VietNamNet Bridge – French hotel operator Accor announced yesterday a major expansion in Vietnam with the launch of its luxury Pullman and mid-scale Mercure brands, and expansion of its Novotel brand.

Three Pullman hotels are set to be developed in the country. The 150-room Pullman Sapa Resort and the 200-room Pullman Lao Cai Hotel will be built in the northern province of Lao Cai, and the 360-room Pullman Vung Tau Hotel will be developed in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Michael Issenberg, chairman of Accor Asia Pacific, said the opening of these hotels would significantly upgrade the tourism infrastructure in Vietnam and complement Accor's strong presence in the country.

"The Pullman name is already well known in Vietnam as the Metropole Hanoi was a Pullman hotel before we re-branded it as Sofitel in the early 1990s. These new three Pullmans will revive one of the greatest names in hospitality," he said.

The group also announced that it would develop two Mercure hotels in Hanoi: The 102-room Mercure Ha Noi La Gare, to be opened in early 2009, and the 380-room Mercure Ha Noi Hado, to become operational in early 2010, will be the first Mercure hotels in the country and the start of a planned development of up to 20 hotels across the country.

Novotel Phu Quoc Resort will follow other Novotel openings scheduled in the next two years.

The group said Novotel Ha Long Bay would be the first international hotel in the World Heritage site when it opened in June 2008.

Other Novotels to open in the country are Novotel Nha Trang later this year, Novotel Hoi An Imperial Resort (in 2009), and Novotel Ha Noi On The Park (2010).

Issenberg said: "With the addition of these new hotels in the network, Accor will tap into one of Asia's fastest growing tourism markets."

The country attracted 4.2mil foreign visitors in 2007, a year-on-year increase of over 17%.

It targets 6mil international arrivals and 26mil domestic visitors in 2010, and tourism revenues of US$4.5bil.

Accor opened its first full representative office in HCM City yesterday (Wed, the 5th). The new office is expected to help drive the growth of the Accor hotel network from its existing eight properties to at least 20 by the end of 2010.

(Source: Viet Nam News)