#Vietnam - Lotus farm-tourism model faces market hurdles in Mekong

MEKONG DELTA — Nguyễn Văn Hơn has been a farmer all of his life. Now, in his mid 50s, he is working as a tour guide.  

He is one of the first lotus farmers in the Mekong Delta to adopt the lotus–ecotourism model as an alternative to growing an unsustainable third rice crop every year (called the autumn-winter crop).

The owner of 4ha of lotus in Mỹ Hòa Commune in Đồng Tháp Province’s Tháp Mười District, Hơn began offering tourism services in 2013 when locals set up the Đồng Sen (lotus farm) ecotourism zone.

His business began to take off about two to three years ago, and during peak season from June to August, he welcomes around 50-100 tourists a day.

Visitors at his farm can pick lotus flowers and enjoy lotus specialties like salted roasted lotus seeds, rice cooked with lotus, sweet lotus dessert, and fresh lotus seeds.

“When I was growing only rice and lotus, my income was quite good, but when I started the tourism business, it definitely improved,” he said. “Last year, visitors from HCM City, Đồng Nai Province and even the central and northern regions came here.”

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Over a period of four years, his business expanded by four-fold.

The Đồng Sen ecotourism zone has now expanded to 11ha, with tourism services the main source of income for local farmers taking part in the model, according to local authorities.

In the first half of 2017, the zone welcomed more than 36,000 local and international visitors and grossed more than VNĐ2.1 billion (US$92,000).

Though the province has encouraged more farmers to join the ecotourism model, not everyone has the skills needed to offer good services or the finances to invest in infrastructure.

Trần Văn Kịch, who has a 4.5ha area of lotus flowers only a 20-minute riverboat ride away from Hơn’s farm, has decided to breed fish on his lotus farm to increase income.

But unlike the lotus–ecotourism model in which the lotus output is bought by tourists, farmers like Kịch who rely on selling lotus seeds are worried about the price fluctuations of lotus.

“I’m not sure if I can sell lotus flowers at good prices this year,” he said. 

As he only sells fresh lotus seeds, he has to rely on prices offered by traders who visit his farm to buy lotus seeds and flowers directly from him.

Sometimes traders are willing to pay VNĐ12,000 per kilogramme, but later change their minds to VNĐ10,000 or even VNĐ8,000 after the lotus is picked, saying the plants are not “beautiful”, according to Kịch. 

Farmers have to sell the lotus plants soon after they picked, he said, because they could lose freshness if they are stored overnight.

“Unstable prices discourage farmers,” he said. “Besides, it’s not easy to find lotus pickers since many of them have moved to other places to work in factories or at construction sites.”

When asked why he still grows lotus even though many neighbours have stopped, he said: “My first thought was that I am doing this for the environment.”

Lotus leaves can also be a good source of organic fertiliser, he said. 

“After harvesting lotus and preparing for the next rice crop, I only need to use half of the fertiliser volume compared to other rice fields,” he added. 

The income from selling fish also helps him cover the expenses of growing lotus.

READ MORE - VIET NAM NEWS

#Vietnam beats France to crack China's top 10 travel destinations

With 200 million Chinese tourists expected to make outbound trips in 2020, Vietnam is set to become even more popular.

Vietnam has become the 10th most popular destination among Chinese tourists, according to new statistics.

Figures from CLSA, a Hong Kong brokerage and investment firm formally known as Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, showed Vietnam has overtaken France to enter the top 10, which is led by Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea.

The survey polled more than 400 Chinese travelers across 25 cities with an average age of 35 and a monthly income of 20,000 yuan ($2,900).

Safety remains the prime concern for mainland travelers, followed by cost and sightseeing opportunities.

A series of terror attacks last year in Europe had deterred Chinese travelers, it said, as cited by the South China Morning Post.

 Last May, a MarketWatch report, citing data from American Express, also showed that summer bookings to Europe’s top destinations, notably France and Turkey, had been hurt by the attacks.

China has always been Vietnam's main source of tourists, and their numbers increased by 57 percent on-year in the first six months of 2017, reaching nearly 1.9 million and accounting for 30 percent of all foreign arrivals. Last year, Vietnam welcomed around 2.7 million Chinese tourists, a jump of 51 percent from the year before.

