Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City do not encourage the offering of any additional drinking services along a downtown pedestrian street amid complaints of its deterioration into a giant booze hub.
Local officials envision Bui Vien Walking Street in District 1 to be more of a tourism destination hospitable to both expats and foreign tourists.
But the pedestrian zone has attracted much infamy in recent times, with alcoholic-serving restaurants and bars crowding up the sidewalks and street fights having escalated into a daily occurrence here.
A fight erupted at Bui Vien when a Vietnamese actor brawled with a security guard on June 11, 2017.
On March 18, 2018, another scuffle broke out between a foreigner and a waiter at a roadside bar.
All this has thus unnerved residents and officials alike.
“We do not approve of any more beer and alcohol places along Bui Vien but we need more souvenir shops and convenience stores,” Tran The Thuan, chairman of the People’s Committee of District 1, said at a meeting on Thursday.
Thuan said that local authorities have started taking ample measures to address the drinking-related problem on the street, including sudden checks on restaurants and bars, compelling their relevant owners and employees to take part in workshops and training sessions, and putting a cap on beverage consumption along the pedestrian street.
Two more police forces will be stationed along the street to reinforce order, the chairman said, adding that this is only deemed a precaution, as there have merely been two petty thieveries there in recent times, both of which were quickly dealt with.
Bui Vien is a famous street in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, where there is a vibrant community of expats and foreigners.
On April 30, 2017, the street was officially turned into a pedestrian zone, seen as an alluring and must-go tourist attraction.
Amazon will find it not easy to conquer the Vietnamese market as it will have to compete with millions of people selling products via social networks, especially Facebook, analysts say.
Mai Duong, 27, an officer in Hanoi who earns $1,000 a month, is a middle-income earner in Vietnam. However, selling goods via Facebook brings her additional income 2-3 times higher.
Duong specializes in selling high-quality foreign products to high income earners. “I can make a profit of VND30,000-50,000 for each product. And I can sell thousands of products a month,” she said.
Hoang Linh, manager of a fashion shop in Hanoi, also said that income from online sale – her extra job – is higher than the monthly pay she gets as a manager.
“There are numerous online sellers. But the market has a lot of potential,” she said.
Duong and Linh are big rivals to e-commerce websites and hold a considerable retail market share.
Nikkei News in a recent article commented that giants in e-commerce such as Amazon and Alibaba should beware of the millions of Vietnamese who sell and buy products via Facebook.
Some people who sell products via social networks can earn up to $10,000 a month, and the trade has been developing so rapidly that the government is considering taxing the transactions.
Vietnam’s e-commerce market is growing by 25 percent, and high growth will continue in 2018-2020. It is expected to have a value of $10 billion in the next four years.
Foreign investment funds and companies have continued to pour money into e-commerce firms.
An analyst in digital marketing said that it won’t be easy for Amazon to conquer the Vietnamese market.
“Individual online sellers are a better choice for many Vietnamese who want to make payments in cash,” he said, adding that payment via banks represents only 10 percent of total transactions in Vietnam.
“Besides, the biggest advantage of the retail model is the low cost,” he said. “Sellers can avoid tax, and unlike e-commerce firms, they don’t have to pay a lot of staff.”
Pham Thai Binh from Savills HCM City also said that though the business scale of individual online sellers is modest, the high number of such sellers will generate competitive power.
State officials have also tried to calm down Vietnamese e-commerce firms amid warnings that Amazon and Alibaba would dislodge them from the home market.
Tran Thanh Hai, a senior official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), said Amazon and Alibaba will not target market segments that Vietnamese firms target.
Being impressed with Vietnam’s recent success, FIFA, the world football governing body, has published an article reviewing the country’s achievements, while suggesting that another turning point is approaching.
On their home page, FIFA wrote about Vietnam’s number of achievements. The first was their qualification to the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia – the nation’s first FIFA tournament. The second one was the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup. And their U23 side began 2018 with a bang, sweeping past the likes of Australia and Iraq, en route to the finals of the Asian championship.
