Gia Lai lands $420M in tourism investment across two projects

Gia Lai province, formed by last July's merger of the old Gia Lai and Binh Dinh provinces, picked up roughly $420 million in tourism investment across two projects in late November 2025. The merger gave inland Gia Lai a coastline for the first time, with Quy Nhon and Pleiku now anchoring the combined territory.

Arque Degi JSC, a consortium of Vietnam's Lac Viet Group, Switzerland's Finance Suisse, and yacht builder Palmer Johnson, holds licenses worth about $322 million for three floating urban-tourism developments spanning over 500 hectares around De Gi Lagoon. The plans include floating hotels and villas, hillside residences, a super-yacht marina, a golf course, and a "billionaire island." Construction is set to run in two phases from mid-2025 to 2032, with the projects operating on 50-year terms.

Blooming Sky, co-chaired by SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man, is building a $98.6 million culture, sport, and entertainment complex on 308 hectares in Cat Tien commune, with a golf course, hotels, and venues sized for tens of thousands of spectators. The province has also signed a cooperation memorandum with Blooming Sky for a second phase worth roughly $220 million, though that one isn't yet at the licensing stage.

Provincial officials say the two projects combined will create thousands of jobs once built. Whether Gia Lai's new coastline actually pulls in the visitor numbers Quy Nhon and the developers are betting on is the open question for the next few years.