On the back of a year-on-year 16% decline in international arrivals for the first nine months of 2009, Vietnam's luxury hotels have witnessed substantial decline in their occupancies.

In the capital Hanoi, it was reported that five-star hotels recorded an average occupancy of 55%, an eight-percentage-point decline from the same period in 2008.

Similarly, five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City registered an almost ten-percentage-point decline to average 49% in year-to-date September figures.

These figures reflected a significant decline in the market which was recording occupancy levels between 70% to 80% in 2007. 

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