Two resorts which are invested in by real estate giant Sun Group were honoured with top prizes at the 24^th World Travel Awards (WTA) 2017 gala night, held in Phu Quoc Island on 10 December.

InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort has helped put the country on the global tourism map.

Accordingly, InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort set an unprecedented record in the history of the WTA awards as it was honoured as the World's Leading Luxury Resort for the 4^th consecutive year.  Meanwhile, the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort won the award for World's Leading New Resort 2017.

Two resorts in Viet Nam received the highest votes from leading experts and top executives in the field of resort and hospitality across more than 140 countries and territories around the world.

This year, the Da Nang resort overcame 30 outstanding nominees for the award, including Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel, and Ayada Maldives.  The number of contestants in the category was nearly three times higher than last year, making the Da Nang resort’s victory a spectacular win.

The resort’s La Maison 1881 restaurant was also honoured with the World's Leading Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant award. Harnn Heritage Spa at the Da Nang resort was crowned Asia's Best Resort Spa 2017 and Viet Nam's Best Resort Spa 2017 at the event. Meanwhile, the Chanterelle - Spa by JW at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort won the World's Best New Resort Spa 2017 award.

WTA President and Founder, Graham Cooke, said that honouring a resort as the world's most luxurious for the 4^th consecutive year is an unprecedented event in the history of the WTA over the past 24 years.  The InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort has set a record that is unlikely to broken, even in the years to come.

Representatives from InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort and JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort receive prizes at the 24th WTA awards.

Mr Dang Minh Truong, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director of Sun Group, expressed his pride to have won the top two awards of the WTA – considered the ‘Oscars’ of the global travel industry.  He added that the achievement would inspire Sun Group to continue to create high-class buildings that contribute to the development of Viet Nam's tourism industry.

Located at Son Tra Peninsula, the InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort was designed by world famous architect Bill Bensley with 200 rooms featuring typical Vietnamese architectural and cultural values. 

The resort also successfully hosted the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders' Week last November, contributing to enhancing the status and image of Viet Nam around the world.

The resort, developed by Sun Group and managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, has become the first and only to ever take home the award 4 years in a row.

Winning 'the Oscar of Tourism' for 4 consecutive years, the resort has come a step closer to realising the ambition of its investor Sun Group: putting Viet Nam on the world map of luxury tourism.

Opened in January 2017 on Viet Nam's biggest island, the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort is another creation of Bill Bensley, with a design narrative inspired by the legend of a fictional former university for French colonists - Lamarck University, with 240 rooms and villas, as well as interior decorations arranged as a miniature museum of more than 5,000 antiques collected from 40 European countries by Bill Bensley.

The two Vietnamese resorts have been also honoured with a range of outstanding international awards since the beginning of the year.

Held annually, the WTA is considered the most prestigious, comprehensive, and sought after awards programme in the global travel and tourism industry.

(Source: NDO)