“Now the country’s women’s team has the opportunity to create their own milestone moment. A top-five finish at 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup will see the team win with their first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup,” FIFA wrote.
The agency also interviewed head coach Mai Duc Chung, who said: “I do hope our team will qualify. We enter the qualifying competition motivated, and we hope we can go further.”
FIFA also talked with midfielder Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, who it considered to be a rising star, thanks to her goal-scoring form.
“Our aims are straightforward – to progress to the last four,” the midfielder told FIFA.com. “The chances are equal for each team, and we can make it if we show our best.”
Vietnam will play their first match against Japan in Group B at Jordan’s Asian Cup on April 7. The team has just finished its intensive training course in Germany, with one win and one draw with the local women’s football club.
The appearance of foreign fast-fashion brands in Vietnam has dealt a strong blow to Vietnamese brands.
Seeing a dress at Zara, Ngan, a bank officer, promptly decided to buy it for her daughter’s birthday, though the product was priced at VND800,000.
The same amount of money could buy three Vietnamese-made products. However, she chose the dress as she really liked the new design.
There are three groups in the world market, including powerful economies like the US, cultural center with deep value like Italy and France, and markets with specific character like Japan and South Korea.
Ngan’s choice shows a growing tendency in Vietnam: youth are willing to spend big money to buy foreign-made products instead of Vietnamese.
This coincides with a Nielsen report which shows that Vietnamese rank third in the world, after China and India, in terms of passion for branded goods.
Vietnamese fashion brands, such as Foci of Nguyen Tam Fashion Company, NinoMaxx of Thoi Trang Viet, BlueExchange of Xanh Co Ban Fashion, and PT2000 of Pham Tuong 2000 Company, once controlled the domestic market in early 2000.
Of these, Foci has disappeared, and others have lost their positions in the market.
Launched in 1999, Foci reaped big success in the mid-end market segment. Just eight years after the establishment day, it had 60 shops in large cities. However, it had to leave the market six years later in 2012 because of the landing of abnormally cheap Chinese products.
Meanwhile, Ninomaxx, Viet Thy and BlueExchange have struggled. Thoi Trang Viet’s network, which once had 200 shops across the country, has shrunk, and it had to ‘declare death’ for Maxx Style, one of the three product lines targeting low-end customers.
Meanwhile, on May 10, Viet Tien and An Phuoc, the other strong brands, began mostly operating in the small market segment of products for office workers.
“Vietnamese fashion companies need more money and a character of their own,” said Le Tien Truong, CEO of Vinatex, when asked how to help Vietnamese brands survive the competition with foreign brands.
“Vietnam is capable of making the types of products that Zara or H&M are selling in the Vietnamese market at the production cost just equal to 60 percent. However, the problem lies in the positioning of Vietnam’s fashion industry on the world’s map,” he said.
According to Truong, there are three groups in the world market, including powerful economies like the US, cultural center with deep value like Italy and France, and markets with specific character like Japan and South Korea.
Truong said the problem is that Vietnamese companies have not found the way to create their original character.
Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc – three special economic zones (SEZs) – are new destinations for large real estate developers.
Doors open wide
Under the draft of the law on special administrative/economic units, one of the business fields to be given preferential treatment is real estate.
Van Don EZ is designed to be a high-quality marine and ecological tourism center, while Phu Quoc will become a resort, entertainment and tourism center, and international trade and shopping center.
As for Bac Van Phong, though it will focus on developing deep water seaports and logistics services to take full advantage of local conditions, service, tourism and entertainment services will also be given priority.
Real estate developers in the three SEZs are listed among the investors to enjoy big incentives in tax, land and customs procedures. The time limit for investors to use land in the SEZs, for example, could be up to 70 years.
In special cases, when investors register very large-scale and important projects, the heads of special administrative/economic units will report to the Prime Minister for a decision.
