Vietnam Insider - Page 1507 of 1517

Cho Ray becomes third hospital to apply robotic cancer surgery

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Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City began using robot in cancer surgery on October 23, becoming the third infirmary in Vietnam to apply this technology.

Director of the hospital Nguyen Truong Son said his hospital uses Da Vinci Si Surgical System IS3000 worth 71 billion VND (3.1 million USD) produced by the US’s Intuitive Surgical. This is the fourth-generation surgical robot that can access locations human hands cannot reach.

In the short term, Cho Ray Hospital will apply robotic surgery on prostate, kidney, bladder, bowel and colon, lung and liver cancers. This type of surgery will be used for trauma, orthopaedic and heart operations later.

Experts said robotic surgery has a high rate of success since robot is able to reach difficult locations and precisely remove tumours. It makes smaller incision and reduces blood loss, helping patients suffer from less pain and recover faster.

Robotic surgery was first used in the US in the late 1980s. In Vietnam, the National Children’s Hospital in Hanoi successfully applied robotic surgery in 2014. Binh Dan Hospital in HCM City carried out this type of surgery in 2016.

Source: VNA

Do My Linh targets top five at Miss World 2017

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Miss Vietnam 2016 Do My Linh has targeted to be listed in the top five at Miss World 2017 scheduled to take place in China in November this year.

Speaking at a Wednesday press conference on the event, My Linh said this is the first time she has attended a global beauty contest, so she is a little nervous. However, she has made careful preparations and hopes that she will be listed in the top five of the contest.

She has practised hard for the contest by improving her catwalk under the guidance of stage performance by international beauty experts.

In a letter sent to My Linh, Editor-in-chief of Tien Phong Newspaper and Head of Miss Vietnam organising board Le Xuan Son, said that over the past ten years, Miss Vietnam winners have not participated in Miss World for different reasons. So, My Linh’s participation this year is a much-awaited event.

Today, October 19, My Linh will leave Vietnam for China to join the competition.

My Linh will play Dan Bau, a Vietnamese monochord, at Miss World 2017. Photo by Phunuonline

My Linh, 21, is a student of Hanoi University of Foreign Trade. She is 1.71 metres tall and weighs 52 kilos. Since being crowned in 2016, she has actively participated in social and charitable activities.

As of late September, My Linh temporarily took the top spot in the online voting of Miss World 2017 with 63.66%, trailed by Miss France with 19.85% votes.

Source: dtinews, TP

Vietcombank appoints former HSBC Vietnam CEO as retail head

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The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has appointed Thomas William Tobin as head of its retail banking group, marking the first time a foreigner has held senior executive office at the state-owned lender.

The appointment of Tobin was announced in a ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in Hanoi on Friday.

Tobin earned his MBA from McMaster University in Canada, and has more than 30 years of experience working in finance and banking industries, especially the Asia-Pacific retail sector, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A seasoned banker, the Canadian-born executive worked as CEO and country head of HSBC Vietnam between 2007 and 2011, responsible for looking after 17 branches and 1,600 staff.

Since 2012 until his appointment at Vietcombank, Tobin worked for American multinational financial services corporation Visa Inc., where he was responsible for Hong Kong and Macao as well as Northeast Asia group country manager.

Tobin’s fields of expertise include electronic payments, retail asset management and wholesale banking and trade, according to an article announcing his appointment published on Vietcombank’s website.

The bank’s decision to appoint Tobin is regarded as an ambitious move to realize its goal of “becoming the number-one commercial bank in Vietnam by 2020,” the article reads.

This is the first time the state-owned Vietnamese commercial bank, founded in 1963, has named a foreigner to a senior executive office.

As of 2016, the State Bank of Vietnam holds 77.11 percent of Vietcombank shares, with the remaining owned by Japan-based Mizuho Bank Ltd. (15 percent) and other smaller shareholders.

