Argentina elections, Kinda

Argentina - Elections, kinda

No wine with those empanadas today Mister!; unless you are creative. More on that later. There is an antiquated law that prohibits alcohol sales on election days. In the way, way past I have been told that the gauchos would get too drunk to vote; and in Argentina, they vote on Sundays. Luckily, I have been coming here for some time and was provided a glass of Malbec, sorry two, ensconced in a teapot and cup.

President Macri, a reform minded president, was elected almost two years ago, which drew the visits of Obama, and today, Pence (with great live translation). The country used to be blacklisted on the world capital markets. Not anymore. And after yesterday’s better than expected results for the kinda elections, expat investors are mapping out where to plant their investments. By kinda, I mean Sunday was one big non binding poll for the real midterm elections in October; but they mean a lot here and provide more clarity and momentum, and sadly more ads. Like all elections, digital marketing and search engine optimization played an even bigger role in some cases replacing past campaign strategies of big rallies. Less spoken words and more online photos were the orders of some campaign advisors. We are still unpacking its effectiveness, since the Senate race in Buenos Aires is still to close to call.

Some of the major areas that the President is trying to reform and facing resistance is in competition. For example, in the area of technology strategies, there is only one main company in the nation that provides a network for credit card transactions. Hmm. So while many want to protect the workers of native industries, such as textiles, as another example, the other side wants consumers to have more choices and as a result lower prices and, wait for it, less inflation.

In this context, bitcoin is playing a bigger role than in many other places, with a lot of startups located in Buenos Aires (where the Governor lives on a military base, for her protection, but more on that next time) are focused on digital currency. I wish them better luck than Uber. More to come..

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Danang, Boom to be Trumped?

Danang: There is a Boom going on here… But will it be Trumped?

Work brings me to Vietnam twice a year. It takes a bunch of planes to reach the city, but the trip is worth it. If spicy seafood and the beach are to your liking, Danang has it. There are also the mountains, the river, and the historic countryside. From a business standpoint, it is always surprising to see all the new construction in the city and along the beach. The city is using Singapore as a city to model, which to me means air-conditioning everywhere! Looks like down the road, we may need sweaters here. Crazy. In the five years that I have been working here, the hotel construction (and construction in general) has only sped up. I do miss some of my old little spots along the beach and river though, which are now being replaced by large chains.

While Danang is very much playing the tourism card, it will be interesting to see what happens to their manufacturing sector. Will Trump’s “America First” impact their (Danang and the country’s as a whole) textile exports to the US? Clearly they are worried.

Again, tourism in Danang is a different matter. First domestically, Danang is a beach spot for the Vietnamese. Weekend packages are big for those from Hanoi and Saigon (it’s ok you can still call it that). Second, the once numerous Chinese tourists have been Trumped, sorry, replaced by the South Koreans. Some Naval engagements in the East Sea (don’t call it The South China Sea!) between Vietnam and China a few years back cooled relations and led to new marketing efforts in Seoul. With sprinkles of Australian, Russian (still their main military connection) and European guests, the tourism industry has a well diversified portfolio. Americans do go there (and English is the default language for all foreign guests at the upscale hotels), but fewer compared to the rest. Must be the plane ride.

I would love to make this a food blog. Allow me one quick one: Spring Rolls! Thank you.

Now onto the Technology. While WhatsApp (pronounced WhatsUp) in many parts of Latin America is the communication app of choice, Danang is all about facebook messenger. And yes you are right, facebook bought WhatsApp. So their technology strategy wins. But if you are communicating locally, its messenger. Unlike other places I have traveled, I never thought my phone was going to get stolen here since everyone had a better phone than me. I am rocking the Nexus 5 with Google fi as my international phone. I bought two and got another SIM from google, just in case...But not here; this could be the safest tourist spot I have ever been. Although Vietnam is one of the few countries where project fi is not available on the cell network, there is a city wifi, and fi defaults to wifi if available. Again, this country is all about facebook which is free compared to accepting a call from my international number which costs them. Finally Google translate is improving, so they could play a bigger role aside from search and digital marketing. I imagine their AI will change things on the language front in the not too distant future.

Singapore also shows its influence in Grab, their Uber. I used it a couple times. You can get a cab or car and maybe even get a text from your driver.

Finally hearts and minds and soft power. The US Navy’s 7th Fleet continues to win over the affections of the country. They build schools, give free surgeries, and have a killer band which gives free concerts. They are LOVED here and seem to provide some counterbalance to the surreal old US Marine locations from the war. Check them out, on facebook of course:

https://www.facebook.com/7thFleetBand/

BizEnglish
Peter Nyheim, Ph.D.

Big Buildings and small paintings. Differences in culture and technology.

Welcome to the blog on tourism technology by a tourism techie. I will be traveling and describing both the big and small uses of technology in the industry that I come across, and other related topics. My hope is that the different examples and stories might enable you to look at the technology you are using or encountering from a different angle.

Big buildings and small paintings

Last year, I had some business in Ecuador. Specifically, my travels brought me to Quito and Cuenca. Remember, Ecuador has many ecosystems. I was in the mountainous regions. Like many major Latin American cities, Quito missed much of the previous “wired” versions of technology, and moved right to mobile, resulting in less clutter to block those great views.

Quito was big-tech in the form of new construction outside the old city. Upon arrival, I walked through the new airport and wondered when the United States would start taking its infrastructure and tourism technology more seriously. While I still encountered old legacy systems for air travel (as we still have in the USA by the way) it was refreshing to see an up to date airport. This arrival point and new road to town were designed with tourism in mind. So far so good, as far as marketing Quito was concerned.

Cuenca, the cultural capital of the country, also had its own infrastructure happenings, in the form of a controversial tram going right through the old part of city. While the government went big and long on building technology, the younger social media consumers were using technology in a different way; they were sharing photos of traditional media art created by their friend's hands. No photoshop here. They started with brushes and pencils. Original paintings and graffiti art were widespread in both the on and offline realms.

Big Government projects and hand-made shared content would be my elevator speech for these fantastic regions. More to come...

BizEnglish
Peter Nyheim, Ph.D.