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Vietnamese media said Chinese visitors have been encouraged by a new policy that allows groups of travelers to visit the border province of Quang Ninh, home to the popular Ha Long Bay, for up to three days without a visa.

CLSA reported that 135 million Chinese people traveled abroad last year, and with 200 million Chinese tourists expected to make outbound trips in 2020, Vietnam is set to become even more popular.

A Bloomberg report last December said Chinese tourists could have a big impact on Vietnam’s economy. It said a 30 percent increase in spending by Chinese tourists would boost Vietnam’s economic growth by nearly 1 percentage point. For Thailand, that would be around 1.6 points.

“Chinese tourism is pretty big for ASEAN now, and all the countries rely on Chinese visitors to keep coming and keep spending,” Edward Lee, an economist with Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, was quoted as saying in the report.

Source - VN Express.net

Thailand wants more tourists who act like Australians

Thailand is now so popular for holidays that almost 35 million foreign tourists -- equivalent to half the country’s population -- are expected this year.

As the influx gets harder to manage, the government is shifting strategy. It’s now targeting a minimum increase in tourism revenue of about 5 percent annually instead of a particular number of visitors, Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said. That means encouraging longer stays and higher daily spending, a mix the typical Australian holidaymaker exemplifies, she said.

“Maybe they’re the ones who are like: this is my time -- I eat, I shop, and I eat, and I shop," Kobkarn, 56, said in an interview.

Australian visitors were among the top 10 biggest spenders in terms of per capita daily expenditure last year, forking out 5,831 baht ($172), Tourism Ministry data shows. Their average length of stay of almost 14 days was the highest in that group. Some nationalities take even longer holidays but tend to be more parsimonious. British tourists, for instance, stayed for just over 18 days on average while spending 4,376 baht daily.

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Tourism is a bright spot for Thailand’s economy, which faces challenges such as political uncertainty and sluggish consumer demand. The sector makes up about 18 percent of gross domestic product, Kobkarn said in the interview in Chiang Mai last month.

 

“We no longer have a target for number of tourists,” she said. “We shouldn’t go beyond the limit that we can cope. But there’s no statistic on that yet. When people say that Phuket may be too crowded, or Bangkok is too crowded, we have to make sure that we are introducing new destinations too.”

Arrivals from overseas more than doubled in the past decade, powered by a surge in Chinese holidaymakers who contributed 28 percent of 1.6 trillion baht in foreign tourism receipts in 2016. 

Affordability is one reason why Thailand has usurped Malaysia as Southeast Asia’s most popular destination, but Kobkarn said the nation must focus on quality as well as cost to tackle emerging competitive threats from the likes of Myanmar and Vietnam.

Quality doesn’t just mean targeting wealthy tourists as Thailand needs travelers on a variety of budgets, Kobkarn said. Instead, it refers to offering good value experiences that encourage return visits, increase the average length of stay and bolster daily spending per head, she said.

Read also: Thailand issues tourist guidelines for mourning period

Visitors from the Middle East are the biggest per capita daily spenders, according to the Tourism Ministry data. Chinese tourists stood out for above-average expenditure and sheer number of arrivals -- 8.8 million, dwarfing other nationalities and making China the most important single country for tourism receipts.

Thailand’s years-long tourism boom slowed somewhat in recent months. That’s partly because of terrorist bombings in resort towns in August last year and a clampdownby the military government on some operators of large Chinese tour groups, which were judged to generate insufficient local spending.

Arrivals are likely to pick up in the second half of 2017 as security concerns fade and Chinese visitors embrace independent travel over package tours, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

That signals more strain for the country’s airports, some of which are already stretched beyond capacity. State-run Airports of Thailand Pcl is planning to invest about $6 billion over a decade to try to ease the bottlenecks.

Read also: 2 weeks, 1 country and a world of wonders in Thailand

Even as Kobkarn tries to focus on revenue targets rather than visitor numbers, arrivals are projected to climb, whether drawn by the allure of white-sand beaches in resorts such as Krabi, the gastronomic delights of Bangkok or the perennially notorious sex capital Pattaya.

