Tourism companies in central coastal Quang Nam povince and Da Nang city have suffered a great loss due to the recent storm Nari, the 11th to hit Vietnam this year, local media has reported.

Tens of tours were canceled, thousands of tourists got stuck in Da Nang city and Quang Nam province, while many resorts in the central region have been damaged, which costs travel firms hundreds of billions of VND to repair.

Nguyen Thanh Sang, Chairman of Palm Garden Resort, one of the five-star Cua Dai coastal resorts in Hoi An city of Quang Nam province, said the strong typhoon has broken trees, unroofed some houses in the area, causing an estimated total damage of 4 billion VND (190,476 USD).

“The damage is less serious if compared with that caused by Xangsane in 2006. However, what worries me is that the high tide and sea waves which came together with Nari has caused the soil erosion in a section of coast in Palm Garden Resort,” Sang said.

According to Ngo Van Hoang, General Director of Sunrise Resort in Hoi An city, the strong waves jumped over the embankment system and attacked the resort during the typhoon.

The resort has been suffering from soil erosion over the last many years. Besides the sea embankment built by the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee, the company itself spent money to build 250 meters of embankment in Sunrise Resort.

The villas located close to the sea have been severely damaged, while the glass system of the hotel has been broken. It is estimated that the total damage may reach 15-20 billion VND.

Ho Tan Cuong, Deputy Director of the Quang Nam Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said most of the coastal hotels in Quang Nam province suffered the damage worth from several billions to tens of billions of VND.

A preliminary report by the local authorities showed that Quang Nam’s tourism has suffered the damage worth 100 billion VND in total from Nari.

In Da Nang city, the well-known resorts such as Intercontinental, Pullman, Furama, Fusion Mia, Hyatt and Sandy Beach and the hotels in the central area have all been damaged: their roofs have been broken, trees fallen down. Especially five ships in Da Nang have been sunk in the typhoon.

Le Quang Tuoi, head of the Ngu Hanh Son Landscape Management Board, said the site faced the great losses because of the storm. The path to Thuy Son mountain has been eroded. Meanwhile, the lift that serves tourists on the Thuy Son mountain area has stopped operation because of broken glass.

The tidying up at the tourism site had been completed by October 17. However, it could only serve the tourists who made reservation in advance.

Quang Nam province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed the provincial authorities to give financial support to settle the soil erosion in Hoi An and Cu Lao Cham isle.

It has also asked the Government to reduce by 50 percent of the corporate income tax for resorts, tourism complexes and travel companies seriously affected by the typhoon.

Da Nang city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also plans to seek a 50-percent cut in corporate income tax for the affected travel firms.-VNA