Hot Chi Minh
Foreign investment means tourism is coming to Vietnam’s capital, says Ben Griffiths
Intoxicating Ho Chi Minh is the best place to experience the myriad changes taking place in Vietnam, a country on the fast-track to becoming one of the hottest spots in Asia.
The downtown area encapsulates all the sights and sounds of Asia juxtaposed with towering excesses of modernity in the form of office blocks and modern hotels.
A clutch of French colonial-era public buildings provide spots of interest among the new glass buildings and traditional apartments.
Saigon – the central area of Ho Chi Minh which was the capital city of American-backed South Vietnam before the 1975 Communist victory – has history in abundance and character in spades.
Investment Surge
It’s also very, very busy. Vietnam is the tenth most populous country in the world with 86 million people – of which 60 per cent are under the age of 30 – making it an exciting and essential place to do business.
Indeed, the sheer volume of people can be overwhelming for the visitor, especially when it comes to crossing roads packed with every form of motorised and human powered transport you can imagine.
And all these people are clamouring for a better way of life. Accession to the World Trade Organization is considered by the locals to be the single most important factor in Vietnam’s development since start of the Doi Moi reform program in 1986. Already thee has been a surge in investment by foreign companies such as British insurance giant Prudential. In 2007, $13bn was invested in new projects, three times the amount contributed in 2005.
The United Nations has also designated Vietnam among the top ten most attractive destinations for investment, meaning that business people from around the globe are flooding into Saigon’s many modern hotels.
“The financial growth of this country has been phenomenal, having woken up from Communism just 10 years ago,” says Bich Pham, chief executive of Prudential’s fund management arm in Vietnam.
Low labour costs also mean that Chinese factories are moving to Vietnam and there is a shift of agricultural workers to urban areas to man these new enterprises.
A stock market was created in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000 and capitalisation of the companies quoted on it reached $1bn for the first time in 2005, rapidly growing to $10bn by the following year.
First Porsche Garage
That all means that the middle class is growing fast. A decade ago transport in Ho Chi Minh City was mainly by bicycle. Motorbikes and scooters were an exotic rarity. Today cars are everywhere and the roads are beginning to clog with Western style traffic jams. The first Porsche garage is being constructed.
To deal with the increased need for transport, the government has launched a major public works program, in particular to improve the journey to and from the main airport, the former US airbase at Ton Sanh Nuht. A subway system is also underway. In total, $200bn of new infrastructure money is needed in the next decade.
Tourism also holds major potential and many believe that Vietnam could rival Thailand. At present it attracts 5 million visitors a year, but its long coastline, which has many beautiful beaches, is gradually being developed.
For now, though, most American and European tourists are lured by one off the few things they know about Vietnam: the war in the 60s and 70s.
Among the attractions relating to these times are the Cu Chi Tunnels – the secret underground base of the Vietnamese resistance movement – and the War Remnants Museum, which displays a collection of military hardware alongside photographic displays and some disturbing relics such as a foetus deformed by Agent Orange chemicals.
More traditional sights include the Ben Thanh Market. Situated on the famous Dong Khoi street, it offers a bewildering cornucopia of stalls selling everything from tourist T-shirts to elegant Chinese tea sets. Best of all are the fresh food stalls with the pungent aroma of fish sauce and seafood mixed with tropical fruits and spices.
The nearby Reunification Palace is a masterpiece of 1960s architecture and provides a cool retreat from the heat of the city’s streets.
If you want to experience the real Vietnam at close quarters, you can take a trip in one of the cyclos parked nearby. While the authorities have tried to ban these combinations of bicycles and rickshaws – riders persist in hawking their wares outside most of the tourist attractions.
Among the other downtown sights to experience are the History Museum and Ho Chi Minh Museum which tell the story of Vietnam’s past and of its greatest revolutionary hero. French colonial splendour is on show at the old Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral across the square.
For Asian architecture and culture, two of the most beautiful pagodas are the Xa Loi Pagoda and Vinh Nghiem Pagoda, which are both in District 3. For business or pleasure, Ho Chi Minh’s the place.