Tourism Is My Aspiration

With her hand and brain, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Director of Sunflower Co. Ltd, has built up a significant estate in Cat Ba Island. Hardly anyone thinks that this estate is the result of systematic and bold steps made by a young, dynamic, decisive and energetic woman.

As a dynamic person, when she saw many international visitors in Cat Ba in the 1990s, especially in 1993 and 1994, she decided to lease the 10-room Sunset Hotel at VND75 million per annum in 1995. This was her first step but successful decision in her business life. “All 10 rooms were usually occupied. After one year of leasing, I settled all rentals,” she said. Seeing her prosperity, the hotel owner broke the contract to run his own business.

The first difficulty was unable to dispirit the islander and she decided to rent another hotel named Hoang Huong. Then, she hired two others and renamed to Sunflower (Huong Duong). At that time, she paid more than US$10,000 a year for each hotel but after four years her operating model was very fruitful. Until 1999, she pooled money to buy land to build her own hotel, named Sunflower. In 2000, she started the construction on the 10-storey hotel and in 2001 she bought another adjacent land plot to build an 11-storey hotel, which was completed in 2004.

Despite her busy business and her new wedding, she still completed a five-year business administration course from 2001 to 2005.

By 2008, after more than a decade of construction and development, she had three hotels: Sunflower I and Sunflower II in Cat Ba Island and Sunflower Hotel at 34 Hang Ga Street, Hanoi, which have more than 100 well-equipped rooms. Sunflower I and Sunflower II were the most modern to be built in Cat Ba at their times. Besides, she also invested to develop bars, restaurants, travel firms and transport services to meet the demand of domestic and international customers.

Leaders of Cat Hai District expressed their trust in her and confirmed that she was the most outstanding woman in the district’s hospitality industry at the moment. “I respect and admire Huong, a young, wholehearted and dynamic woman. It is not a pie for any woman to start and develop business in this land from bare hands,” said Mr. Bui Trung Nghia, Vice Chairman of Cat Hai District People’s Committee.