Hotel Haegumgang

38°43′33″N 128°12′20″E / 38.7258767°N 128.2054575°E / 38.7258767; 128.2054575

The Hotel Haegumgang (Korean: 호텔해금강), originally the Four Seasons Barrier Reef Resort, was the world's first floating hotel. Originally designed to exploit the tourism potential of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Four Seasons Barrier Reef Resort opened on 9 March 1988 and was initially situated in the shallow John Brewer Reef, 70 kilometres (43 miles) northeast of Townsville.

The floating hotel quickly proved to be economically unviable, attributed to frequent bad weather, its remote location, and a series of incidents that undermined public confidence. In April 1989, the hotel was purchased by EIE International and relocated to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where it became the city's first five-star hotel and a commercial success. Renamed the Saigon Floating Hotel, the floating hotel was open in Ho Chi Minh City from November 1989 to August 1996. Once more running into financial troubles, the hotel was purchased by Hyundai Asan in 1998. Hyundai Asan relocated the hotel to the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region in North Korea and renamed it to the Hotel Haegumgang. Part of an effort to sustain large-scale tourism projects in North Korea during a thaw in bilateral relations with South Korea, Hotel Haegumgang was open from October 2000 until Hyundai Asan suspended operations in July 2008.

After being shut down, the Hotel Haegumgang remained docked at Mount Kumgang. It is unclear whether it was used by the North Koreans during this time. The hotel was demolished by the North Korean government on the orders of Kim Jong Un in March 2022.