Da Nang Economic Real Story after Covid (August 20, 2022)

Preface

The topic of post-Corona Da Nang, like the topic of "what is happening in a particular local city in Japan", is probably of interest only to those who have a connection, travel, or work-related interest.

As with the topic of "what is going on in a particular local city in Japan", it is likely to be of interest only to those who have some connection with the city, travel, or business.

　Therefore, we would like you to take this information as a restart to dispel your concerns about whether or not the city is viable as a tourist or business destination, or if you do visit, whether or not you will be able to do anything because of the decline of all types of businesses.

■ Two years of blank space.

Even before the worldwide travel restrictions were issued in April 2019, the author, who lives in Vietnam, apparently had information about an outbreak of an infectious disease of unknown cause in China.

At the time, as the outbreak of the disease came to the fore each day, bad memories flashed back to me.

That was the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Vietnam had been designated a SARS infected area in the past, and domestic and international travel was devastated by the disease.

The coronas may have a strong enough impact to plunge the Vietnamese economy into the abyss again, just as SARS did. Based on past experience, the author wondered if Vietnam had already caught wind of the situation and had already begun implementing countermeasures, so he contacted the relevant authorities six months before full-scale restrictions on travel began.

The Vietnam nationwide lockdown began in 2020.

At first, the majority of Vietnamese and foreigners did not take it seriously.

There are phases of lockdowns, and initially, the city or municipality level was tolerant of large scale lockdowns and their lifting.

Smaller areas, smaller than a district, are dotted with government, police, or military alumni or officials.

They were ordered to form a police force, were assigned to the task, and were fed by the daily shopping at designated convenience stores if they handed in a paper request for food and drink.

At the end of 2020, with tourism decimated, the life of the workers, who were living on daily wages, became extremely impoverished.

Some of us Japanese living in Vietnam began to express our opinion that we would not be able to bear the stress if there was another lockdown.

After repeated lockdowns, it became mandatory for citizens to install movement management apps with GPS functions and electronic proof of vaccination. In addition, based on those GPS records and infected person data, a corona hazard map

https://covidmaps.danang.gov.vn/danang?locale=en

were developed, the lockdown was made on a per-household basis in one corner of the district.

Over 90% fewer foreigners in Da Nang, a resort area that has been prospering from the travel industry in 2021.

Information frenzy begins to break out over whether a foreigner's visa should be renewed or not.

In my case, I was told that my visa could not be renewed and that I should return to Japan, but when I applied remotely to the central government for renewal, it was a piece of cake.

Most of the foreigners who were not familiar with Vietnam could not renew their visas, and most of them ended up returning to their home countries.

Da Nang City in particular is a prosperous city with a thriving tourism and offshore industry.

In Da Nang, where 20% of the population is said to be in flux, many Vietnamese without jobs returned to the countryside in the suburbs. Traffic and logistics in the city cooled down, and the city seemed to have reverted back to the Da Nang of 13 years ago.

For example, when driving a motorcycle on the city's main street, there was not a single vehicle running side by side with the other vehicles, and no one was willing to cross the street. All that remained were about 800,000 Vietnamese, who were originally from Da Nang, and a group of several hundred Westerners.

Lockdown release

In 2021, the then Prime Minister issued a commitment declaration that Vietnam would never again be locked down.

He declared that he would accept tourists and business visitors from abroad.

The first to form a travel alliance were South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Another hot topic was the government's announcement of official recognition of vegan diets, which until now had been considered nutritionally unbalanced.

We also began to see a decrease in smokers among executives and middle-aged people, as well as various health-conscious activities and trends.

However, the international negative economic spillover of Corona is recognized to be home in 2023.

2019: 5,264 direct investments on an authorized basis for $22.55 billion, compared to 2022 (estimated as of March): 2,200 for $28.8 billion in Singapore, Denmark, Korea, and China, all large real estate investments due to factory expansion, and production in Vietnam, which is relatively stable due to global uncertainty This is expected to be due to the expansion of the production system in Vietnam, which has been relatively stable due to the unstable global situation. Japanese investment is also expected to cool down.

The number of direct investments from abroad is 50% of the pre-Corona level.

Just as during the Lehman Brothers collapse, construction of facilities under construction in towns that had prospered in the financial and travel industries began to be halted.

　The author was also in the middle of a project undertaken by the Trillion Degree Prefectural Government when one phase of the project was completed.

Many of the partners returned to their home countries after having reached the halfway point of their dreams.

Conversely, the number of inquiries from developed Asian countries to the Danang IT Park (MOU with DX-Labb), such as in the form of G to B, is exploding.

MA and consolidation has also occurred in the food and IT industries, as well as in Vietnam's major e-commerce platforms.

As of August 20, 2022

Although we no longer hear about Vietnam when it comes to overseas travel from Japan, in fact, there are no travel restrictions between Japan and Vietnam.

In fact, there are no restrictions on travel between Japan and Vietnam. The author has been traveling back and forth from Vietnam to Japan for three weeks.

The only thing that might be a problem is the 60-minute quarantine time in Japan.

It is also important to keep in mind that LCCs such as VietJet are relatively free from schedule changes.

Currently, the promotion of domestic travel is so prominent in Da Nang that large buses can be seen daily. We would like to share a part of our report on the daily life of foreign travelers, especially tourists and business travelers from South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.