The Bank of Thailand forecasts 34.9 million tourist arrivals this year, a climb of about 7 percent from 2016, and 37.3 million in 2018. That’s projected to help Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy expand 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.7 percent next year.

Thailand needs to be a quality tourism destination since a range of factors can prevent it being seen as the cheapest, such as rising wages or an appreciating exchange rate, Kobkarn said.

“We’re working very hard for people not to think only of the cost,” she said. “We’re not the best. We still have many negative things. But we’re very sincere in improving ourselves.”

Source - TheJakartaPost

This untouched beach in central #Vietnam will take your breath away

Bai Dong, which literally means Eastern Beach, is located on the Nghi Son Peninsula in Tinh Gia District, 60km (37 miles) from Thanh Hoa Town. Every weekend, the beach is filled with visitors from the north of Vietnam. Photos by Hong Nhung

The newly-discovered Bai Dong Beach is wowing locals with its sparkling blue waters, white sands and delicious seafood. 

 The beach is with white sand and blue sea.

 Bai Dong is over 200km south of Hanoi. You can travel by coach from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa’s Nghi Son Economic Zone, then take a taxi or a motorbike taxi the next five kilometers to the beach.

 Restaurants located by the sea offer a variety of options.

 Resorts, hotels, and hostels are available to meet your accommodation needs. The cheapest hostel will cost you VND200,000 (less than $9) for a night.

Source - VN Express

#Myanmar, (Burma) Golf tourism needs long drive out of bunkers.

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Myanmar is far from a golf tourist destination despite having many courses in different cities, said U Phyo Wai Yar Zar, vice chair of Myanmar Tourism Federation.

Speaking to The Myanmar Times, he said that golf tourism has a potential niche market but the local courses are not up to the expectations of international golfers.

“We have to try hard if we want to make Myanmar a golfing destination. We can count the number of courses that are of international standard. But that number cannot be compared with other regional countries which have already developed the game and facilities,” U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said.

There are no more than 10 tour agencies offering packages, including golfing.

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In Vietnam, there are 32 international courses. Myanmar has about 60 courses in the whole country.

Daw Su Su Tin, vice chair of Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee, said, “Some tourists have tried golf courses in neighboring countries. A few tours operators are offering a golf program in their itinerary but we cannot promote golfing tourism too much.”

“Myanmar has fine weather, not as expensive as other countries and has a huge potential for golf tourism development,” she said.

U Phyo Wai Yar Zar added, “People know Myanmar as a cultural tourism centre. Perhaps now is the time to promote traditional sport related tourism like chinlone (caneball) and other Myanmar sporting events.”

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“Chinlone as a sporting event cannot be found in other countries. Relevant government departments should make it popular as a tourism product,” he said.

“Also, the golfing market is for high-end tourists who are mostly big spenders. Other facilities such as high-end restaurants and amenities need to be developed,” he said.

Currently, there are no more than six or seven international fine dining restaurants in Yangon.

U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said, “We should first get the primary requirements done up and then continue with other things,” he said.

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“As I know, there’s no website, specific market figures on golfing for tourists. Concerned authorities need to build up the human capital first and the required infrastructure before promoting golf as a product,” he said.

“We have no information yet about the various courses and it is hard to find out who are those interested in golfing in Myanmar. Golfing is the best way to attract visitors as part of tourism,” U Phyo Wai Yar Zar said.

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Source - mmtimes

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#Vietnam - Southeast Asia's longest cross-sea bridge to open shortly

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The 5.4-km long bridge in Hai Phong to undergo tests on May 14. 

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 The Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Bridge, the longest cross-sea bridge in Southeast Asia, will undergo a test run to check loading capacity on May 14, according to a report from local media.
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The 5.4-km long bridge is part of the Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Highway project, which connects developing areas in the east of the northern port city of Hai Phong with Lach Huyen Port in the island district of Cat Hai and the Hanoi - Hai Phong Highway.
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A source from the management board was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying that 99.8 per cent of the work has been completed on the bridge section built by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. and Vietnam’s Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No.4 (Cienco 4). 

