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/