The bank posted total assets of over VND787.9 trillion (US$34.71 billion) and revenue of more than VND48.02 trillion ($2.12 billion) last year, a 17 percent and 15 percent growth on the previous year, respectively, according to its 2016 Annual Report.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Honda Vietnam makes bank on Vietnamese motorcycle market

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The convenience of riding a motorcycle and Vietnamese people’s admiration for Honda vehicles are bringing a mountain of profit to the company, with each year’s profit figures doubling or tripling on-year. Particularly, Honda’s after-tax profit peaked in 2016, reaching the billion-dollar mark.

Billion-dollar profits

2016 was a very successful year for Honda Vietnam, Vietnam’s largest motorcycle company, as its after-tax profit officially exceeded the billion-dollar mark.

This figure is calculated based on the dividends paid in proportion to the capital contribution of Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM) in Honda Vietnam.

At the end of September 2017, VEAM officially released the financial statements for its operation and business activities from January 1, 2016 to January 23, 2017.

Most noticeable in this report is the amount of dividends and profits paid to VEAM, which was equivalent to over VND10.117 trillion ($445.68 million). The largest fraction of total dividends and profits paid by this joint venture belonged to Honda Vietnam, recorded at VND7.965 trillion ($350.88 million).

Honda Vietnam was established in 1996 as a joint venture between Honda Motor (Japan), Asian Honda Motor (Thailand), and VEAM to manufacture two main products: motorcycles and automobiles. VEAM contributed 30 per cent of the chartered capital, with the remaining 70 per cent belonging to the other Honda partners.

Thus, through simple arithmetic based on the results published by VEAM, it is estimated that Honda Vietnam’s after-tax profit from the Vietnamese market was about VND24 trillion, over one billion dollars, in 2016.

The profit VEAM received from Honda Vietnam in 2014 reached VND694.2 billion ($30.58 million). By 2015 divided profits had increased to VND2.676 trillion ($117.89 million), before surging to roughly VND7.4 trillion ($325.99 million) in 2016 as publicly announced by the corporation.

In proportion with VEAM’s profit share, Honda Vietnam’s after-tax profit in 2014 was recorded at VND2.313 trillion ($101.89 million). By 2015, Honda Vietnam’s profit hit VND8.92 trillion ($392.95 million), and continued to rise to VND24.5 trillion ($1.08 billion) in 2016, as mentioned above.

Upon its establishment in March 1996, Honda Vietnam only had $62.9 million of chartered capital. Throughout its operation in Vietnam, Honda announced that it had invested more than $290 million in the first manufacturing plant, $65 million in the second plant, $120 million to build a third factory, and another $60 million in the new auto plant.

It is not difficult to see that the high profits Honda Vietnam has earned just over the last three years significantly surpassed its investments in Vietnam so far.

Good income from latest automatic models

The total production capacity of Honda Vietnam’s three motorcycle factories is 2.5 million motorcycles per year. Motorcycle sales in recent years have fluctuated between 1.9 and 2.1 million units per year, against the total 3-3.3 million units per year for the whole market.

After more than 20 years of operation in Vietnam, Honda Vietnam has sold over 20 million motorcycles and scooters, occupying about 70 per cent of the market, reaching far ahead of competitors, including Yamaha Vietnam, Suzuki Vietnam, Piaggio Vietnam or SYM.

Vietnam is also considered one of the top four markets for Honda motorcycles globally.

While Honda Vietnam is manufacturing and selling both motorcycles and automobiles, the motorcycle segment is still the dominant and most profitable business line, accounting for 85 per cent of the company’s total revenue.

Consumers love expensive automatic scooters like SH, which greatly boosted business growth

Talking with VIR, general directors of Honda Vietnam also admitted that the company was very impressed with the voracity Vietnamese people buy and use motorcycles.

“Vietnamese people like automatic scooters and tend to shift to high-class and luxurious models. In big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, citizens have better living standards so high-class vehicle models kitted out with modern technology are selling well,” Minoru Kato, former general director of Honda Vietnam, said.

Besides, according to the Vietnam Association of Motorbike Manufacturers (VAMM), in 2016, the market continued to witness the significant growth of automatic scooters compared to manual transmission motorcycles.