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Once the bridge is operational, traveling from Hai Phong city to Cat Hai Island will take about five minutes, compared to hours on ferries.
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The Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Highway project has total investment of almost VND11.85 trillion ($525.3 million), the majority of which comes from Japanese official development assistance. Construction began in May 2014 and was scheduled to be completed this month.
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The project is expected to form a complete transport network facilitating transportation to Lach Huyen International Port, thereby attracting investment to Hai Phong. 

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Source - http://vneconomictimes.com/

#Cambodia / #Vietnam stops nine overloaded trucks with illegal lumber

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Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have recently stopped at least nine overloaded timber trucks crossing into the country from the Kingdom, despite the Cambodian government ostensibly banning wood exports to its eastern neighbor, according to a Vietnamese news report.

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The report, published earlier this month by Baomoi.com, which is described online as a government-owned news outlet, complains about the danger of the overburdened timber trucks from Cambodia regularly barrelling down Vietnam’s National Road 19, which connects to the border crossing in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district, and refers to lax enforcement by Vietnamese authorities of the vehicles exceeding their weight limit.

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Chief traffic inspector for Gia Lai province Nguyen Dang Hung told the outlet that his forces had stopped nine trucks carrying twice their legal capacity. In those cases, Vietnamese authorities unloaded excess wood, temporarily seized the trucks and fined the drivers about $28, it stated.

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Not mentioned in the article is the fact that, since an export ban on timber was announced in January last year, no timber trucks from Cambodia should be present. Cambodian officials have repeatedly asserted that the timber trade with Vietnam has stopped following the ban and subsequent crackdown. 

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The article presents figures attributed to the Gia Lai People’s Committee from late last year stating that 16 companies in the province had been permitted to import 300,000 cubic metres of timber from Cambodia.

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The Post was unable to reach a representative at the Gia Lai People’s Committee to verify the figure or establish its timeframe.

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Recently released Vietnamese customs data collected by the US-based NGO Forest Trends, however, revealed that last year, Vietnam imported 139,306 cubic metres of uncut logs and just over 171,000 cubic metres of sawn wood from Cambodia.

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Ratanakkiri provincial border police chief Heng Ratana, however, dismissed the report and figures. “Through my border there is no [timber smuggling],” he said, in comments later echoed by O’Yadav district police chief Mao Sann.

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“The report is not right. If there were cases of [wood smuggling] journalists would report about it,” Sann said on the phone. “Each month we have cracked down on many cases. This month we stopped about five or six.”

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However, saying timber flows to Vietnam were increasing, long-time anti-logging activist Marcus Hardtke called on the government to clarify its export ban policy and its legal status. “The trade to Vietnam is alive and well. If anything, it’s getting worse this dry season,” he said.

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Source - PhnomPenhPost

AirAsia sets up low-cost airline in Vietnam

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Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Berhad plans to start a low-cost carrier in Vietnam in a joint venture with local businesses to tap the country’s booming travel market, company representatives told Viet Nam News in Hanoi.

AirAsia signed a shareholders’ agreement with Vietnam’s Gumin Co Limited, Hải Âu Aviation Joint Stock Company and Trần Trọng Kiên, the owner of these two companies, to form the joint venture last Friday, which was announced by the airline to Malaysia’s stock exchange. 

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The carrier, expected to start flying at the beginning of 2018, will need an investment of 1 trillion dong (US$44 million), with AirAsia holding 30 per cent and Gumin 70 per cent.

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Vietnam is the latest country to lure Malaysian billionaire Tony Fernandes, the head of AirAsia, who is aspiring to build a low-cost airline network covering Asia, as the 28-per-cent growth in Vietnam’s aviation market is three times the rate in other Southeast Asian countries.

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Vietnam is also the fifth biggest aviation market in the region, after Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, with a passenger volume that has doubled since 2013 thanks to a growing middle class population that accounted for 25 per cent of the total population by 2010.

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In recent years, AirAsia has established affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Japan. The airline is betting on low-cost airline models for international travel through its AirAsia X subsidiary. Fernandes has also ordered hundreds of Airbus aircraft worth billions of dollars to meet his ambitious growth plans, and he is in the process of selling a subsidiary specialising in leasing aircrafts to raise cash.

