“An island of thousands of experiences, both luxurious and unique, is the ideal place that tourists should choose for their vacation” - The short description of the prestigious French news site Demotivateur has partly sketched the portrait of Phu Quoc - “Asia's leading luxury island tourist destination” today.
Luxury resorts are constantly being added to Phu Quoc. Photo: Anh Duong
Island of luxury resorts
At the 2023 World Travel Awards Asia Pacific; surpassing Maldives, Phuket or Bali... Phu Quoc was named in the category of Asia's Leading Luxury Island Destination. This prestigious award can be seen as a timely recognition of the island city's efforts to develop infrastructure and tourism products to become a "luxury resort paradise".
10 years ago, the number of 5-star accommodations on the Pearl Island was zero. But now, based on data from the world's leading online booking platform Booking, Phu Quoc has 35 5-6 star hotels and resorts with many rooms priced at hundreds of millions of VND/night. This number even surpasses the 25 establishments in Phuket - the famous "tourist paradise" of Asia.
In recent years, the big names in the hotel industry such as Accor, IHG, Marriott, Hilton or Rosewood... have been and are "winning" the chance to set foot on the Pearl Island. JW Marriott Emerald Bay Phu Quoc, Premier Village Phu Quoc resort, La Festa Phu Quoc - Curio Collection by Hilton or New World Phu Quoc resort... have gradually become "familiar faces" for high-spending domestic and foreign tourists.
As evidence, in early 2024, an Indian billionaire couple "booked" hundreds of rooms at JW Marriott Emerald Bay Phu Quoc for 10 days and 10 nights to hold their wedding. In 2019, British billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur Club, also chose this resort for his vacation. And in the same year, another Indian billionaire couple did not hesitate to choose this place to hold their wedding ceremony.
It is easy to see that instead of isolated villas in the middle of the ocean or hidden in a lush green forest in Maldives, Bali; the super-rich have "set their eyes" on isolated villas, two sea fronts - can welcome the sunrise or sunset with the same location of Premier Village Phu Quoc Resort or Lamarck House - "Principal House" designed by Bill Bensley like a shining "gem" in the middle of a tropical oasis at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay. They are willing to book villas with prices up to 9 digits/night for a long time, to enjoy a private vacation with family and friends.
With efforts to develop luxury resort tourism products, the sweet fruit has come to the Pearl Island. However, to upgrade local tourism on the international map and enhance competitiveness, luxury products are only a necessary condition. To create a "world-class" destination, and retain and attract high-class visitors to return, Phu Quoc needs another sufficient condition - products that are different from the rest of the world.
Destination of differences
“Forget Phuket, here is Phu Quoc, the new hope of Vietnamese tourism” - that is the title of an article on the famous news site South China Morning Post, but it can also be seen as an affirmation: Phu Quoc is now not inferior to Phuket or even the long-standing “famous” destinations such as Maldives, Bali or Boracay...
The remarkable growth in position and reputation of Ngoc Island on the regional tourism map is due in no small part to the serious investment process of the locality and private economic groups with the direction: creating a multi-experience ecosystem with diverse, quality, classy products and especially taking culture as the foundation.
New and creative tourism products create a unique attraction for the Pearl Island. Photo: Anh Duong
As a result, “the inherent appeal of Phu Quoc’s natural beauty is increasingly amplified by local cultural identity and world-class attractions,” as Travel Daily News emphasized.
Here, besides staying at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay - a fictional university containing fascinating stories about 19th century architecture and culture, guests who want to enjoy a space imbued with Vietnamese culture can choose to stay at New World Phu Quoc Resort to feel the "breath" of a Southern fishing village.
Meanwhile, when it comes to entertainment and relaxation experiences based on cultural tourism, Phu Quoc is a “paradise”. In addition to traditional tourist attractions with strong local characteristics such as pepper gardens, fish sauce factories, and honey farms, today a multi-million dollar entertainment complex has been built in Sunset Town.
There is the Kissing Bridge - a bridge that was praised by CNN just four days after its launch, inspired by the legendary love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the classic Italian love story between Romeo and Juliet. The Kissing Bridge is a "symbol" that contains the spirit of both Vietnamese and Italian culture. Not far from the bridge, on the Sunset Beach, a water puppet stage by the sea has also been set up. Here, every night, artists from the Vietnam Puppetry Theatre will treat the audience to performances of the art form that has been honored as a Vietnamese cultural heritage.
A series of elaborately invested shows are turning Phu Quoc into Asia's new entertainment paradise. Photo: Anh Duong
At the same time, at Vui Phet - the first creative night market by the sea in Vietnam, young artists through funny street art performances with props of everyday items of fishing village residents or stories about shoe shine boys on the street become "ambassadors", introducing to friends near and far the unique features of local culture. Next, at the "infinity" stage of the multimedia technology show Kiss of The Sea - The kiss of the sea; the leading French producer ECA2 presented the audience with top-notch performances of technology, light, water and fire... based on a plot that combines the fantasy of Hollywood movies with local culture such as the theory of the five elements or shadow puppetry.
With unique spiritual dishes day and night, developed by leading investors such as Sun Group, Vingroup on a cultural foundation, Phu Quoc is becoming a new entertainment center of Asia. That is also the advantage that makes the difference of a "latecomer" destination but with meticulous investment like the Pearl Island.
Tung Duong
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