VIETNAM. Powerful Vietnamese retail to luxury conglomerate IPPG is set to commence work soon on a US$434 million international duty free zone and smart urban area development in the central coastal city of Danang, according to a well-sourced report in Viet Nam News.
Director of Danang’s Investment Promotion Agency Huỳnh Thị Liên Phương told the media title that the project was close to getting the green light after IPPG had asked the city to allocate land for the project.
Lien said the city authorities would offer the best conditions for IPPG to commence work. She said that the city was also planning a downtown duty free shop in the Danang Crown Plaza in the city’s Ngu Hanh Son district.
Lotte Duty Free seems the logical candidate to run the store. Last December IPPG signed a contract with the South Korean travel retail giant to develop duty free shops throughout Vietnam, including the opening of a 1,598sq m duty free store at the upscale Trang Tien Plaza in Hanoi in December 2021.
IPPG, founded in 1985, is the pioneer of Vietnam’s luxury and travel retail sectors. It claims a 70% share of the Vietnamese luxury market. Subsidiary IPP Travel Retail operates a range of stores, food & beverage outlets and advertising services at Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang and Phu Quoc airports as well as land border duty free shops.
IPPG is headed by Founder & Chairman Jonathan Hạnh Nguyen one of Vietnam’s most respected and influential business figures. He is a pioneer of the luxury, travel retail and airport non-aeronautical revenue sectors.
He is also Chairman of Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company (SASCO) and of Cam Ranh International Airport Company. Nguyen was recently awarded a ‘For the Cause of Education’ medal by the government for his driving role in the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund, a body that works exclusively to support the education of poor ethnic minority students.
