As it looks to increase visitor numbers to its Aristo International Hotel in Vietnam, operator Donaco International has expressed an interest in helping to re-develop a small airport in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.

Established in 2002 on the border with China’s Yunnan Province, Aristo International Hotel was recently renovated to five-star standards and now offers 400 rooms and a casino featuring 48 gaming tables and some 300 slots.

Speaking at the Lao Cai Investment And Tourism Development 2016 seminar on Saturday, Joey Lim, Managing Director for Donaco International, revealed that a larger airport in the region would help to boost tourism by welcoming international flights from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Laos.

“We would love to work with developer Sun Group and the Bank For Investment And Development Of Vietnam in the development,” Lim told Vietnam Investment Review. “Eventually we’ll see Lao Cai becoming a hub for tourism and logistics and an airport is very critical for the development of the province.”

The expansion plan currently in the works would see Lao Cai airport re-developed for use by civil and military aircraft up to the size of the 150-seat Airbus A320 and from as far away as Jakarta, Kunming and Vientiane. The initial plan for the province’s only airport calls for the construction of a pair of aircraft parking spaces to bring annual capacity up to 560,000 passengers and 600 tonnes of freight while this could be increased to as high as 1.58 million visitors and 2,880 tonnes of goods by 2030.