Source: Asia Pulse
Luxury hotels across Vietnam are still struggling to shift their focus with a view to increasing their occupancy rates in the remaining months of the year.
In the first nine months of the year, the number of foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam dropped by 16 per cent from the same period last year, according to the National Administration of Tourism.
According to market research by CB Richard Ellis company, in 2008 five-star hotels in the capital had an average occupancy rate of 63 per cent, while in the same period this year the rate had dropped to 55 per cent.
In Ho Chi Minh City , five-star hotels had an average occupancy rate in Q3 of 2008 of 58.9 per cent, and in 2009 this dropped to 49.1 per cent.
The current situation is a marked contrast to 2007, when occupancy rates were as much as 70-80 per cent and hotels reported having to turn customers away at times.