If the investors get the nod from the Prime Minister, the time use limit could be up to 99 years.
The State will also exempt land and surface water rentals for resort real estate projects which can meet certain requirements.
The projects must be hotels, ecotourism complexes, high-end resorts or cultural tourism centers with investment capital of VND110 billion at minimum.
The required investment capital is VND44 trillion for integrated resort complexes with a casino.
Real estate developers in the three SEZs are listed among the investors to enjoy big incentives in tax, land and customs procedures. The time limit for investors to use land in the SEZs, for example, could be up to 70 years.
While Vietnam remains cautious about casino projects, it does not set limitations on casino business in the SEZs.
Great opportunities for real estate developers
According to Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCMC Real Estate Association, real estate developers have been eyeing the three zones for many years because of the beautiful landscapes and coastline. However, now as SEZs, they have become even more attractive.
“The policies to be applied to SEZs will be stable long-term policies, while all problems to be raised by investors will be settled immediately,” he said.
“What investors are most concerned about now is property ownership duration,” he commented.
Dinh The Hien, a renowned economist, believes that suggested regulations for SEZs will bring big opportunities not only to resort real estate developers, but also to the mid-end and high-end housing market.
To date, investors are mostly developing coastal resorts and villas in Phu Quoc, Bac Van Phong and Van Don.
If the draft law is approved, the three economic zones may see a boom in the housing market.
Real estate firm Vingroup JSC was the biggest contributor to the main index’s gain.
Vietnam shares scaled a record high on Monday on the back of gains in financials and real estate stocks, while most other Southeast Asian markets started April on a sombre note.
The benchmark Vietnam index rose as much as 1.1 percent to an all-time high of 1,187.55, and has risen more than 20 percent so far this year following a 48 percent gain last year.
Real estate firm Vingroup JSC climbed as much as 1.8 percent to a new high and was the biggest contributor to the main index’s gain.
On March 22, Vietnam’s stock market rose by 0.92 percent y to close at more than 1,180 points, the highest since the record of 1.179 points set in 2007.
Philippine shares were little changed in choppy trade with financials being the top losers.
The decline in the financials was due to the pricing of the rights issue of Bank of the Philippine Islands, said Eagle Equities President Joseph Roxas.
Bank of the Philippine Islands priced its rights issue at 89.5 pesos per share, a 23.5 percent discount to Wednesday’s closing price.
The Philippine market was shut on Thursday and Friday for holidays.
Shares of Bank of the Philippine Islands fell as much as 6.2 percent, the most on the main index.
Thai shares were little changed. Convenience store operator CP All Pcl fell up to 0.9 percent, while petroleum firm PTT Pcl dropped as much as 0.7 percent.
Thailand’s annual headline inflation rate picked up in March, but missed forecasts and was below the central bank’s target range, giving policymakers leeway to keep monetary policy loose to help economic growth.
Indonesian shares rose, boosted by energy stocks and consumer staples, ahead of March inflation data due later in the day.
Annual inflation rate likely rose slightly in March, but stayed within the central bank’s target range, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
Astra International Tbk PT climbed as much as 2.7 percent.
The cost of traveling with children has jumped in April on national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines has increased airfares for children aged between two and 12 years from 75 to 90 percent of the cost of an adult ticket.
Ticket prices will remain at 10 percent of an adult fare for infants under two years old on the airline.
Budget carrier Vietjet Air has also said it has increased the cost of changing the name on a ticket by 28 percent on international flights to VND800,000 ($35.12), and by 21 percent for domestic flights to VND495,000 ($21.73). Changes to a flight date have also gone up 16 percent to VND800,000 for international flights, plus the fare difference.
Service and security fees at local airports have been raised slightly to VND5,000 ($0.22) following a regulation issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport last August.
Vietnam’s aviation industry has been booming in recent years. The country served more than 94 million air passengers in 2017, up 16 percent from the previous year, including 13 million foreigners.
