Mammoth resort to open on Phu Quoc

Pearl of Asia Development Corp, a subsidiary of the Trustee Suisse group, has unveiled plans to build a super-luxury retreat with leisure, entertainment, and business facilities on Phu Quoc Island.

The US$9-billion Pearl of Asia complex will be built on a pristine white-sand beach in Rach Tram Area on the north–western tip of the island.

The project has been approved by the Government’s Office and the People’s Committee of Kien Giang Province, according to a press release from Trustee Suisse.

The retreat will be developed in two stages on an area of approximately 3,200ha and at an estimated cost of 6bil euro (more than $9bil).

It will contain a holiday and entertainment district that will be "similar to a village" and have first-class hotels, stately homes, sporting facilities, an "elite" casino for high-stakes gambling, a hall suitable for holding concerts, operas, ballet, musicals, and (music and film) awards, a marina for sports yachts and mega yachts, a world-class health and medical centre, and beautiful parks and gardens.

"The Pearl of Asia will provide ultra-high net worth individuals, celebrities, and key decision makers an entirely new way of combining pleasure and business activities," Trustee Suisse said.

"It will set new standards for ecological responsibility."

The Vinaconex Joint Stock Company is the Swiss firm’s local partner in the project.

In the first stage of the project, 275ha would be developed at a cost of around 2bil euro ($3.19bil), Trustee Suisse said.

Le Minh Hoang, director of Kien Giang’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, said the province had given the "go-ahead" to the Swiss investors and allowed them to draw up a detailed scheme for the project.

The Government plans to develop Phu Quoc into a tourist island that will attract 2-3mil visitors per year by 2020.

It has also agreed in principle to the development of casinos on the island.

Phu Quoc is an unspoilt tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand that is just a short flight away from almost all Southeast Asian Cities metropolises. About 70% of the 567sq. km island is blanketed by rain forests that are criss-crossed by rivers and streams.