That was the grim message delivered to the 700 international investors at the Vietnam Travel Property Opportunity Conference in Ho Chi Minh City recently.

Delegates said the country’s 3,000 kilometers of coast line, breathtaking scenery and cultural and historical landmarks are all major selling points which are being hampered by avoidable problems.

Martin Kaye, general director of Hong Kong-based Starbay Holdings told the conference, “I was only granted a construction license for a US$1.65 billion resort in Phu Quoc Island after four years of paperwork and negotiations with local authorities.”

David Lim – a senior consultant at Mayer Brown JSM – added, “Vietnam lost many investors in the real estate industry with its land renting procedures, land clearance cost negotiations and applications for licenses.”

Another major concern are the land and house prices which have surpassed other Asian cities with much better infrastructure and economic fundamentals such as China’s Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.

A Global Property Guide report released in February listed Vietnam as the 91th most expensive property market, above Guangzhou at 96th, Kuala Lumpur 99th, and Jakarta at 106th.

“Vietnamese authorities offered foreign investors land prices that are higher than Bali and Phuket,” said Marc Townsend, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Vietnam.

But infrastructure at the Indonesian and Thai tourism hotspots was better 20 years ago than Vietnam’s is today, Townsend noted.