The impending exit of Uber from Vietnam has prompted local firms to eye a larger slice of the ride-hailing market. At least ten local businesses are reported to be in the process of launching or expanding their businesses to take on Grab.
Vivu Technology Development JSC founder Tran Thanh Nam recently told Forbes Vietnam that Phuong Trang Tourism Service and Transport JSC will invest almost $100 million in the company and rename it as Vato for launch in May. Nam said that Uber’s withdrawal from the market is an opportunity for Vato to develop its business in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Meanwhile, one of Vietnam’s leading taxi firms, Mai Linh Group, said that the number of drivers registered to use the company’s technology platform has surged since the Grab-Uber merger.
“Many drivers have contacted us to find out the company policy and apply to be partners, including dozens of former employees who have worked for Mai Linh but then moved to Uber or Grab,” a representative of the 25-year-old taxi firm told local media. As Uber withdraws from the local market, Mai Linh said it plans to expand its business by launching its M.Bike motorbike transport service in Lam Dong, Thai Nguyen, Nha Trang, Can Tho and Quang Ninh provinces.
Similarly, Pham Van Dung, Head of TaxiGo, said that Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s entire business in South East Asia is creating opportunities for other local businesses. “Customers always want to have different options,” he said. “The acquisition of Uber will bring us as well as the other parties an opportunity to participate more deeply in the market.”
This portal had earlier reported that Grab’s arch-rival, Indonesia’s Go-Jek, is also learnt to be preparing to enter Vietnam in what would be its first expansion outside its home market.
As Vietnam sees the entry and expansion of other ride-hailing players, Grab is seen as continuing to dominating the market for the foreseeable future, according to public policy expert Nguyen Minh Duc.
To get an idea of Grab’s scale versus Uber in the country, take a look at a report released by the Ministry of Transport at the end of 2017. Per that report, Grab ran about 18,110 vehicles in Ho Chi Minh City while Uber had about 3,614 vehicles. In Hanoi, the number of Grab’s vehicles was nearly 11,500 while Uber’s was nearly 2,400. “Although there are 10 other local businesses joining in the race, I see the market share of Grab still remaining the same,” Minh Duc added.
However, Vietnamese firms are not dispirited. In the second quarter of 2018, TaxiGo will launch its short-haul services in addition to its existing long-distance car services, a segment where Uber and Grab had not yet joined in. Vato, meanwhile, does not hide its ambition of becoming a connecting platform to help domestic taxi companies bridge the gap between the traditional taxi model and technology-enabled ride-hailing platforms.
In the neighbouring Philippines, three new ride-sharing startups – Go Lag, Owto, and Hype – are in the process of joining the fray. A representative for the country’s Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) recently told media that the three companies are in the process of completing accreditation before they can start operating.
Hotel chains are starting to swing away from the cities of Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi and into Vietnam’s secondary destinations, revealed major hospitality players at the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) 2018 last week.
Hot favourites for development include Danang, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Sapa. Le Hoang Vu, consultant – development, Vietnam, InterContinental Hotels Group, described Danang and Nha Trang as “key growing cities” to watch.
Michael Ong, vice president, development, Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG), added: “We have a hub each in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, so now we’re ready to branch out to other areas like Danang and Phu Quoc. These are the areas in which we are going to begin our next phase of marketing.”
Another area to watch is Kho Trang, which has received Vietnam’s first Club Med resort and is “getting to critical mass”, observed Olivier Dung Do Ngoc, chairman, Dynasty Investment Corp.
Still, operators are not abandoning the tourism epicentres. Ong said that PPHG is “not done with Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi”, where the group is planning to fill the gap in supply of service apartments.
All considered, Ong said “there is a possibity that we will double our key count in Vietnam in the next three to five years”.
As the country heats up, hoteliers will play a vital part in readying the country for international tourism. Dung asserted that “tourism players must lobby for change” in issues such as infrastructure, service standards and the “soft experience”.
