Tourism - how to make it work?

Quick note on posting. I am moving in the next few weeks, so I will be posting irregularly until then (and not at all next week). Please let me know if there is anything that you want me to write about, but in the meantime, enjoy a little time off in July.

COVID has devastated the tourism industry in Vietnam. We have talked about this before (here and here). Ultimately, until the country opens up to international travel, there will be essentially no foreign tourists, especially with a 14-day quarantine. Luckily if you have a lot of time, that could be a nice break. And if they put you in a government facility, you might not have to pay for quar!

Source: Nhan Dan online

There are some numbers out for HCMC tourism in 1H2020, and it is not pretty. The number of tourists visiting fell more than 50% (fewer foreign tourists than domestic ones) and revenues were down 50%. I am a bit surprised it’s not worse, to be honest. The whole country has been locked down since Tet, yet they still had 1.3m tourists.

The hope is that domestic tourists will make up for the missing foreigners (that sounds like a Bobsey Twins mystery: The case of the missing foreigners). The HCMC government started a campaign in June to help promote the city domestically. I am sure it will help some, but in Vietnam we have moved from the direct impact of the pandemic effects to the indirect impact of the economic collapse of the rest of the world effects. This second part is going to hurt tourism.

My view, as I have stated previously, is that the government should stimulate. More money! In this case it will alleviate problems. But there are problems - currency issues, inflation, etc. Given declining demand, inflation may not be that big of a problem and should allow more governmental flexibility.

In other news, the government is looking to use Phu Quoc as a test case for allowing foreign tourists back in. Last year, Phu Quoc had 5m tourists, a bit more than 10% of whom were foreign.

No Americans will be allowed in, though! It will be reserved for countries that have been successful in combating COVID. That likely means New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Thailand, maybe Australia (although there are some new cases there). It will be unlikely to include Europe, since the Europeans aren’t allowing Vietnamese in. Seems short-sighted of Europe since Vietnam has been so successful in countering the ‘rona.

It looks like China might not make that list, either. There are a few Chinese being caught crossing the border to gamble. They then have to stay in quarantine for 2 weeks. It costs $700 to sneak across the border, if you pay a smuggler. Seems expensive, just to gamble.

Source: Reuters/Kham

Finally, in a stupid story, a new five-star hotel in Hanoi opened. It has a gold-plated toilet and bathtub, along with lots of gold elsewhere, including the swimming pool. I lived in Dubai, so I am not shocked by these things as much as I find them tacky.

Supposedly an actual ton of gold was used in building the hotel. At current prices for gold, that would equate to $57m (I am assuming a metric ton). But since they bought it a while ago, it probably only cost them a bit over $40m. They could sell it now for a nice profit!