Many owners of small and medium-sized hotels in Da Nang are offering to sell their properties in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a research by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

A steep drop in occupancy, worsened by hefty bank loan interest, has caused them to bear the brunt of the global health crisis.

Tourism and hospitality are among the industries hit the hardest by the virus, which has infected over 13 million people and claimed more than 575,000 lives around the world.

Hoteliers in Da Nang, located on the central coast of Vietnam, are putting their hotels up for sale en masse, at a time when the Southeast Asian country still seals its borders to foreign visitors and domestic tourism is slowly improving.

Many of the sale offers come from small and medium-sized properties situated along the beach in Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son.

A quick search by Tuoi Tre found above 70 hotel sale advertisements to be published on a website only on Tuesday.

One case in point is an eight-floor hotel on Vo Van Kiet Street in Son Tra District, on sale for VND29 billion (US$1.25 million).

Boasting enclosed apartments, the hotel is located at a prime location near a tourist street, the beach, and the iconic Dragon Bridge, according to the advertisement.

Another owner demands VND33 billion ($1.4 million) for a six-floor hotel on Le Quang Dao Street in Ngu Hanh Son District.

Many other hotels are now on sale on such touristy streets as Ha Bong, Tran Bach Dang, Ho Nghinh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Ho Xuan Huong.

These hoteliers are struggling so they have to sell their properties, said Cao Tri Dung, chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association.

Vietnam’s tourism is suffering even though the country has contained the COVID-19 epidemic, Dung remarked.

The Southeast Asian country has reported less than 400 coronavirus cases out of a population of almost 100 million people, with most having beaten the virus and zero deaths.

The association has proposed many solutions for helping lodging businesses but all have failed to prevent hoteliers from selling their hotels because of high operation costs and bank interest, the chairman admitted.

Lodging facilities have filled just 50-60 percent of their rooms even when Da Nang is in peak tourism time, according to data pooled by Tuoi Tre.

Occupancy rates are forecast to continue plummeting from August, when far fewer people travel.

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