The property market segments which bring the highest profits are mostly controlled by foreign enterprises.
In July, ERA Real Estate, a foreign broker, quietly opened five transaction points and one commercial office in the central business district of HCM City. The company now has 300 consultancy officers trained and certified in accordance with international standards.
The broker revealed an ambitious plan to become the leading real estate distributor in Vietnam in the next five years with a network of 50 transaction offices in large cities and staff of 5,000 well-trained workers.
To quickly adapt to the emerging market of Vietnam, the US broker decided to join hands with Eurocapital Group, an investment conglomerate which has had offices in Vietnam since 2008, to establish ERA Vietnam.
Thanks to cooperation with the partner, the US broker, new in Vietnam, has approached high-end and luxury real estate projects developed by Vietnamese conglomerates, including Sun Group, CEO Group, MIK, Sacomreal and Kien A, and foreign developers, including Keppel Land and Sunwah Group.
Foreign real estate brokers were once ‘the big fish in the little pond’ of Vietnam in 2006-2008, when the real estate market was ‘scorching hot’. They obtained the right to manage and distribute many large-scale projects because investors believed that foreign brokers would be more professional than Vietnamese. They included CBRE, Savills, Colliers International, DTZ, Cushman & Wakefield, Knight Frank, Coldwell Banker and JLL.
However, later, when the real estate market stagnated, the operation of foreign brokers narrowed considerably. Aldy Vina, Setia and Coldwell Banker all withdrew from the market. CBRE and Savills are among the few foreign real estate service providers which stayed in Vietnam.
Nguyen Khai Hoan from Khai Hoan Land said that the Vietnamese real estate market has been experiencing a difficult period with policies changing regularly and the market fluctuating all the time.
“They have strong brands and good technology. However, the Vietnamese market is different from other markets with different conditions of material facilities and staff,” he commented.
In such a context, Vietnamese brokers, which understand the market and follow a flexible way to approach clients, has gradually regained the distribution market. STDA alone in 2016 had 9,796 successful transactions.
However, analysts commented that the best pieces of the cake still belong to foreign service providers which have stronger capability and experience. The services which bring high profits such as office, apartment and hotel management and leasing are managed by foreign companies.
One year after winning the coveted title of Best Developer (Vietnam) at the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, including 10 golden trophies and commendations, CapitaLand Vietnam has witnessed a significant transformation in their business. Since then, the company has gained remarkable recognition from the local market as well as the foreign investors.
In 2017, CapitaLand Vietnam achieved its highest ever home sales record, which accounted for 1,409 residential units, hitting the record sales of SGD459.6 million. The number was 63 per cent higher than last year’s record of SGD282.1 million.
Vietnam is the third largest market of CapitaLand in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Malaysia. At the end of December 2017, it was reported that the firm owned SGD948 million worth of gross assets in Vietnam.
Their latest asset acquisition extends CapitaLand’s portfolio to 12 residential development projects, one integrated development, 21 serviced residences, including 4,700 units across six cities in the country.
Speaking of the company’s winning qualities, Chen Lian Pang, CEO at CapitaLand Vietnam proudly said: “The PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2017 is a strong affirmation of our ongoing commitment to deliver high quality, international-standard developments to the Vietnamese population. Given Vietnam’s strong growth outlook and positive market sentiments, we are committed to be a long-term developer in this country. We’re deeply grateful for this recognition.”
Chen Liang Pang, CEO of CapitaLand Vietnam, accepts the Best Developer award
The executive, who was previously recognised as Vietnam’s 2016 Real Estate Personality of the Year for championing the Vietnamese property sector, added: “The quality of the judging is evident. The participants all feel that they have been fairly judged for what they had done. We feel good that the efforts we had put in over the years have been recognised.”
The PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards – one of the fastest-growing local editions of the regional PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards – is the biggest and most prestigious, professionally-run real estate awards system in the country. It is a symbol of a revitalised property sector that encourages quality construction and development, and world-class design and amenities.
