DANAO TO EXPAND HOTEL PROPERTIES IN VIETNAM

Barry Israel, chairman of Danao International Holdings has announced his company is investing in a "substantial expansion plan" that will target development at three of its Accor-managed properties in Vietnam.

Israel, who recently became a controlling partner in Danao after investing US$14 million, said development of the properties would be achieved in "several phases" starting with its property Novotel Coralia Ocean Dunes in Phan Thiet.

Danao this month reached an agreement with its joint venture partner Binh Thuan Tourist Company to take over 100 per cent ownership of Novotel Coralia, however, the agreement remains subject to government approval, expected in January.

Novotel Coralia is home to a Nick Faldo-designed golf course. Israel said once the agreement was ratified the course would become 100 percent owned by Danao, enabling the company to "overlap the land use" of both the course and hotel.

"We truly intend to turn this into a resort destination," said Israel. Novotel Coralia's refurbishment is expected to start in March.

Under the "second phase", Danao will spend US$3 million on expanding facilities at its 50-50 joint venture-owned Dalat properties, the Sofitel Dalat Palace and the Novotel Dalat.

Development of these properties was paramount if the company wanted to maintain a competitive edge, Israel said.

VIETNAM CONSIDERED SAFEST ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRY TO DO BUSINESS

Vietnam is the safest place in the Asia-Pacific region in which to do business' an International Survey conducted in the aftermath of the devastating Bali bombing concluded.

Hong Kong was ranked second safest by businesspeople who work in the city, according to the poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC).

The PERC survey was conducted during the Hotel Investment Conference in Hong Kong, just four days after the October 12 bombings on the Indonesian resort of Bali killed more than 190 people, raising fears of more attacks in the region.

The poll asked 400 regional businesspeople their feelings on personal security and to gauge the potential risk of instability in the places where they worked.

Answers were ranked from one to 10, with one denoting the safest.

The survey noted that pessimism among businesspeople working in the United States and India had worsened significantly compared with a similar survey carried out last year shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"The grades in our latest survey for these countries were not only much worse than last year, they were higher than for all the East and Southeast Asian countries we surveyed last year," the report said.

Vietnamese businessmen graded the threat at 3.3 followed by Hong Kong at 4.43 compared to India with 8.0, Indonesia 7.33, Singapore 7.25 and the United States with 8.58.

"Vietnam does not have a sizeable Islamic population of its own, and it is hard to imagine al-Qaeda trying to launch any attacks there," it said. The report also noted that Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were not "overly concerned with external risks".

However, any downturn in tourism would hurt their economies "and to the extent that Bali may have pushed the US closer to war with Iraq, they have to worry about the negative impact this might have on their major markets." China's risk was rated as 5.25, almost identical to a year earlier.

Owing to its Muslim population, among which there has been some unrest, China was seen as slightly more vulnerable than Vietnam, it said.