Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Alternaty, a leading realestate consulting firm in Indochina, merged into Savills Vietnam, the largestproperty company in Vietnam, under a deal inked in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28.

Accordingly, Alternaty personnel will join Savills Vietnam’sHotels and Leisure Division, while Mauro Gasparotti and Rudolf Hever,co-founders of Alternaty, will become Directors of Savills Asia Pacific’shotels division.

The moves aim to boost the development of hotel services inVietnam and Southeast Asia.

Neil MacGregor, Savills Vietnam Managing Director, said thatthe capacity of Alternaty personnel will help provide better services for thedevelopment of the hospitality industry, and help select hotel managers forinvestors.

With a 26 percent increase in the number of foreign touriststo Vietnam, the merger is expected to help Savills access new opportunities onthe hotel market in Vietnam, which is projected to record a growth rate of15-20 percent in the short term.

At present, along with such major cities as Ho Chi Minh Cityand Hanoi, Da Nang city, Phu Quoc island in Kien Giang province and Khanh Hoaprovince’s Nha Trang city are also attractive to investors.

Total value of transactions in the hotel market reached 500million USD during the past 24 months.-VNA