Since 2015, the competition has been recognised for its influence and prestige, earning tremendous support from local businesses and associations such as the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, the country’s largest property organisation.
This year, Thien Duong, managing director of Transform Architecture, returns as chairman of the independent central panel who will judge the 2018 competition. Thislauds the continued significance of the Awards and the changes in Vietnam real estate, which are “for the better” and serve as a reminder of the domestic property sector’s growth and evolution.
Noting that the annual competition has set higher levels of standard properties in the country, Thien Duong said that developers can now take pride in their contributions in establishing new benchmark to the built environment while giving high value for money to their customers and investors. There is an opportunity for businesses in Vietnam, which strive not just for profit but to create brands that have long term credibility in the market.
Applications are currently open for the fourth annual edition of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2018. Co-organised by PropertyGuru Group and Oriental Media Vietnam, the tilt is welcoming entries from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang, Halong, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang.
According to Terry Blackburn, founder and managing director of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards series, though Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City remain the sector’s biggest draws with their diverse offerings of developments for different price points, from affordable housing to luxury condominiums, “it is also fascinating to see other locations, such as Danang, Halong and Nha Trang, taking their place alongside the premier resort destinations of Southeast Asia.”
Entry submission from developers will close on April 20, 2018. As always, there is no fee to enter in any category. The nominations to be received by the judging panel will undergo a thorough screening process and be visited by judges and local teams for inspection as monitored by awards supervisor BDO Vietnam, led by audit partner Jeffrey Ong Peng Lock.
The official shortlist will be revealed in the third week of May 2018, and the Winners and Highly Commended companies announced during the fourth annual black-tie gala dinner and awards ceremony on Friday, June 22, 2018, taking place once again at the InterContinental Saigon Hotel.
At least 500 guests and VIPs are expected to attend to network with peers during the four-hour gala.
The PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards 2018 is supported by platinum sponsor Kohler, gold sponsors An Cuong and Malloca, silver sponsor Dulux, official portal partner Batdongsan.com.vn, official media partners DELUXE and PropertyGuru Property Report magazines, official charity CARE Vietnam, and official supervisor BDO, the world’s fifth largest network of accounting and auditing firm.
For more information about the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, email awards@propertyguru.com or visit the official website: AsiaPropertyAwards.com/Vietnam-Property-Awards.
Life in Vinh Long had a much more pedestrian feel to it compared to today.
Many visitors describe Vietnam’s cities as busy and crowded, and they are often terrified of navigating their way through the streams of motorbikes that speed along the streets.
Life in the city of Vinh Long today is just as busy as it was 90 years ago, only people tended to walk more back then, and vehicles were hardly ever seen on the road.
The photos below, compiled by “manhhai” on Flickr, were taken from 1920 to 1929. They reveal what life was like nearly a century ago along the downstream Mekong River, around 135 kilometers (84 miles) south of the then Saigon.
A busy river bank with people buying and selling goods on the street.People gather at a crowded market on the side of a road.A Chinese man selling porridge on a street in Vinh Long.Students walking out of the Internat – Primaire School. The school still exists today under a different name.The front of a garage with a large group Vietnamese workers.The front of Vinh Long Court, surrounded by trees.Hotel de Ville, later was used as a government building.A boat docking by the river.Students holding books and pens with their teacher.Ba Thien Hau Pagoda in Vinh Long, where a lot of southern Vietnamese went to find peace. The pagoda still stands today, and many people come to pray for a happy and fulfilling life.
Flight ticket prices in Vietnam are expected to slightly rise as local carriers and airports have applied new rates to multiple services.
Local carriers and airports have announced that they will start adjusting their service charges from April 1.
Accordingly, low-cost airline Vietjet will charge VND495,000 (US$22) per passenger per way instead of the previous VND352,000 ($15) for name changing service of domestic flights.