In 2015, scooters accounted for over 55 per cent of the total sales, while manual vehicles only hovered around 45 per cent. In 2016, the proportion of scooters remained fairly stable at 50-55 per cent and continued to outnumber that of the manual transmission motorcycles sold in the market. It is forecast that scooters will make up about 60 per cent of the motorcycle market in 2018.

Yano Takeshi, president of VAMM, said that the high growth rate of scooters reflects an upward trend in the spending habits and income of Vietnamese people. Scooter sales have not only experienced rapid growth in urban areas, but also risen sharply in rural areas. In 2017, when the average income of Vietnamese people is expected to increase to about $2,600 per capita per year, the demand for high-end motorcycles will grow stronger.

Moreover, motorcycle prices also showed a tendency to increase in 2016. According to a representative of Piaggio Vietnam, the price of automatic scooters in Vietnam in 2007 reached an average VND35-40 million ($1,542-1,762) per unit, which by now has climbed to VND55-60 million ($2,423-2,643).

More promisingly, it is predicted that over the next seven years, the scooter market will grow by 50 per cent. Honda Vietnam is thriving on these trends, with automatic scooter sales exceeding manual transmission motorcycles.

Obviously, as the cost of production has not changed considerably, the increases in the proportion of automatic
scooters and expensive vehicle models in production and business imply a larger number of Honda’s vehicles sold to the market and thereby higher profits for the company. This, to some extent, has reinforced Honda’s dominance in the Vietnamese market.

A fear of traffic jams

In direct proportion with the success of motorcycle manufacturers, the volume of motorcycles on the roads is increasing rapidly, especially in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

VAMM statistics show that the number of motorcycles circulating on the streets of Vietnam by the end of 2016 was about 45 million units. This means that one of every two Vietnamese individuals owned a private motorcycle.
According to the development plan for the motorcycle industry published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2008, Vietnam was to have 36 million motorcycles by 2020.

However, by 2016, the number of vehicles has already reached 45 million units, exceeding the planned target by 25 per cent. Apart from difficulties in dealing with inaccurate forecasts, the market has also seen motorcycle companies going into great lengths to optimise production and business operations in order to maximise profit, regardless of the underdevelopment of transport infrastructure.

Traffic jams are a common occurrence in the two big cities

For instance, Hanoi has more than five million motorcycles and 500,000 cars and is now at risk of huge traffic jams as the number of private vehicles is soaring. With an average annual growth rate of 10 per cent, it is projected that by 2025, Hanoi will have about 11 million motorcycles registered in the city.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the number of motorcycles is on a rapid uptake, reaching nearly 7.4 million units. Thus, it is getting more difficult for buses and other public vehicles to travel on roads as they always have to compete for space with motorcycles.

Associate Professor Pham Xuan Mai, former Dean of Traffic Engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, also emphasised that motorcycles are the dominant vehicle type on the city’s roads. 93 per cent of travel lanes or the city’s sidewalks and pavements are intensively occupied by motorcycles.

Mai also cited statistics, saying that more than 8,000 people die and tens of thousands are injured in traffic accidents each year. 71 per cent of these accidents were caused by motorcycles (including collisions with pedestrians, other vehicles, and self-inflicted injuries).

A calculation made by experts implies that the total damage caused by motorcycles annually has reached over $6.1 billion on average, making up 13.4 per cent of the GDP of Ho Chi Minh City—pulling back the level of development by 7-8 per cent.

“Indirectly, motorcycles are slowing down the growth rate of the city,” one expert commented.

“Motorcycles are a popular form of private transport chosen by the vast majority of city commuters. However, they also cause great harm to society. China has banned motorcycles in big cities and the results suggest that it was the right step. Other places like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Myanmar have already introduced similar policies,” said Mai.

Besides, with respect to the efforts to minimise pollution and traffic congestions, limiting personal vehicles—including restrictions on motorcycles—is one of the goals set by the two big cities.

Hanoi will ban motorcycles in urban districts from 2030

According to the plan on Strengthening the Management of Road Vehicles to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution in Hanoi during the 2017-2020 period with a vision to 2030, Hanoi will record and classify the total number of motorcycles in the city by area (district), date, and type.