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However, Brendan Sobie, an analyst at CAPA Centre for Aviation, told Bloomberg that AirAsia would face huge challenges, because it was late in entering the Vietnamese market. “The market is currently well served by two carriers, VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific. The growth rate will slow down in the coming years, as the low-cost market is now more mature.”

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The value of Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company shares has grown 52 per cent since its listing on HCM Stock Exchange in February 28.

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According to a report released by ACB Securities in December last year, passenger traffic in Vietnam will continue to grow at double-digit rates over the next decade, after an annual growth of 17 per cent in the last decade.

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Source - TheNation

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Cambodia - Montagnards fled to Thailand, fearing return to persecution in Vietnam

Montagnards – or “mountain people” as they were named by the French colonialists
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 Fearing repatriation to Vietnam, almost 50 Montagnards fled Cambodia for Thailand after the Interior Ministry began rejecting some of their asylum claims last month, The Post has learned. 
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Meanwhile, the head of the ministry’s refugee department Tan Sovichea yesterday revealed only three of nearly 100 members of the majority Christian Vietnamese ethnic group remaining in Phnom Penh were being considered for refugee status.
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But the exodus, which began on the weekend of March 25, included some individuals with a “very strong” case for asylum, said Denise Coghlan, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, which has been assisting the group during their stay in Cambodia.
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“I can say I was very disappointed that some we considered to have very strong cases received a negative decision and very surprised at the number who were rejected in a very short space of time,” Coghlan said, adding the government began notifying dozens of the refugees that their applications were rejected on March 20.
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“I hope the people who ran away are safe somewhere and hope in the future they receive a just decision,” she said.
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Some 200 Montagnards – or “mountain people” as they were named by the French colonialists – arrived in Cambodia in late 2014 and 2015 from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the group has long complained of religious and political persecution by communist authorities and in decades past.
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Reached yesterday by phone, one of the Montagnards who fled, a 27-year-old, said about 50 Montagnards had made it to Thailand in several separate groups. He said he left by car with five other people and spent two nights near the border before paying a broker $50 to get across during the night.

“We were absolutely terrified, but it would be much worse than that if we were sent back to Vietnam. They will arrest, jail or kill us” he said, speaking his native language of Jarai through a translator. 
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He said his group had made contact with Montagnards in Thailand before fleeing and added he was now with 14 runaways staying in a rental house and trying to make contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to apply for asylum. The UNHCR could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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“We dare not go anywhere so we are not arrested; we just stay inside the home,” he said.
Though an initial group of 13 from the 200 who fled in 2014 and 2015 was granted refugee status – and flown to the Philippines in May where they are seeking asylum in a third country – most spent months in limbo before being registered as asylum seekers in January last year. 
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The Post has been told there are now 96 Montagnards left in United Nations-supported accommodation in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district, where immigration officers have increased their presence since the mass departure. 
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According to a source with knowledge of the situation, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the exodus, police have now restricted the group’s movement.
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 A Montagnard in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district holds up photos of a Montagnard’s funeral inside a Vietnamese prison last year.
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 “Before they were allowed to go out and they could play football. After the other group fled they are not allowed to go out a lot; just to buy food or go to the market for 10 to 15 minutes,” said the source. “They are all concerned that they will be rejected and taken back to Vietnam.”
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Yesterday, at least four Cambodian officials, who were not in uniform, but were obviously there for security, occupied a table in front of the building while a vehicle from the Department of Immigration was parked nearby. 
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One official, who appeared to be in charge, directed questions to the Interior Ministry and refused to identify himself, saying: “You have no right to ask my name.”
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Yesterday, Sovichea, of the refugee department, said he had “no information” on the fate of those who fled, but said it was “not a problem” for the Cambodian government and denied there was any pressure from Vietnam to send them back. 
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He said only 20 or 30 of the group were yet to receive a decision and noted some of those rejected had appealed their rejections. He said only three were being considered for asylum.
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“Only three of them will hopefully be recognised as refugees,” Sovichea said. “The department has evaluated them and made a letter to the superiors to sign to agree and they will get it back within the next two weeks.”
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Sovichea said the rest would be voluntarily repatriated to Vietnam with assistance from the UNHCR, as has been the case with other individuals rejected, including six who were sent back on March 14. 
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He added that authorities had intended last month to send back 10 people, but four refused at the last minute to leave and were later among those who fled. 
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The Montagnard speaking from Thailand claimed one of the recent returnees to Vietnam had been harassed by police upon arriving and “slapped in the face” for not answering questions about fleeing to Cambodia, though The Post could not independently verify this. 
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The asylum seeker said he had crossed the border into Cambodia’s Ratanakkiri province in 2015 after being detained for two days by Vietnamese authorities who he said had also “tortured” his brother and jailed his brother-in-law, whom he said died in prison.
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“[In Vietnam] we were persecuted, not allowed to gather, pray or celebrate Christmas. Particularly we were afraid of arrest by the authorities, so we fled to Cambodia but they did not grant us refugee status so we came here because we are frightened of repatriation to Vietnam.”
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Contact authors: Shaun Turton and Phak Seangly