The fee will rise from VND630,000 ($28) to VND800,000 ($35) for international journeys.
The cost of changing dates will also increase from VND352,000 to VND374,000 ($16) for domestic flights, and from VND670,000 ($29) to VND800,000 for international flights.
Meanwhile, prices of Vietnam Airlines’ flight tickets for children will be set at 90 percent of the corresponding adult fares.
The carrier previously charged children tickets at 75 percent of the adult fares.
From April 1 to June 30, airport service charges at multiple airdromes, including Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City, Noi Bai in Hanoi, Da Nang in the namesake central city, and others, will also rise from VND80,000 ($3.5) to VND85,000 ($4).
Passengers book their flight tickets at an agency in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The fee will become VND100,000 ($4.5) from July 1, in accordance with a plan set up by the Ministry of Transport.
Passenger and Baggage Security Screening Service Charges will also increase from VND12,000 ($0.5) to VND16,000 ($0.7) from April 1.
This is the second time that local airports have adjusted their service charges in 2018.
In late 2017, a hike in flight ticket prices was in place due to the increase of passenger and security service charges, as well as airline meal rates.
According to Vo Huy Cuong, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), flight service fees are determined by each carrier, while airport service charges are adjusted based on a plan of the transport ministry.
Local experts stated that the aviation sector should be more transparent in terms of service charges and explain to passengers why any increase is applied.
Meanwhile, a leader of a local airline affirmed that the fees are used to maintain and improve aviation service quality, while maximizing convenience for passengers.
Almost every carrier across the world has been collecting such service charges, the representative added.
With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18
India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China, as per information shared by Indian Cellular Association with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“We are happy to inform you that with the strenuous and calibrated efforts of government of India, ICA and FTTF, India has now emerged as the second largest producer of mobile handset by volume,” ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said in a letter to both the union ministers on March 28.
ICA referred to data available from market research firm IHS, China’s National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office.
According to the data shared by ICA, annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017.
India replaced Vietnam to become second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017.
With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18.
“We are also happy to inform you that our completely build units as percentage of domestic market has now come down from 78 per cent (2014-15) to 18 per cent (2017-18),” Mohindroo said.
The fast track task Force, a body under Ministry of Electronics and IT, has set target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone production in India by 2019, with value estimated to be around USD 46 billion.
The FTTF, which has members from industry and government, has set target to create USD 8 billion component manufacturing as result of growth in mobile phone production and create 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2019.
The body has set the target to export 120 million mobile phone units with an estimated value of USD 1.5 million by the end of next year.
“As long as we bring the right focus on exports, we will be able to achieve these numbers,” Mohindroo said.
There is no law that requires Facebook continue to be the dominant social media app in our lives.
The history of social media is a history of apps that have eventually stagnated and mostly disappeared.
The environment is sending negative signals about engagement, users, advertising, the stock, and regulation.
Investors sense blood in the water. “We are admittedly struggling to identify a catalyst to change the narrative,” Barclays analyst Ross Sandler said recently.
I opened up Facebook the other day and the top post in my news feed was from a friend I haven’t seen in more than 10 years. She was asking if anyone could recommend a doctor in a Southern seaside town 80 miles from where I live. “Does anyone know a good osteopath?” she wrote, “I’m in agony and mine has left the area! Thanks x”
My friend got lots of advice on a new physician, but I breathed a heavy sigh: This isn’t fun. This isn’t what I come here for. This isn’t the vital, exciting, surprising – often enraging – experience that Facebook used to be, when news and people’s reactions to news dominated the news feed.
It was boring.
Yet, this is exactly how Mark Zuckerberg’s wants Facebook to work now. Since he decided at the beginning of this year to dial down posts from news organizations and boost content from friends and family, the content that is increasingly dominating my Facebook – and yours – is hyperlocal, personal, and … trivial.
