Novaland rides tourism wave

Novaland CEO Bui Xuan Huy talks to TheLEADER about the group’s business expansion in tourism real estate sector in the coming years.

What will drive Novaland's growth this year?

Bui Xuan Huy: The real estate market in general and Novaland in particular faced a lot of difficulties and challenges last year. Especially, difficulties in project licencing procedures made some important indicators such as revenue and profit in 2018 fall short of plans.

However, Novaland still strived to deliver more than 6,000 real estate products of high quality to customers. We had seen great support, especially from the group of loyal customers, for the launching of NovaHills Mui Ne resort villa project.

The clientel of more than 250,000 people is clearly a solid foundation for Novaland to grow in the coming period.

In recent years, Vietnam tourism industry has achieved a strong growth, contributing directly to 7.5 per cent and indirectly 22.5 per cent of GDP.

In the tourism development strategy until 2020 with a vision to 2030, the Government has considered tourism as a key economic sector, contributing over 13 per cent of GDP.

Although Vietnam is gifted with rich natural resources, unique culture and reasonable cosst, the country's services are still under-developed.

The annual increasing number of tourists leads to higher demand for hotels and resorts.

We have received the support from the Government and local authorities in developing tourism into a key economic sector and developing infrastructure to support tourism in many localities.

This will be a great motivation for Novaland to confidently deploy the strategy within the next five years.

What are the highlights of Novaland's business plan this year and in the coming time? Why are you focusing on the tourism market?

Bui Xuan Huy: This year Novaland continues implementing the second phase of business development strategy with two key areas which are real estate and tourism services.

In residential real estate sector, we continue focusing on Ho Chi Minh City market and expects to introduce about 4,500 apartments and villas this year as well as try to hand over about 6,000 units to buyers.

At the same time, along with the national tourism development strategy and as part of the second phase of Novaland's three-phase development strategy, the group has started to invest in tourism and tourism properties in cities and provinces having great tourism potentials such as Binh Thuan, Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City or Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

We plan to coordinate with consultants and professional operators to create "Excellent Destinations" for domestic and international visitors, aiming to turn these places into regional tourism, hospitality and entertainment centres and contributing to the imprint of Vietnam on the world travel map.

In March 2018, Novaland inked strategic consulting agreement with Boston Consulting Group on the implementation of a project to develop Mekong Delta's tourism adaptable to climate change.

The project aims at planning and implementing the strategy of connecting and developing tourism for 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, in which Can Tho plays a central role.

In June 2018, Azerai Can Tho made grand opening. The resort is a combination of Novaland's enthusiasm and legendary Adrian Zecha, the founder of global well-known Azerai and Azula brands.

In last November, we launched NovaHills Mui Ne Resort & Villas, the first tourism property project developed by Novaland in Phan Thiet.

In December 2018, at the Vietnam Travel & Tourism Summit, Novaland signed agreements with the world legendary golfer Greg Norman to develop four world-class golf courses and a cooperation agreement with Minor Hotels Group on management and operation of seven hotels with more than 3,500 rooms.

Novaland has been launching three major tourism property brands namely NovaHills, NovaBeach and NovaWorld. The group expect to introduce about 2,400 tourism real estate products this year in provinces having great tourism potential.

The real estate products for investment purpose offered by Novaland will be diverse, including villas, hotels or second homes. These will create a new wave of investment in 2019 and will form a trend of long-term resort real estate investment in the following years.

In 2019, we also expect to introduce an ecological township that is based on sustainable development standards in planning, architectural design and environment.

The township will maximize the use of clean technology, green energy in construction and operation, bringing high quality of life for residents.

The business targets for 2019 and the second development phase have been set very clearly and we believe that the year 2019 will make up for last year.

How does Novaland add more value to its customers?

Bui Xuan Huy: A new product will never be created in an old way. To make use of potential as well as to cope with challenges from the real estate market and tourism industry, Novaland is striving to set new trends and create new demands in investment and to increase value for our customers.

After having own homes in big cities, a lot of customers tend to choose coastal cities such as Vung Tau, Phan Thiet or Cam Ranh as a regular holiday destination. They also see the accumulative values and long-term profits when investing in resort properties in these places.

We will introduce a wide range of products such as condo-hotels, townhouses or shophouses.

We will invest in areas having advantages in transport infrastructure which are only one and a half to two hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City.

Novaland also builds a chain of supporting services and form a tourism service ecosystem called NovaTourism to help our customers achieve profits in the long term.

Moreover, we have invited international reputable consultants such as BCG, McKinsey and localities to help localities design tourism development strategies which will make these places become a toursim destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

This is a sustainable way for both businesses and society.

Can you share something about Novaland's preparations?

Bui Xuan Huy: "If you want to go far, go together". Novaland will cooperate with prestigious partners in many fields to successfully implement our strategy.

We currently have more than 150 strategic partners in number of areas such as finance and banking, construction, material, design and manpower consultancy.

In addition, we do a lot of activities to strengthen and develop our resources such as improving the quality of human resources through intensive training, finding talent, applying and operating information technology extensively to meet the 4.0 trend as well as the development speed of the group in the coming period.

For Novaland, people are the most valuable asset and developing it is seen as top task in all business development activities.

We are committed to creating the best working environment, continuously improving the lives of our employees through very specific welfare policies.

Novaland's business model is based on dynamics and flexibility in each stage. We always have the preparation of financial resources carefully for each project in our development plan.

Business has ups and downs but Novaland always insists on its goals. We will complete projects with the right quality and right time to keep trust of customers despite difficulties.

We will be proud to see Novaland's green rubik logo in urban areas and impressive destinations in Vietnam!

Thank you!