At the same time, local authorities will set out zones for motorcycle restrictions, which shall be commensurate with the infrastructure and service capacity of the public transport system, and step by step cease the circulation of motorcycles in urban districts by 2030.

For Ho Chi Minh City, limiting motorbikes in metropolitan areas in the near future is also being considered by loccal authorities and plans might be finalised this October.

Source: VIR

Central bank policies expand foreign reserves

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Adoption of appropriate policies by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has helped it buy a large amount of US dollars to increase the nation’s foreign reserves, industry insiders said.

Last week, commercial banks sold a significant amount of dollars to the central bank after the latter used futures trading tools to buy foreign currencies and reduced its buying price for the greenback for three consecutive sessions. Vneconomy.vn reported that the central bank purchased as much as some US$1 billion just in one day at the beginning of last week.

With the futures trading tools, commercial banks can sell the foreign currency to the central bank in the future at the current price, without worrying about prices going down later.

The central bank’s purchase has also created more choice for commercial banks so that they can be more active in balancing foreign currency flow and capital demand.

The buying price for the greenback at the central bank’s head transactions office on October 10 was quoted at VND22,720 per US dollar, down VND5 from the fixed price set in end-June and VND20 below the upper limit of VND23,121.

This is the first time the central bank has made such a move since it initiated a new fixing mechanism for the USD/VND rate in January 2016.

Since the start of this year, the bank has raised the buying price three times– in January, April and June.

Below ceiling

Meanwhile, the bank continues to keep its selling price of the dollar VND20 below the ceiling, indicating it is ready to intervene in the market and keep the USD/VND steady until the end of this year.

According to experts, it is not a random move. The aforementioned decision on adjustment came after a nine-month trade surplus was fixed. Viet Nam not only offset the cumulative trade deficit since the beginning of the year but returned to remarkable surplus. Foreign investment in Viet Nam had high disbursement rate and foreign currency continued to increase.

In the world market, the US dollar strongly depreciated and prior to that was the Fed’s decision on not to increase interest rates. Meanwhile, with regard to the reference basket on the basis of which Viet Nam is calculating exchange rate, many currencies got stronger, specially the Chinese yuan.

In the banking system, foreign currency status accumulated and was relatively positive in the last three months, partly reflecting the reality that the dong-US dollar interest rate swap has been in negative status for a long time.

Therefore, the central bank decided to create a new operating rhythm, promoting the defreeze of those accumulated resources.

Source: VNS

Saigon’s hotel named fourth best in the world

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It was the only hotel in Vietnam to make the list.

Leading travel guide Condé Nast Traveler has named The Reverie Saigon in downtown Ho Chi Minh City at number four on its list of the “50 Best Hotels in the World”.

The results were compiled following a survey of more than 300,000 of the magazine’s readers. It was the only hotel in Vietnam to make the list.

“The Reverie Saigon brought in a level of luxury previously unseen in HCMC when it was opened in 2015,” the magazine said.

It noted the opulent Italian decor and furnishings, the three fine dining restaurants, and “a 157-foot bar that’s so long it stretches from Dong Khoi Street all the way to Nguyen Hue Boulevard two blocks over.”

The hotel’s 13,000-square-foot spa and facilities that include two open-air jacuzzis and an Olympic-size swimming pool were also highlighted.

Conquering the list this year was La Réserve Paris – Hotel and Spa in France, followed by The Lodhi in New Delhi and the Gainsborough Bath Spa in the U.K.

Source: Minh Nga

Sun, stars, springtime and sea: A guide to Vietnam’s best kept secrets

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Star gazing on Ly Son Island

Ly Son Island off the central province of Quang Ngai is simply gorgeous and the night sky is a must-see for stargazers.

Ly Son District, a combination of small islands, is one of the latest additions to Vietnam’s tourist trail, so services on the islands are still underdeveloped. Fortunately, authorities have decided to preserve the marine habitat there.

An overnight trip is a popular option to enjoy the smooth sand, blue sea and magnificent mountains, while sampling the simple life of fishermen and garlic farmers.

Don’t expect a fancy world of streetlights, restaurants and bars. Darkness blankets the entire island at night, but don’t miss the chance to explore the island. Bring a tent to the second biggest island and enjoy a clear sky full of stars. It’s the perfect escape from modern-day life.

