DestinAsia - A prestigious travel magazine based in Singapore has just announced the list of the 17th Readers Choice Awards. Notably, in the category of 10 best cities in Asia - Pacific 2024, Ho Chi Minh City is the only representative of Vietnam to be mentioned and ranked 10th.
Thailand's capital Bangkok took the top spot, followed by Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Hong Kong (China), Seoul (South Korea), Sydney (Australia), Shanghai (China) and Taiwan (China).
In addition, in the category of 10 best city hotels in Vietnam, DestinAsia announced that Ho Chi Minh City has 5 hotels: Caravelle Saigon, Hôtel des Arts Saigon - MGallery, Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, Le Méridien Saigon and Park Hyatt Saigon.
In particular, in the category of 10 best islands, Phu Quoc ranked 6th. The pearl island is famous to international tourists thanks to its smooth white sand beaches, clear blue water, diverse terrain with forests, seas and entertainment areas such as Vui Phet beach night market - VuiFest Bazaar, Cau Hon - honored by CNN as a destination for kisses.
The remaining nine islands on the list include Bali (Indonesia), Maldives, Phuket and Koh Samui (Thailand), Boracay (Philippines), Langkawi and Penang (Malaysia), Palawan (Philippines), Lombok (Indonesia).
With Phu Quoc as a destination, the pearl island has become familiar to domestic and international tourists thanks to its convenient transportation infrastructure (with an international airport and seaport), a synchronous resort system, stretching from the North to the South of the island and a variety of segments from budget to high-end.
However, before that, in 2023, after a period of "reigning" on international voting lists, the destination considered the "Maldives of Vietnam" encountered a "downhill slide" when the number of visitors here decreased sharply.
Even during major holidays such as April 30-May 1, National Day September 2, Phu Quoc tourism still faces a miserable and gloomy situation. Statistics on the September 2 holiday show that the number of domestic visitors decreased by 32.9% compared to the same period last year, international visitors decreased sharply, and room occupancy only reached about 30%.
Facing the "brink" of a lack of visitors, in order to save itself, the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City has proposed many solutions to stimulate tourism, including tightening control over prices and service quality; developing tourism in the direction of "unique - professional - safe - clean, beautiful - civilized"; implementing a series of large-scale communication campaigns from mid-November 2023 in key markets; organizing thematic fairs to meet travel agents or exhibitions, art camps or a series of large-scale tourism events, music and entertainment festivals...
With the stimulus campaign at the end of 2023, Phu Quoc has gradually regained its beautiful image and left a great lesson for Vietnam's destinations.
Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration Ha Van Sieu assessed that Phu Quoc has been and is being invested heavily to become a major destination not only for Vietnam but also for the region and the world. Many large investors have come to Phu Quoc and are forming clusters of tourism products of great stature.
“Phu Quoc is not only about beach resorts, entertainment centers… but we must make sure that entertainment services in Phu Quoc have strong local values and local cultural imprints to have long-lasting appeal and attraction,” Mr. Sieu emphasized.
The annual Readers Choice Awards honor hotels, resorts, travel businesses, cruise lines and airlines in the Asia-Pacific region. The list of destinations is voted on by travel experts and travelers.
Voting criteria are based on tourists' evaluation of the destination's location, experiences there, friendliness of local people, cuisine, transportation, infrastructure, convenience of flights, and price.
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