On his most recent earnings call, Zuckerberg acknowledged the change would have a negative effect on the amount of time people spend with the app. “I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down as a result,” he said. “We estimate that these updates decrease time spent on Facebook by roughly 5% in the fourth quarter.”
Since he uttered those words on January 31, Facebook stock has been in a jagged decline, from $187 per share to $160, down 14%.
It’s premature to talk about “the end of Facebook,” of course. The company has 2 billion users. It is not MySpace.
But there is no law of physics that requires Facebook continue to be the dominant social media app in our lives. In fact, the history of social media is that all these apps eventually experience some sort of decline or stagnation, often as new ones come along but sometimes simply because the masses decide one platform is suddenly uncool, and they move away. TheGlobe.com, Friendster, Path, Livejournal, YikYak, Secret, Tumblr. Twitter and Snapchat have both seen their user-base growth slow.
Is that what we’re looking at now, the end of Facebook, at least as a dominant force in our lives?
Wall Street now expects Facebook to be regulated
The environment contains some severe negatives:
Negative signal on advertisers: In an attempt to rein in some of the outrage around the way Facebook harvests data from users and sells it, Zuckerberg also announced he would end the “Partner Categories” program that allows advertisers to target users based on their own third-party data. It’s likely that Partner Categories was not a big business for Facebook, but nonetheless it still represents a pulling-in of the horns.
Negative signal on engagement: If Zuck’s turn away from news in the news feed further reduces engagement, look for the stock to be punished anew after the next earnings call.
Negative signal on US regulation: Zuckerberg now says he expects to be regulated. “I actually am not sure we shouldn’t be regulated. I think in general technology is an increasingly important trend in the world. I think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than ‘yes or no should we be regulated?'” Wall Street also expects that to happen.
Negative signal on the stock: Zuckerberg’s voting control of the stock – even as he personally sells down his stake in the company – means Facebook is his personal kingdom. It is not a company primarily interested in performing for its investors. And Zuckerberg makes mistakes.
Negative signal on users: #DeleteFacebook became a trend a few days ago. When that trend hit Uber a while back it lost 5% of its market share in weeks.
Again, none of these moves are likely to “kill” Facebook, but they could certainly take the shine off it to an extent that it becomes like email. Something that everyone has, but you try to limit your use of it.
This is the defining issue among stock analysts right now. “We are admittedly struggling to identify a catalyst to change the narrative from regulatory back to innovation,” Barclays analyst Ross Sandler and his team told their clients recently.
Most analysts rate the stock a “buy.” But they hate the story.
“It’s unlikely many users fully comprehend the magnitude of personal data Facebook and others have aggregated”
“A recent survey indicated 79% of consumers in the EU didn’t know that GDPR was coming, but once informed, 82% of them said they plan to take advantage of their new rights (i.e. to see, limit, or erase their data). This, combined with the continued public scrutiny around data privacy speaks to how there is a negative feedback risk that users will choose to materially reduce FB’s access to their data,” Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowack and team told their clients.
Worse may yet be to come. The Cambridge Analytica scandal is a big deal not because anyone did anything illegal but because most consumers are clueless as to how much data – and therefore power – Facebook has on them. And when they find out they do not like it.
“What users chose to share with Facebook is only a small portion of what the company knows about its users. The company aggregates tons of data, from third-party brokers and ad tech companies (e.g Liveramp), to put together a
startlingly deep picture of users,” says Lloyd Walmsley and his Deutsche Bank team. “It’s unlikely many users fully comprehend the magnitude of personal data Facebook and others have aggregated.”
That could drive further regulation – another negative – against Facebook.
“It is clear that the extent to which data has been collected and the way it has been used is a big surprise to consumers. If anything, this has the potential to be more pernicious either because (a) it drives a consumer backlash against the online players or, worse, (b) it is a catalyst for tighter regulation in the US (perhaps along the lines already on the cusp of being implemented in the EU),” Thomas Singelhurst and the team at Citi told their clients.
