An estimated 30 hotels offering 5,000 rooms—including 3,600 five-star rooms—are scheduled to be newly available in Hanoi this year, according to the Hanoi Department of Statistics.

Hanoi currently has nearly 9,000 hotel rooms with 64 hotels with three to five-star ratings, up four percent quarter-on –quarter and 10 percent year-on-year, revealed a research study conducted by Savills Vietnam.
 
Half the supply source falls under the five-star hotel segment. The Republic of Korea’s Lotte Hanoi hotel opened in March 2015, supplying an additional 318 five-star rooms.

The first quarter of 2015 falls in the peak tourism season, generating a 5 percent climb in average room rates from the previous quarter and a four percent annual increase. Leasing prices in all segments recorded an upward trend from the previous quarter.

According to the Hanoi Department of Statistics, there were 537,000 international arrivals in the city during the first three months of 2015, an 14 percent drop from the first quarter of last year. Over 80 percent were tourists and 17 percent came on business.

In the first quarter, the occupancy rate rose only one percent from the previous period but represented a 13 percent annual rise.

Savills Vietnam’s Head of Research and Consultancy Do Thu Hang said the market is expected to surge in the last three quarters of 2015 thanks to promotion activities and visa exemption policies for international tourists.-VNA