Chasing clouds in the northern highlands

For years, travelers have been whispering about Ta Xua Commune in Son La Province, one of the best places to go cloud chasing in Vietnam.

It’s not difficult to catch the clouds in Ta Xua; all you have to do is wake up early in a bamboo homestay, breathe in the fresh air and wait for the first beams of light to penetrate the thick clouds.

Taking a train ride in the ‘City of Love’

Da Lat has been implanted on Vietnam’s tourist map for decades, so there’s no shortage of travel tips when you research your trip to this hillside town.

But has anyone told you about a 7-kilometer (4-mile) train ride from the oldest station in Vietnam that was built by the French in the thirties? Say goodbye to the inner-city and you will understand why French people wanted to turn Da Lat into their “Little Paris”.

It’s difficult to keep your eyes away from small wooden houses with gardens of flowers and long lines of wild flowers that almost cover the tracks.

Diving in Vinh Hy Bay

Anyone who calls themselves a sea-lover should take a trip to Vinh Hy Bay in Ninh Thuan Province, one of the best destinations for eco-tourism in the central region.

The bay is surrounded by mountains and crystal blue water, and diving by the coral reefs is nothing short of exceptional.

Losing yourself on Moc Chau Plateau

The hills in Son La Province are a world of flowers and forests, explaining why spring is the best time to get back to nature here. Taking time after Lunar New Year to travel to this plateau will leave you speechless, with hills and gardens painted in white, yellow and pink by millions of tiny flowers.

Source: Tuan Dao

Midfielder Tuyet Dung in BBC’s 100 Women 2017 list

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has included Vietnamese midfielder, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, in its list of 100 Women 2017.

It is the fifth year that BBC is running its programme, which pays tribute to 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year. This year, the women were selected for their work in tackling four of the biggest problems women face today – the glass ceiling, female illiteracy, harassment in public spaces and sexism in sports.

BBC contacted and visited Dung in Ha Nam Province, her hometown, last week.

The clips of the women have been running on YouTube from the beginning of this month, in English and in 28 other languages.

“I was surprised when BBC reporters contacted me. I consider it as a strong motivating force to push myself further to do the job better, and contribute more to the national team,” said Dung.

“After an SEA Games title (in August) my biggest dream is a ticket to compete in the World Cup. I have not forgotten our loss to Thailand, which cost us the World Cup slot three years ago. I hope that we make it this time,” she said.

It is said that BBC discovered Dung when she was written about on FIFA’s home page in early August.

FIFA was impressed with Dung’s ability to score directly from a corner kick of different sites, twice in a single match between Vietnam and Malaysia at the regional championship in 2015.

It is the first time in history that a Vietnamese female athlete has made it to the list.

Apart from 23-year-old Dung, who will, together with her teammates, compete at the 2018 Asian Cup next April, there are two other Vietnamese on the list.

The first one is a lottery ticket vendor and swimming coach, Tran Thi Kim Thia, and the second one is a painter who draws with her feet, Huynh Thi Xam.

Source: VNA

Vinfast announces winning designs for made-in-Vietnam cars

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Vietnamese carmaker Vinfast has announced the winning designs for its sedan and SUV after polling local consumers on 20 concept designs submitted by world-famous firms.

After unveiling the possible designs early this month, Vinfast asked customers to vote which they thought were both “in line with world trends” and fitting with “Vietnamese tastes and demand”.

The two-week poll concluded on Monday. It included a total prize pool of VND1.1 billion (US$48,400).

Vinfast, the carmaking arm of Vietnam’s leading property developer Vingroup, said the concept designs had been exclusively produced for the company by Pininfarina, Zagato, Torino, and ItalDesign, four leading car design firms.

“These are the companies behind the legendary designs of Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Rolls-Royce,” Vingroup said on its website.

After counting the votes, the company announced that the Sedan 2 and SUV 2 designs, both by Ital Design, accumulated the most votes.

Sedan 2 received 22,396 votes, or 36.2 percent of the total, while SUV 2 was earned 11,833 votes, or 22.4 percent of the toal.

