'Better than Bali': Vietnam's China Beach

He foresees Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City residents buying the villas as second homes because “it's 10 times cheaper than Hanoi... It's a good investment.”

Thuyen also touts the area's appeal for tourists, saying: “It's safer for you to come here than Thailand.”

JW Marriott is to manage a hotel on the site, with construction set to begin next year after bank funding is secured, he added.

The company plans a second hotel and golf course over a 10-year period as the area aims to compete with regional tourist centers like Indonesia's Bali and Phuket in Thailand, said Thuyen, showing a model of the resort.

“Over 10 years the project is feasible.”

Along with golf, a casino is coming to China Beach, another developer said.

A joint venture between U.S.-based Silver Shores, headed by a native of China, and Hoangdat of Hanoi, is backing the casino-hotel project, said Nguyen Truong Chung, its administration and foreign manager.

The casino operator has not been finalized but Crowne Plaza will manage the hotel, Chung said at the site, where signs are written in Chinese and a grand-looking central structure is taking shape.

Chung said his project will open by the end of 2009, and in the next few years “you will see a change along this coast... it will become a new urban area for the city.”

For the moment, much of the beach road south of Danang still has the character of a village, with small homes and shops in faded pastel colors, Chinese-style pagodas, and a couple of downmarket local hostels.

Across from the Crowne Plaza development a long, dirty wall shields a helicopter base abandoned decades ago by American troops.

In the first half of the year Danang received an estimated 600,000 tourists, said Nguyen Phuc Linh, deputy director of the local culture, sports and tourism department.

Domestic arrivals were steady compared with the same period last year but foreign visitors, who numbered about 200,000, were down 17 percent during the global financial crisis, he said.

The “still limited” number of tourists is a factor behind the relatively low level of resort development, said Hao, the investment official.

With only two direct international flights, from Bangkok and Singapore, the Danang area has also been somewhat isolated, although a charter service from Japan is expected to begin by year end, Hao said.

He called for more joint tourism promotions with nearby Quang Nam province -- home to UNESCO World Heritage sites in Hoi An and My Son -- and neighbouring Hue, the former imperial city and another World Heritage destination.

A combined effort can help the area develop “better than Bali,” he said.

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