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Vietnam to mark World Water Day

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A series of events will be held in Bắc Ninh Province this week to mark World Water Day 2017, said the Ministry of Environmental and Natural Resources.

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The highlights of the March 21 to 23 events include a national rally, a scientific conference on safe treatment and reuse of wastewater, and an exhibition of photos and wastewater treatment equipment.

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The March 22 water day aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce water pollution, reuse water, protect water sources and exploit them effectively, according to the Department of Water Resources Management under the ministry of environment.

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Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is one of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to which Việt Nam has expressed its commitments, according to the Việt Nam News Agency.

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Within the agenda, by 2030 everyone will have access to safe water resources and have their sanitation conditions improved by reducing the percentage of untreated wastewater and increasing reuse of safe water.

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Some 80 per cent of the world’s wastewater from social activities is released into the ecosystems without treatment and reuse.

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High-income nations treat some 70 per cent of their wastewater, but the rate only comes to 38 and 28 per cent for nations with above and below average incomes, respectively. Low-income nations treat only some 8 per cent of their wastewater.

Some 1.8 billion people in the world are using unsafe water resources and water with poor sanitation, of which 842,000 die per year..

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SOURCE

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Vietnam - Gov’t set to relax farmland ceiling

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Viet Nam News MEKONG DELTA — The Government is considering relaxing limits on individual farmland holdings, a move largely welcomed by experts despite misgivings about some negative social impacts. 

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Allowing larger land holdings will greatly facilitate modernisation of the country’s agriculture sector, many experts say.

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Currently, the allocation quota of farmland for annual crops for each household or individual must not exceed 2-3 hectares. Many people have been arguing for sometime that this limit runs counter to the needs of co-operatives and businesses engaging in industrialised, large-scale agricultural production.

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The national average land allocation for each household is extremely small at around 0.5-0.7ha. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reckons that in order to overcome poverty, on average, each rice cultivating household must own at least 2ha.

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In a recent resolution, the government tasked the MARD, the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, and the Ministry of Justice, to prepare amendments to the existing Law on Land by the end of this year, with the focus on rectifying farmland quotas.

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Vũ Trọng Khải, former rector of the School for Training Rural and Agriculture Development Management Experts, said the government should have done this long ago.

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“The existing allocation quota that has been in place for years has actually hindered agricultural production,” he said.

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Khải pointed out the fact that the Law on Land also contains contradictory clauses, in that it stipulates a ceiling on how much land a farmer can own, but imposes no such limit on businesses.

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“That’s why some people still can work around this limit. Sáu Đức, a farmer I know in An Giang Province, had accumulated some 70 hectares of farmland years ago, despite the restriction. However, the ‘excessive’ land parcels are all registered under his relatives’ names. When he was able to open a company, he used the company’s legal entity to gather back all the parcels, and now he owns some 150 hectares,” Khải said

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Vietnam - Star director’s new gig: tourism ambassador

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King-sized: Kong: Skull Island, the mega-budget blockbuster is the biggest Hollywood project filmed in Việt Nam to date. — Photo courtesy of Legendary and Warner Bros.

