Phu Quoc launched world's longest sea cable car route

The People's Committee of Kien Giang Province, Phu Quoc island district, and Sun Group have officially launched a modern three-wire cable car linking An Thoi Town and Hon Thom island, the largest island in An Thoi island cluster to the south in Phu Quoc.

The cable car and Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park will be officially opened on February 14, 2018, one day before the first day of the lunar new year.

Being the first and most important project in the Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park invested by real estate developer Sun Group, the Hon Thom cable car has a total length of 7.9km, connecting An Thoi town and three islands including Hon Loi, Hon Dua, and Hon Thom.

With this length, Hon Thom cable car has been recognized to have the World's longest cable car route by the Guinness World Records on the opening day.

The entire cable car system has two terminals, six cable posts, of which the largest is T4 with a height of 174 meters. The cable car which is operated at the maximum speed of 8.5m/s has 69 cabins, each of which can accommodate up to 30 people. This can help reduce the amount of time for tourists traveling from An Thoi to Hon Thom island to 15 minutes. The cabins have wifi and electric lighting system at night.

Travelling by the cable car, tourists can enjoy a whole view of sea, islands, forests, and beaches in the An Thoi Island cluster in the south of Phu Quoc.

According to Pham Vu Hong, Chairman of People’s Committee of Kien Giang province, such new and attractive tourism products as Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park would be important factors attracting more visitors to the island as well as increasing the length of stay of visitors.

In 2017, Phu Quoc welcomed nearly three million tourists, doubling the figure for 2016. However, this number is still low compared to eight million visitors to Phuket, Thailand.

One of the reasons why few people chose Phu Quoc as their tourist destination is that the island did not have attractive entertainment services, especially in the south of the island.

“Phu Quoc has been seen as the jewel of Vietnam’s tourism with a lot of potentials that no place in the world has. However, the growth rate of Phu Quoc tourism for many years is still low,” said Dang Minh Truong, general director of Sun Group.

Sun Group is currently one of the three biggest investors in Phu Quoc with the total investment capital of nearly VND22,000 billion (roughly US$970.23 million). Most of its projects are located in the South of the island.

Investing in this area, Sun Group has offered visitors in Phu Quoc a world-class JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay resort with 244 rooms. It is also investing in the Premier Village resort with 170 villas in Ong Doi cape, a 700 apartment resort and a resort villa area in Bai Khem beach.

Launching Hon Thom cable car as well as first recreation services in the Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park, Sun Group expects to contribute to the expectedly increasing number and spending of visitors when traveling to the island, making the southern area of Phu Quoc become an attractive destination.

A representative of Sun Group revealed that there would be more services in the Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park such as a sea village.

Besides the resorts, a number of world-class entertainment services have been invested in the south of the island, Sun Group is trying to contribute to changing the face of tourism in Phu Quoc, creating more jobs for the locals and promoting the socio-economic development of the island.

Launching new tourism products has shown the determination and view of Phu Quoc’s authorities and people in turning the island into the most attractive destination in the world, developing tourism into the key economic sector.