Experts have warned that the chaotic construction in Mui Ne, the result of the unreasonable development programming which lacks a long term vision, may ruin the Mui Ne tourism brand which has become famous in Vietnam and all over the world.

Mui Ne has been called the “capital city of resorts” and known as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. A Thai magazine once called Mui Ne a “Vietnamese Phuket.”

Concrete houses damaging Mui Ne

Tourism programmers have warned that the concrete houses which have been arisen in masses recently would spoil Mui Ne just after several years. More and more resorts have been established which do not follow any regulations on the tourism center development.this makes quality of travel service decrease.

Under the current regulations, resorts’ areas must not cover more than 30 percent of the total area, while every resort must reserve at least 50 percent of its area for verdure. However, investors all try to use up all the area for rooms and other material facilities, because here, at the tourism center, every inch of soil is an inch of gold. The investors have built more and more rooms in the areas which should be placed for greenery because they want to get more money from room leasing.

According to Nguyen Van Hue, Managing Director of a resort on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, landlords think that it would be a great waste of reserving too large area for greenery, and they try to build more and more rooms.

“The resorts in Mui Ne are lacking rooms for travelers. At a 3-star resort, the room rate could be 100 dollars per night,” he said. “The landlords think that if they build 10 rooms more, they would earn 3000 dollars more a month, and 36,000 dollars more a year, a really attractive sum of money.”

When talking about resorts, travelers would think about bungalows – the small houses, located separately from each other and made of the materials friendly to the environment. Meanwhile, in Mui Ne nowadays, travelers would see concrete high rise buildings located close to the sea. There, the hotel rooms are charged as resort rooms.

Nguyen Minh Nguyet, a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) from Australia said that she likes Mui Ne because the beach here is wonderful. However, she finds the service quality bad and the room rates too expensive.

“I stayed in a concrete room on the third floor, but I was charged as if I stayed at a bungalow,” she complained.

Investors ignore construction regulations

Travelers to Mui Ne nowadays would see a lot of restaurants on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street of Ham Tien ward which have been set up to attract the travelers who stay at resorts, and moving toilets.

Deputy Chair of the Binh Thuan provincial authorities Tourism Association Tran Van Binh has warned that if the restaurants and toilets are not removed immediately, tourists would not go to Mui Ne any more.

“I am afraid that the unreasonable restaurants would spoil the brand of Mui Ne tourism. We have proposed to remove the restaurants many times, but nothing has changed,” he said.

An official of the Ham Tien ward people’s committee has revealed that it is difficult to remove the restaurants. “When we come to examine the restaurants, the owners of the restaurants showed us the licenses granted by the Construction Department,” he said.

Meanwhile, more and more construction works have been arisen recently without the permissions of any state management agencies. Chair of the Ham Tien ward people’s committee said that with the limited workforce, local officials cannot control everything arising in the ward.

“Just within two weekend days, on Saturday and Sunday, when state officials do not work, people can complete the building of foundation and several rooms of a house already,” he complained.