1 post tagged “vietnam”
While at work, I came by a World Economic Forum report: Travel and Tourism Competitiveness 2009. I am proud to say that Switzerland ranked #1 out of 133 in having “the most attractive environment for developing the travel and tourism industry.”
And not too far down the list at #5 is Canada, beating the USA. The report bases the rankings on several factors, which include price competitiveness, policies, health and hygiene, safety and security, infrastructure etc. And on top of each factor, they go into further detail giving each detail a score.
Pictures of Canada above...
Of course Switzerland ranked 123 out of 133 on price competitiveness because it is SO expensive in Switzerland! But in general, Switzerland scored high in most of the factors, giving it the top place in this report. Vietnam ranked 89 out of 13 in this. This is really great for the country, especially as the marketing continues to grow at such a high rate annually: approximately 15%.
I remember that the tourism in Vietnam about 10 years ago was at a comfortable level. Things were much cheaper and there was much less development, especially in Hanoi. Today there are huge changes in Vietnam! I would say that around the time that the SARS epidemic hit, tourist blossomed in Vietnam, while other countries in the Southeast region suffered. And of course when there was a bit of unrest in Thailand, tourists flocked to Vietnam. Really, I’m coming from a hotel industry background where I remember there being a huge increase in hotel occupancy in the hotels and prices rising. Today we see construction sites left and right. New high-rise apartment buildings taking shape, with the city filled with lots and lots of taxis (it could compete with New York I think), while a decrease in its traditional cultural elements such as street markets and cyclos (rickshaw). And of course, not to forget, prices are going crazy here! I used to love, love, love Vietnam so much because of its traditional culture, because of its slow modernization. I found the people to be more humble back then, whereas now there is a bit more of an aggression and greed for money. Now I feel like I really need to fight for a bargain because of the EXTREME overpriced items for tourists/expats or I really need to fight to get my change from the taxi driver! If you enter a store, but don’t buy anything, I feel the staff get more annoyed and angry that you ‘wasted their time going into their store.’ Yes it’s all business; I get that, but what about the culture? I know there is some overgeneralization in what I am saying, because I have lots of really wonderful, wonderful Vietnamese friends whom I adore. My expectations coming to Hanoi were very high because of my wonderful past experience living here. What I am talking about is a trend that I am noticing and I am scared it will continue on at more of a rapid rate.
This is the trouble with modernization and globalization – Culture gets lost and people get caught up in the hustle and bustle. This is part of city life! I feel like with this fast-paced globalization of the world, people are more unhappy because of how much harder we need to work to earn much less money as we did before. Yes technology makes life easier to keep in contact, but it also forces people to always be on the ball at all times. I literally feel like I am one of those circus performers balancing myself on a ball on a string! Unfortunately money makes the world we created go round, but it is destroying us all at the same time! Let’s practice what we preach instead of preaching values of harmony and peace simply for marketing sake. Please accept my apologies for such pessimism, but it hurts me to see the extremely rapid modernizing changes taking place in Vietnam – I miss its old ways! It takes a lot of patience to play along with the damaging side of globalization; maybe one day I’ll get it! :-p
