(SGT-HCMC) Many luxury hotels in HCMC say Japanese tourists made up the majority of their international guests in January-March and will continue to contribute a large part to their earnings in the rest of the year.

Guido A. J. Gyde, general manager of the Legend Saigon, told the Daily that Japanese travelers accounted for 40% of the five-start hotel’s guests in the first quarter, followed by guests from Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the United States. 

Japan remained on top of the guest list at the Renaissance Riverside Saigon in the period. “There has been a marginal increase in Europeans, who account for about 24% of our business but the biggest source is still Japan with 30%,” said Albert Kaindlbauer, general manager of the five-star hotel, which overlooks the Saigon River.

The Windsor Plaza Saigon in District 5 declined to reveal the proportion of Japanese guests in the first quarter, but said Japan took the lead.

The Park Hyatt Saigon in Lam Son Square was on the same side. “Most of our more than 15,000 visitors in the period came from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.S.,” the five-star hotel’s general manager Jan Peter van der Ree said.

Japanese also topped the list of 21,000 guests at the Duxton Hotel Saigon January-March. “The main markets are Japan with 21%, Germany (16%), Australia and New Zealand (10%),” said Debbie Chee, director of sales and marketing of the four-star hotel.   

Other top hotels like the Caravelle, New World Saigon, Sheraton Saigon and Sofitel Plaza Saigon also reported a significant proportion of Japanese guests. James McStay Ong, general manager of the Omni Saigon, named Japan as the most important Asian market of the hotel.

The hotels said more Japanese travelers preferred Vietnam as they were offered choices for cheap shopping, food and services, among others. Vietnam has become a good destination for Japanese to do business and escape cold weather in their country.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism estimated the number of international travelers in the first quarter increased by 15% year-on-year to 336,000. Japanese tourist arrivals grew some 30% on the year-earlier period.

Many hotels in HCMC employ Japanese sales managers to further cash in on the increasing number of travelers from Japan. The Sofitel Plaza Saigon’s general manager Ahmed Hozaien expects an increase in Japanese at the hotel, which is a favorite hotel for French travelers.

Almost all luxury hotels in the city reported an increase in sales and room occupancy in January-March. The Sofitel Plaza Saigon saw year-on-year room occupancy growth of some 20%.

The increase at the Legend Saigon was 8% while the rate at the Duxton Saigon was 9% better than the same period of last year.

The Omni Saigon revealed its January-March revenue jumped by 15-20%, and the Sofitel reported a rise of 14% in room revenue. Other hoteliers said their business was good.

Hoteliers are optimistic about the coming months given the second Senior Officials Meeting as part of APEC Summit 2006 in HCMC from late May to early June. Several top hotels like Park Hyatt and Sofitel confirmed they would not hike their room tariffs during the event.

Hoteliers said they would be able to provide enough rooms for the event’s officials as the 10 five-star hotels here had a combined capacity of more than 2,500 luxury rooms. Moreover, May and June are considered a low season in Vietnam. (MONG BINH)