Thua Thien –Hue Province is calling investment into the tourism sector, seeking investors for projects of hotels and resorts outside Hue City because inner-city areas have been crowded with around 12,000 hotel rooms, an official said.

The province at a tourism promotion forum in HCMC on Wednesday recommended some venues such as Lang Co, Bach Ma and Thuan An for investors to develop luxury projects to serve high-end guests.

“We are building urban areas outside Hue City, and want investors to develop tourism projects there,” said Nguyen Quoc Thanh, deputy director of the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thanh told the Daily on the sideline of the gathering that investors were already investing in some resort projects along the beaches from Thuan An to Lang Co, including huge projects like the Laguna with nearly US$1 billion in capital.

In Hue City, the tourism sector is encouraging current hotel operators to build more entertainment facilities and calling on other investors to develop new entertainment projects to diversify services for travelers. Other projects like the development of trade villages will also benefit from incentives given by the provincial government.

So far, the province has signed an agreement with Akitek Tenggara of Singapore to map out an overall scheme for the province’s tourism development. The company has completed a list of development sites in the province and would help Thua Thien-Hue to seek investors for some of such projects.

Besides, the company will work with the provincial tourism sector and other entrepreneurs in the coming time to build a tourism trademark for Hue City.

In on Thursday’s meeting, the departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue and HCMC inked a tourism cooperation agreement to boost tourism of the two sides.

The central province is staging more culture and tourism events this year to prepare for main events of the National Tourism Year 2012 due to take place in the locality in that year. The tourism year will likely coincide with Festival Hue 2012.

List of some projects and development sites awaiting investors

1/ Agro-tourism urban settlements: building 2,000 traditional houses for well-to-do people from Hanoi and HCMC to enjoy rural life and other facilities.

2/ Eco-tourism urban settlements: building resorts for local middle-class people who want to immerse themselves in traditional Hue culture, and other facilities.

3/ Eco Village at Lap An: developing 12 small boutique hotels mixed with the existing village. On the hillside behind the village would be 500 villas of three-star standards.

4/ Vinh Thanh Floating Hotel: A 50-room floating hotel and other facilities.

5/ Thuan An Floating Hotel: A three-star floating hotel of 50 rooms and other facilities.

6/ Venice on the Rice Fields at Cau Hai Lagoon: a project covering 16.5 hectares with a hotel in the center along with adjacent developments of 2,000 residential units and other facilities.

7/ Bach Ma Hill Station Resort: restoring existing villas on the hill, building a five-star resort of 200 rooms at the apex of the Helicopter Hill and a five-star hotel of 500 rooms with traditional Hue style on the lower slopes along with 500 traditional Hue villas to be built on stilts.

8/ Luong Quan Rain and Artists Village: It will consist of 150 four-star villas, 50 artist studios, 20 Hue food outlets and other facilities.

9/ Conference Center and Media Arts Center: three large sports and conference areas with 10 meeting halls, two hotels, and a media arts schools among others.