Sun Group has recently been honoured in the Top 10 excellent brands at the Vietnamese Strong Brand Awards 2020-2021 held by Vietnam Economic Magazine.

This is recognition deserved for the great efforts and contributions of this Group to the country and community, during two particularly difficult years under the COVID-19 pandemic effects.

Launched in 2003, "Vietnamese Strong Brand" is one of the reputable awards of the Vietnamese business community every year. The special award this year is to honour businesses who have been resilient and determined to surpass all difficulties and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and have performed effective digital transformation, innovated production and business activities, guaranteed employment for employees and actively contributed to the development of the community.

The representative of the award organisation, Mr. Chu Van Lam, Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Economic Review said: “Considering all criteria, Sun Group clearly demonstrates the bravery of a leading enterprise in the fields that this Group gets involved in, as well as its endless efforts in innovation and creativity to prevail difficulties in the context of unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic, aiming to maintain development and accompany the entire country in the battle against the pandemic during the past two years.”

Bravery of being the “leader of storks”

In the first six months of this year, there have been 70,209 businesses leaving the market, that is an increase of 24.9% compared to that in the same period in 2020. The growth of a tourism business like Sun Group in the past two years has always been negative and with packed with difficulties.

Capella Hanoi Hotel (Hanoi)

However, even when the destinations become quiet, the life circuit at Sun Group's tourist destinations has still been continuing every day. Resorts, hotels, tourism and entertainment complexes of the group are continuously being covered with a new look, making them more beautiful. While many businesses postponed their operations to wait for the pandemic to end, Sun Group has been constantly putting many high-end products into operation. In 2020, there is a presence of the Yoko Onsen Quang Hanh hot mineral bathing resort and the Premier Village Halong Bay beach resort in Quang Ninh; Cat Hai - Phu Long aerial tramway route in Hai Phong. In 2021, it is followed with the Capella Ha Noi Hotel (Hanoi) and New World Phu Quoc Resort (Phu Quoc), etc. Cat Hai - Phu Long aerial tramway route set a Guinness record with the "World's tallest aerial tramway". Capella Hanoi and New World Phu Quoc Resort have recently been suggested by TIME Magazine as destinations worth experiencing when coming to Hanoi and Phu Quoc.

Promoting the digital transformation in order to become a smart enterprise

Digital transformation has become an inevitable path in the current context. However, based on statistics, there is up to 70% of businesses facing failure when implementing digital transformation.

In October 2020, Sun Group made a decision to promote the "digitisation" of management, business, and operations, etc., aiming to become a smart enterprise. Only after nearly just three months of implementation, the first phase of the large-scaled digital transformation has been completed by putting the ERP system - SAP S/4HANA into operation – which is one of the top enterprise resource planning solutions of new generation (ERP-Enterprise Resource Planning) today. Sun Group has achieved what few businesses have managed.

Sun Group has put the ERP system - SAP S/4HANA into operation - one of the top enterprise resource planning solutions of the new generation

In addition to digitisation, high-tech applications are also promoted by Sun Group. Until now, non-touch or one-touch applications, minimising customer contact procedures when booking and making services have been pioneered and tested at the hotel and resort system of Sun Group, and it is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

Responding flexibly, seeking opportunities in challenges to take care of employees

Postponing to receive guests, the Group has utilised this period to cover new refurbishments, maintain the hotel and resort works of Sun Hospitality Group and Sun World amusement parks, etc. Real estate projects of Sun Property (a member of Sun Group) is leading the trend and will be continuously launched to the market in a very flexible way through well-organised online product introduction and promotional shows, connecting to tens of thousands of viewers. That is also the reason why the Real Estate segment of this Group set many remarkable records during the pandemic, which is shown by the fact that 97% of the Sun Grand Boulevard shophouse fund in Sam Son (Thanh Hoa) are occupied after just a month since launching, 1500 Sun Marina Town (Ha Long) apartments all sold out immediately after being introduced to the market, both of the two first shows of introducing the Sun Tropical Village project to loyal customers were successful with 100% of the apartment fund registered for reservation.

The Group has utilised this period to cover new clothes, maintain the hotel and resort works of Sun Hospitality Group, Sun World amusement parks

The bravery and creativity is expressed the most clearly by Sun Group through its exceptionally humane and flexible human resource policies to adapt to the pandemic situation the best way while still guaranteeing the stability of income and livelihoods for employees and their families, in parallel with consolidation of the internal synergy of the whole system.

Nguyen Huyen Trang, an employee of the Group, said: “While many employees working in the tourism sector are unemployed, Sun Group employees are still assigned to work and receive a regular salary on time. It is difficult for other businesses to be able to pay enough salaries for their employees. In Sun Group, in the first six months of the year, employees who made positive contributions to the Group still received bonuses. Additionally, it is an even happier place to work when there are many officers and employees considered for periodic salary increases. Leaders of the Group have not complained for a single day, even though we understand that they have to work extremely hard to be able to maintain the business during COVID-19 period.”

Up to now, Sun Group is proud to be one of the businesses with the best human resource policies during the pandemic period, when it was honoured to receive the award of "Business having effective responses in a changing environment" by Vietnam HR Awards 2020 and it is continuously honoured to be recently named the "Best Working Environment in Asia in 2021" by HR-Asia Magazine.

Jointly fighting against the pandemic - “sacred compatriots”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, being persistent on all fronts, in all localities where there is an outbreak of pandemic, you would find Sun Group. Giving sponsorship in cash to the Vaccine Fund of the Government, to the Local Pandemic Prevention Fund; Building a field hospital; Constructing and installing Intensive Care Units (ICU); Supporting medical equipment and biological products for hospitals; Sponsoring food for the poor, etc., are example of support by the Group. It is difficult to mention all the support that the Group has provided.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, being persistent on all fronts, in all localities where there is an outbreak of pandemic, you would find Sun Group.

Forbes Vietnam on June 24th made an announcement of the Top 30 enterprises making the most support contribution during the pandemic period. Sun Group is ranked in third place after Vingroup and Van Thinh Phat Group. After that time, Sun Group has constantly accompanied the Government and localities in the battle against the pandemic.

Answering the press when asked why despite difficulty circumstance, the Group still makes an effort to jointly share the burden with the whole country, Mr. Dang Minh Truong, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Group said: “The philosophy of patriotism has become the guideline for all activities of Sun Group. When the country is encountering difficulties because of the pandemic, that philosophy must be made a priority, because of the long-standing view of Sun Group, the sacred compatriots is much more than the interests of the business.”

With all the efforts, creativity, flexible responses to maintain a strong business in difficult times and constantly joining with the whole country to fight against the pandemic, the title of Top 10 of Vietnamese excellent brands awarded to Sun Group is more meaningful than any other award. This worthy recognition and honour will be a great driving-force for patriotic enterprises like Sun Group to continue their unceasing efforts to surpass difficulties, contributing to making the tourism industry in particular and the economy of the country in general recover faster and stronger after the pandemic.