In the last days of the year, from the seaport to Phu Quoc International Airport are packed with international visitors, while Vietnamese tourists are eagerly looking for the pearl island for the Lunar New Year holiday. Just a year ago, few could have imagined such a bright picture for the island.
"What a great show, even more exciting than in Las Vegas," said Selcuk Iscimen, CEO of the famous Turkish travel company Dorak Mice, who compared Phu Quoc to the "world entertainment capital" Las Vegas, USA, after watching the show Kiss of the Sea in Sunset Town.
The show "Kiss of the Ocean" and fireworks show light up the night sky of Phu Quoc.
Mr. Murzabekov Dauren, a businessman from Kazakhstan, shared: "Phu Quoc is not only a destination for entertainment, but also offers a sense of privacy with exclusive experiences - something that high-end tourists and Kazakh businessmen like me value very much."
Mr. Selcuk Iscimen or Murzabekov, along with 6 million other tourists coming to Phu Quoc in 2024, will have different feelings about the land. However, there is one thing that all of them must be sure of: Phu Quoc's attractiveness is increasingly rising.
"Darling" of international and domestic guests
Travel enthusiasts certainly cannot forget that less than a year ago, Phu Quoc appeared in the Korean newspaper Chosun with the pitiful nickname "national stepchild". It is not difficult to understand because at that time, Phu Quoc appeared frequently in the domestic media with headlines such as "snatching", "rip-off", "pollution"...
However, by the end of the year, Phu Quoc's reversal surprised everyone. According to statistics from the online booking platform Booking.com, Phu Quoc is in the top 3 destinations most searched by Vietnamese tourists for the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday, with a growth of 180% compared to the same period last year.
There is even more good news for the international tourist market, as international airports and international cruise ports are packed with foreign tourists everywhere.
On December 18, Phu Quoc welcomed 2,000 visitors on cruise ships, and on December 20, there were two new flights from Singapore and Xi'an, China. Phu Quoc's flight chart is increasing vertically, with the pearl island receiving up to 30 international flights per day, while in 2023 this number is 2-5 flights per day.
Phu Quoc tourism is bustling with many new international flights.
For domestic media, Phu Quoc is now an attractive destination, a new resort and entertainment center of the region and the world, a destination for high-end global tourists.
International media also gave Phu Quoc more "winged" words, such as the prestigious American travel magazine - Travel + Leisure put it in the top most attractive islands in the world, just after Maldives, or the top 10 most wonderful islands in Asia according to Condé Nast Traveler.
Spectacular "cocoon escape" journey
The recent growth in the number of visitors and the trust of domestic and foreign tourists is the clearest evidence of the island's inquisitive spirit and determination to restore tourism after the pandemic.
In 2024, Phu Quoc city has taken many drastic actions in the process of urban order improvement, many campaigns to control the quality and services of tourism, as well as promote and advertise tourism products to key markets.
However, "removing negative labels" is just one of the city's persistent efforts, in its journey to become a new destination in the world.
The "uncocooning" of the pearl island needs a more impartial view, with a journey that can last for decades, along with the consensus of local authorities, investors and people.
Dinner by the sea and watching an extreme sports show combined with fireworks is the most attractive experience on the pearl island.
If 10 years ago, the island did not have a single 5-star hotel, now the island has 700 establishments with over 24,000 rooms, including 29 4-5 star hotels with over 13,000 rooms, and countless entertainment areas with thousands of billions of dong invested.
Taking the example of a "growth pole" of Phu Quoc, the south of the island, surely no one can imagine that the place that gathers 5-star resorts, magnificent architectural works and entertainment complexes with the highest total investment in Vietnam was previously a poor fishing village lacking electricity, beaches full of garbage and services stopped at zero.
The milestone marking the "transformation" journey of the southern island can be mentioned in 2016, when Sun Group inaugurated the first 5-star resort on the pearl island - JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay.
Nearly a decade later, the picture of a modern, classy southern island is constantly being painted with new colors. Bai Kem, Mui Ong Doi and the pristine Dat Do beach now have up to 5 5-star resorts, managed by the world's leading brands (such as Marriott International, Accor, Rosewood Hotels, Curio Collection by Hilton).
The once poor and frustrating Dat Do Beach is now Sunset Town, the most popular tourist destination in Phu Quoc with iconic buildings, Vui Phet night market, international show The Kiss of the Sea and Ocean Symphony that entertains visitors with two brilliant fireworks displays every night.
In December, Sungroup also officially started construction of the Aspiration building in Hon Thom, with a total investment of 13,000 billion VND. It is expected that in the next two years, this place will become a luxury resort - entertainment - commercial complex with million-dollar experiences.
In the same month, the group also brought the Rixos brand, a brand with "royal" resort experiences, to Vietnam and Phu Quoc for the first time, managing a luxury all-inclusive resort in Hon Thom in the future.
The Aspiration Building in Hon Thom with a total investment of 13,000 billion VND is expected to become a luxury resort complex with million-dollar experiences.
Looking at the graph of the number of visitors to Phu Quoc, from less than 600,000 in 2014 to 10 times more, reaching approximately 6 million in 2024, shows how the island has truly "come out of its cocoon".
With the advantage of an ideal location in the center of Southeast Asia, beautiful nature, visa exemption policy for international visitors up to 30 days and little investment in tourism infrastructure, the future of Phu Quoc becoming a tourist paradise, competing directly with Bali and Phuket is not far away.
That is similar to the way Mr. Mehmet Kin - Vice President of Crystal Bay Group commented: "I believe that within just 5 years, Phu Quoc will transform from a regional destination to a global destination".
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/30-chuyen-bay-quoc-te-moi-ngay-phu-quoc-thoat-ngai-hoa-buom-192241226092657687.htm
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