Nearly 62,000 participants voted in the contest.

Both designs include a V-shaped logo on the front, representing the first letter of ‘Vietnam’ and the company’s name.

Vingroup began construction of its car factory, a project with a $1-1.5 billion price tag on the first phase, in the northern city of Hai Phong early last month.

The company expects to initially produce between 100,000 and 200,000 Vinfast-branded vehicles per year, including five-seat sedans, seven-seat SUVs, and electric motorbikes.

Vinfast has since taken several steps to prove it intends to take a serious hold on Vietnam’s car market, including the appointment of James B. DeLuca, a former executive vice president of General Motors, as its general manager.

DeLuca will be charged with the construction, operation, and development of the SUV and sedan segments, according to Vingroup.

The ten concept designs for Vinfast SUVs

The ten concept designs for Vinfast sedans

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Japanese Film Festival to begin in Vietnam next week

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The 2017 Japanese Film Festival will take place sequentially in three of Vietnam’s biggest cities from next week to early 2018, the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam has announced.

Eleven new films, which are made after 2015, will be screened at cinemas in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang during the months-long festival, according to the organizer.

All films will be screened with both English and Vietnamese subtitles, with admission fee in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi set at VND30,000 (US$1.3) per screening. Audience in Da Nang can obtain free tickets at certain venues to be able to watch the movies for free.

Hanoi, the screenings will take place from October 27 to November 11, at the National Cinema Center at 87 Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh District, with tickets open for sale from today, October 21.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the festival will run from November 24 to December 9 at the CineStar Hai Ba Trung at 135 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, with the ticket sale date to be announced later.

In Da Nang, the event takes from January 7-14, 2018, at the Le Do Cinema at 46 Tran Phu Street, Hai Chau District. The date for the free ticket distribution will be announced later.

The film list is as follows.

The Japanese Film Festival has already become a popular annual event in autumn and winter. “We hope many audiences enjoy these Japanese films and deepen their interest in Japan through [the event],” the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam said on October 18.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

APEC finance ministers explore the streets of Hoi An

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The tour of Vietnam’s famous ancient town is part of the three-day APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting.

Delegations from 12 economies attending the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Hoi An got to tour the streets of the ancient town on Friday afternoon. Hundreds of locals were already waiting to greet them as the delegates start their cyclo tour from Phan Chau Trinh Street.

Many delegates excitedly took pictures as they sat in the unfamiliar vehicles.

Their first stop was Phuc Kien (Fujian) Assembly Hall. Originally built around 1690, the structure was later upgraded by Chinese traders to be a meeting place for those from China’s Fujian Province. The hall also includes a temple dedicated to Thien Hau (Mazu), a Chinese sea goddess who protects sailors at sea and other patron deities for seafarers.

The delegates then continued the tour around Hoi An’s tree-lined street on foot.

Many of them stopped to browse through the shops along the street, or just to chat with local shopkeepers.

Their next stop was the Hoi An Traditional Art Performance Theater, where the delegates watched dance performances and participated in a traditional singing game.

Most of the delegates showed great interest in the unique performances.

As the sun started to set, the delegates continued their journey under Hoi An’s iconic lanterns.

They then visited Tan Ky, an ancient house built over 200 years ago that connects the shop-lined Nguyen Thai Hoc Street with Bach Dang Street, which runs along the Hoai River.

Many delegates stopped to take pictures of the sunset on the Hoai River.

Some also decided to take pictures of the lantern-lined walking street in the evening.

The delegations then briefly visited Hoi An’s iconic 400-year-old Japanese Bridge before leaving the ancient town for Da Nang.

The APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting resumes on Saturday and would also be attended by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Source: Nguyen Dong

International coffee brands quit Vietnam due to filtered down profits

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Some foreign coffee chains have been outmatched by local competition, forcing them to pull the plug on their Vietnamese ventures.

Le Quan is sitting at a table under a green parasol sipping a cappuccino, waiting for his friend to arrive. The sun is shining, and the seating area outside the western-style Highlands Coffee shop is full mostly of young and trendy people.

