Vinpearl temporarily closes seven hotels as coronavirus takes toll on travel

In a recent notice sent to its partners, Vinpearl Joint Stock Company has announced that it would close two hotels in Nha Trang, Vinpearl Discovery 1 Nha Trang and Vinpearl Condotel Empire Nha Trang, until March 31, 2020.

The company would also close two other properties in central region, including Vinpearl Resort & Spa Hoi An và Vinpearl Resort & Spa Danang. Vinpearl has not decided on when it will reopen these hotels and instead, it will close them until the next notice.

Three hotels on Phu Quoc island, Vinpearl Resort & Golf Phu Quoc, Vinpearl Discovery 3 Phu Quoc và Vinpearl Luxury Phu Quoc have also been closed without fixing the date of reopening.

A Vinpearl deputy general director claims that the company would maintain and upgrade these properties during the temporary shutdown. All books will be redirected to other nearby Vinpearl hotels.

Vinpearl has joined a growing list of operators in Vietnam that are forced to temporarily shut down hotels as a result of the new coronavirus taking its toll on travel and hospitality industries worldwide. Vinpearl is operating a total of 43 hotels nationwide, with more than 17,000 rooms.

Chung, a hotel owner who is operating six hotels in Hanoi, Danang and Bac Ninh, told TheLEADER that he has decided to shut down two hotels in Bac Ninh province while hotels in Danang are struggling.

A dozen of small hotels in the old quarters of Hanoi have also been closed as their owners found it hard to operate at the time the number of Chinese and Korean tourists plummeted.

China and South Korean are the country’s biggest tourist feeder markets, accounting for more than half of international visitors. Since early last months, all airlines have suspended flights between Vietnam and China and in recent days, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Bamboo Airways have cancelled flights between Vietnam and South Korean due to the outbreak of new coronavirus in the Northeast Asian country.

Vietnam reported 16 cases infected with the new coronavirus but all patients have recovered and the country has seen no new cases in recent days. 

The government estimates the disease will cause a loss of $7 billion to the tourism industry this year.