Phu Quoc's 20-year transformation journey: Sweet fruit from the campaign to 'bring eagles back to nest'

Shaping a "new world destination"

"It's truly a unique experience in the world: going to the market and watching fireworks. Every day here is like welcoming the New Year. Very impressive!", that is the status line shared by Juan, from Mexico, on his personal Facebook page, right after watching the eye-catching fireworks display from Spello restaurant with a view straight to the Kiss of the Sea stage and the Kiss of the Sea. This is one of the "secret weapons" that has quickly turned Sunset Town (An Thoi Ward, Phu Quoc) into a magnet for international visitors since the beginning of the year.

Pearl Island owns a "collection" of the most classy resorts in the world

To bring eye-catching performances every night, every day up to 600 fireworks (equivalent to the number of fireworks on New Year's Eve at a shooting point in Hanoi ) are transported to the performance area on the sea for installation. With more than 100 effects combined harmoniously with immortal songs, each show "embroidering flowers and weaving brocade" in the Phu Quoc night sky brings visitors both surprise and overwhelming emotions. From here, Phu Quoc became the first island in the world to display fireworks every night.

Having traveled to more than 30 countries, visited Disneyland in many countries, and even once brought his whole family to stay overnight at Disneyland Japan to satisfy his daughter's passion for immersing themselves in the animated world, Mr. Tran Quang (Vietnamese living in Germany) was still overwhelmed by the "spending" level of Phu Quoc. "Even at Disneyland, there are no fireworks every night. I know that this cost is huge, maybe every night they shoot tens of billions of dong into the sky. But it was really great! Fireworks were everywhere, right before our eyes, combined with music and other stage performance effects to create a wonderful performance beyond imagination," Mr. Quang shared.

Under the streaks of light illuminating a part of the sky, the entire west coast of An Thoi - Mediterranean Town in the heart of Phu Quoc - appears sparkling with a complex of iconic artistic masterpieces such as the Kissing Bridge, Hon Thom Cable Car, Clock Tower, Sun Signature Gallery art museum... Few people can imagine that less than 10 years ago, An Thoi was still a poor fishing village without electricity, the entire south of the island did not have a single hotel and people sometimes even ate rice mixed with cassava. In 2015, there were only about 850,000 tourists coming to Phu Quoc.

Phu Quoc is the first island in the world to display fireworks every night.

But by the end of 2016, when "resort king" Bill Bensley and Sun Group placed a masterpiece resort JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay on Bai Kem, the south of the island changed dramatically. An Thoi fishing village gradually put on a "collection" of luxury hotels and resorts of international standards along with entertainment and recreation areas that are not inferior to any wealthy destination in the world. Millions of tourists flocked in, and the lives of the people here woke up. Instead of wandering on distant boat trips, with gains and losses depending on nature, thousands of families and tens of thousands of people now have stable jobs in entertainment areas, hotels or run their own food and beverage businesses, selling souvenirs...

The north of the island is not "slow". The leading resort, entertainment and recreation complex in Southeast Asia, Phu Quoc United Center, invested by Vingroup, created a stir right from its launch when it was announced by the Vietnam Record Organization to have achieved 5 national records at the same time. Among them, Grand World - "The city that never sleeps" possesses splendid architecture, bustling and trendy commercial streets, vibrant festivals and parties that operate non-stop 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, full of energy like famous sleepless cities in the world.

At the 2023 World Travel Awards Asia-Pacific, surpassing Maldives, Phuket or Bali..., Phu Quoc was named in the category of Asia's Leading Luxury Island Tourism Destination. Putting its name on the tourism map of the upper class, Phu Quoc is confident in competing with Bali, Phuket, Boracay, and even Maldives to become the ideal destination for the rich in Asia for lavish weddings and events.

Phu Quoc has shaped a "new world destination".

The gathering place of the "leading cranes"

Large-scale products not only turn Phu Quoc into a magnet for domestic and foreign tourists but are also expected to become a world tourism "hub". The number of tourists to Phu Quoc has been increasing continuously in recent years, averaging 25-30% per year. Just looking at the number of tourists to the island, which increased more than 13 times from 300,000 (in 2010) to more than 4 million (in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic), is enough to see the role of tourism products in the development of the smokeless industry on the pearl island.

Phu Quoc became a _phenomenon_ both domestically and regionally, when it became the first island in the world to display fireworks every night.

Kien Giang province leaders have repeatedly emphasized: To achieve the current breakthrough results in position and strength, in addition to the decisions of the entire political system, the companionship of businesses plays an important role.

Specifically, after the Government awarded Phu Quoc a special "mechanism shirt" with Decision No. 178 in 2004; in 2006, the Prime Minister continued to decide to allow all investment projects in Phu Quoc to enjoy incentives for areas with special socio-economic difficulties. In particular, Phu Quoc is the only destination in Vietnam to apply a 30-day visa exemption policy for international visitors.

With policy support, a series of large investors have poured a huge amount of capital into this island district to form a systematic and luxurious tourism infrastructure system. While the concept of "leading cranes" has only been mentioned a lot in recent years, more than ten years ago, the pristine island sea with rare beauty has become a fertile land attracting "leading cranes" to nest. With the presence of a series of large corporations such as Vingroup, Sun Group, BIM Group, CEO Group..., Phu Quoc has transformed itself into one of the lands owning many luxurious and world-class hotels and resorts. From JW Marriott, Vinpearl, Novotel, Melia..., up to 9/10 world-famous hotel brands have gathered here.

Even during and after the pandemic, Phu Quoc continues to attract a strong flow of investment capital. By the end of 2022, the pearl island has attracted 338 investment projects with a land use area of about 10,956 hectares, total registered investment capital of VND 387,924 billion, equivalent to 18 billion USD. To date, 52 projects have been put into operation with an area of 1,182 hectares, total investment capital of about VND 17,388 billion; 78 projects are under construction with an area of 4,804 hectares, total investment capital of about VND 174,955 billion, equivalent to 8 billion USD (accounting for 45% of the total investment capital of registered enterprises).

Chairman of Phu Quoc City People's Committee Huynh Quang Hung affirmed that Phu Quoc has recently been successful in attracting large economic groups to invest in high-end, international tourism products. Sun Group, Vingroup and many other groups have spent billions of dollars to create high-class resorts, destinations with many unique, modern and high-class experiences. In terms of natural conditions, Phu Quoc is more favored by nature than Phuket. The "Pearl Island" is always in the top of the most attractive destinations, visitors can swim all year round. It can be said that Phu Quoc has enough "toys" to compete and is facing a great opportunity to become a high-class tourist destination in the region and the world./.

Statistics show that by September 2020, Phu Quoc had attracted 276 tourism projects on an area of nearly 10,000 hectares, with a total registered investment capital of VND 347,000 billion. Phu Quoc's "lightning-fast" transformation also made economic experts excited because at that time, few localities had the capacity to attract such large investments. Phu Quoc's tourism growth rate from 2015 to 2019 was up to 141%, while the tourism capital of Da Nang only stopped at 65%.

Ha Mai (According to Thanh Nien)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hanh-trinh-20-nam-lot-xac-cua-phu-quoc-trai-ngot-tu-cong-cuoc-keo-dai-bang-ve-lam-to-185240325215950017.htm

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