Phu Yen catches the eyes of foreign property developers Phu Yen province in the south of the central region has become the new choice for foreign resort real estate developers.   The Vietnamese resort real estate market has just been warmed up after five years of staying frozen when Rose Rock Group, belonging to the US billionaire Rockefeller family in January 2014 announced its intention of developing a high end resort in Vung Ro bay of Phu Yen province. The project, capitalized at $2.5 billion, would be developed by the US group in cooperation with the Vung Ro Oil and Gas Company Ltd. The resort complex would comprise of three major parts – The Marina, The Village and Bai Mon, connecting with each other by a walking trail, 2.5 kilometers long, called The Green Thread. Possessing a natural beauty with deep water sheltered bay, The Marina would be the entrance gate to the Vung Ro bay. This is believed to be the major destination with a 350 parking-space marina, coastal hotel, shopping malls, bars and restaurants. Prior to that, in late December 2013, another resort real estate project – Long Hai tourism complex – was kicked off in Cau River area. The project, covering an area of 4 hectares, is developed by the joint venture between Vietnamese Dai Thuan JSC and South Korean Hoya Group which would inject $3 million in the first phase of the project. Sao Viet Tourism is considering developing a high end resort on Tuy Hoa seashore, capitalized at $20 million. Nguyen Xuan Nam, General Director of Hoya – Dai Thuan Joint Venture, commented that Phu Yen also has great advantages to develop resort real estate projects like Da Nang City, where there is one of the most beautiful beaches in the planet, or Nha Trang City. There in Phu Yen, on the coastal roads from the province to the south or to the north, beautiful beaches spread out before travelers. They include Bai Mon – Mui Dien with a lighthouse hundreds of years old, or Bai Tram, Bai Rang, Bai Nom, Bai Tu Nham in Vung Ro, Xuan Dai bays and O Loan Lagoon. The special attention paid recently by international investors to Phu Yen can show the great potentials of the coastal central locality. However, it seems that Phu Yen is not really lucky when its great potentials could only be discovered at the moment when the global economy faced big difficulties. It took Phu Yen authorities three years to negotiate with UAE’s Sama Dubai Group on the multi-billion dollar plan to develop a series of resorts in O Loan brackish water Lagoon, Xuan Dai Bay, Ghenh Da Dia (Rapids of Stone Plates) and build Tuy Hoa airport. The provincial authorities gathered all of their might and main to negotiate the project implementation. However, the project failed completely due to the global economic crisis, which forced Sama Dubai to stop the project, even though the two sides nearly came to an end. An investor from Brunei once planned to pour $4.3 billion into the high end Phu Yen resort in Bai Xep – Hon Chua. This was expected to be a huge project with 8,500 hotel rooms, golf courses and an entertainment park for foreigners. However, the project implementation has been stagnant also because of the world’s economic crisis. Only the site clearance has been completed so far. Economists believe that it is now the right time for international investors to come back to Phu Yen. As the world’s economy gets warmer, they now think of pouring money into the real estate market to make the resorts ready to serve clients once the global economy fully recovers. NCDT