without society imploding, the Hoiana property could start reaping the benefits soon after it opens to the public.
