The 20-year-old four-star Pearl Village Resort in Nai Yang Beach will close in March to complete a US$20.4 million renovation that will transform it into a 290-room five-star property by October 2006. The Indigo Pearl will feature rooms ranging between 56 and 120 square metres. Facilities will include eight bars and restaurants, three swimming pools, a cooking school, tennis courts, a modern spa, a children's club, a fitness centre and a meditation pavilion. The resort expects to attract a younger market once the makeover is completed.

Construction of a new international airport that can receive up to 2.5 million passengers annually will soon start on the island of Phu Quoc. With 585 square kilometres, this island located in the gulf of Thailand is bigger than Phuket and is the largest in Vietnam. The airport is expected to cost US$157 million and to be completed by 2008. Currently, access to Phu Quoc is either by plane from Ho Chi Minh City or by ferry from Rach Gia and An Tho. Simultaneously, on the east coast, about 33 kilometers south of Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Airport will be upgraded as part of a US$186.8 million master plan that will extend through 2025. When completed, the two runways (measuring 3,048m by 45m each) will be able to receive Airbus 320 and 321, Boeing 767-300 and 777-200 aircraft.

A high-speed magnetic levitation rail link might be built between Shanghai and Hangzhou commercing at the end of 2006. The new line, expected to run about 150km, will take four years to build and cost US$4.3 billion. When completed, travel time between Shanghai and Hangzhou will be cut from the current two and a half hours to just 30 minutes. It will be the second in China, after the 30-km line running from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Hangzhou.

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed an agreement with Today Hotels to manage the new Crowne Plaza Gurgaon New Delhi, scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2006. Located in the heart of Leisure Valley, the new city centre of Gurgaon, the 234-room hotel features 15 suites, a Presidential Suite and 1,000 square metres of meeting space. The Crowne Plaza Gurgaon will represent the Intercontinental Hotels Group in India.