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Viet Nam News 

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HÀ NỘI — Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of the new Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island, was voted Việt Nam’s next tourism ambassador by a 13-member council under the Ministry of Culture and Sport.

The American director is expected to be officially appointed next Monday. In an earlier exchange, Vogt-Roberts said he was happy to represent the country and promote its image to the international art community.

“’Kong: Skull Island’ is a joint US$190 million production between two major film powerhouses: Legendary and Warner Bros. The movie is expected to be a smash hit at the box office, attracting millions of viewers worldwide. Serving as our next tourism ambassador, Jordan Vogt-Roberts will bring about great coverage and improve the image of Việt Nam globally,” the council said.

In numerous videos featuring the making of the US blockbuster, the director and the film cast did not hide their admiration for Việt Nam’s pristine scenery, landscapes and local hospitality.

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“I don’t think most of the world knows how gorgeous Việt Nam looks. You see shapes and landscapes that you didn’t know existed in ages. It’s beautiful,” said Vogt-Roberts in a Youtube video.

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“And you just fall in love with the culture, the people and everything about this country.  And the places there, they are just spectacular,” he said.

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2016 Oscar Best Actress winner Brie Larson plays war photojournalist Mason Weaver. She said that “Việt Nam in particular is very special because it has never been captured on film before in this way.”

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“Promoting the image of a country and its tourism potential through cinema is important. A successful movie can inspire audiences to travel to its filming locations,” said deputy head of General Department of Tourism Ngô Hoài Chung.

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“There was already a similar case in Việt Nam. After the success of Vietnamese box office hit Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh (Yellow flowers on green grass), central province of Phú Yên, where the movie was filmed, has seen a surge in the number of visitors."

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Chung also said steps have already been taken to preserve Kong: Skull Island filming locations for future plans.
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Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island was shot in three provinces of Ninh Bình, Quảng Ninh and Quảng Bình. It is the biggest Hollywood movie ever to be filmed in Việt Nam.

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The movie premiered in Việt Nam on Thursday, a day before it hit international cinemas. — VNS

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Read more at

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Cambodia - BigPhone dials into local market

A man browses Facebook on his smartphone in Phnom Penh.

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 Mobile World Investment Corp (MWG) – one of the largest mobile phone and electronic products distribution chains in Vietnam – will open its first store in Cambodia, operating under the name BigPhone.com, according to Vietnamese state media.

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Construction on the first 150- to 200-square-metre store in Phnom Penh is nearly completed and the branch is expected to open this quarter, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The English-language news outlet quoted MWG director-general Tran Kinh Doanh as saying Cambodia was the first market for the company’s regional expansion, which will also see stores opened in Myanmar and Laos.

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“Cambodia was chosen to be the first country for the group to approach in Indochina,” he said.

Established in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, MWG is a fast-growing retail chain for mobile phones and digital devices, including mobile phones, tablets and accessories. It operates a network of stores as well as an online channel.

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MWG (Cambodia) Co Ltd registered with Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce last October. The company’s Vietnamese directors could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A study on cellphone and internet use in Cambodia published last year by the Asia Foundation revealed that the Kingdom’s market was already heavily saturated. Over 94 percent of Cambodians claimed to own their own phone handset, with nearly 40 percent of those surveyed claiming to have at least one smartphone.

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Bung Hor, CEO of T-Shop, a Phnom-Penh based electronics products distributor with eight branches, said yesterday that demand for mobile phones and accessories had grown significantly with deepening smartphone penetration. 

He said the rising demand had driven his company’s expansion, and he was confident there was still room in the market for new retailers of mobile phones and their accessories.

“There are more and more competitors while the demand is also higher,” he said.

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Source - PhnomPenhPost

Business Talk.

Yesterday I has a famous hotel owner in my office.
He ask why we open a restaurant in Thailand. (ground-floor)
He say why not open a restaurant in Cambodia (with gentle people) and take a Vietnamese cook. (the best of Asia)

I thought and hear this before, but I love Bangkok.
The man continued, all Thai are cheap charlies, and eat only rotten fish (para) and it is always to expensive.
'True words.'

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