Only a few hundred meters away on the same street is a Starbucks store, but Quan and his friends rarely visit the American franchise, preferring to have their morning cups of coffee at Highlands.

Highlands’ interior is comparably sophisticated and modern, but it offers a much cheaper cappuccino.

“The price offered by foreign coffee chains like Starbucks does not really suit my wallet,” Quan said.

The cost of a cappuccino at Starbucks is more than VND100,000 ($4.3), nearly double the price in local stores like Highlands and Trung Nguyen.

Quan, who is in his 30s, is among a growing number of Vietnamese consumers flocking to coffee shops and developing a taste for what’s viewed as a trendy Western beverage.

Many people now drink coffee as part of their daily routine, but foreign coffee chains have struggled to tap into this potentially lucrative market. Local coffee fans prefer domestic shops because of the affordable prices, so some international chains are pulling the plug and leaving the country due to losses.

Earlir this year, Australia’s Gloria Jean’s Coffee pulled out of Vietnam after 10 years of opening in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen Phi Van, the first franchisee of Gloria Jean’s in Vietnam, blamed its demise on a business model that had been developed in Australia for the local and regional markets.

Even after the chain allowed its franchise in Vietnam to adapt to the local market, business remained tough because domestic rivals including The Coffee House, Phuc Long, Trung Nguyen and Highlands had already established their dominance by offering affordable prices.

Last year, Singapore-based café and restaurant chain NYDC closed its last shop, shutting down its seven-year business in Vietnam. A statement from the chain said it had suffered from losses and stiff competition.

Other foreign coffee chains have also struggled to expand. California-based Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as of late last year, had opened only 15 outlets in Vietnam after entering the market eight years before.

Coffee giant Starbucks has opened a modest 24 outlets in Vietnam in the past four years.

The international brands have been dwarfed by local firms such as Highlands, which has over 130 outlets, The Coffee House, which has opened 30 shops in just two years, and Trung Nguyen, which has opened more than a thousand shops in Vietnam since its start-up in 1996.

Factors behind the downfall

Talking about the reason for the failure of international brands in the domestic market, industry insiders said that high rents on premium land have raised the cost of retail prices, making their coffee less competitive than local ones.

According to a report by property firm CBRE Vietnam, the rents in Saigon’s central business districts in the second quarter of 2017 rose 7 percent to nearly $140 per square meter.

The rate is one of the highest in Southeast Asia, which make the locations unfeasible for a profitable coffee outlet, Sean T Ngo, CEO of VF Franchise Consulting, said.

In addition, the high cost of importing coffee beans has made international brands less competitive.

He said Vietnam, a major exporter of Robusta coffee, imposes high import tariffs on coffee beans, and international coffee chains often use imported Arabica beans that raise costs significantly. Higher costs have driven many customers to domestic brands, he said.

The high density of coffee outlets in cities has also made the competition between foreign chains and local brands that have westernized their services, Ngo said.

“There are too many choices. I will remain loyal to local shops, which offer international products at reasonable prices”, Quan said.

Source: Ngan Anh

Hanoi breaks into top 10 fastest growing tourism cities in the world: report

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Jakarta also made it to the top 10, indicating Southeast Asia’s rising significance as a key travel hub.

Hanoi has been ranked seventh on a new list of the world’s fastest-growing tourism cities, making a marked improvement from last year’s index.

The Global Destinations Cities Index 2017 produced by the U.S.-based payment technology company Mastercard said foreign arrivals to Hanoi grew 16.4 percent between 2009 and 2016, after Osaka, Chengdu, Colombo, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and Tokyo.

Jakarta and Hanoi’s arrival in the top 10 point to Southeast Asia’s rising significance as a key travel hub, the report said.

In the previous edition of the report, which measured arrivals growth between 2009 and 2015, Hanoi ranked 13th, while Indonesia’s capital Jakarta came in 11th.

The survey, which ranked 132 cities, found that Asia-Pacific is leading global tourism by dominating visitor arrivals and revenue, raking in $91.16 billion in 2016, compared to $74.74 billion for Europe and $55.02 billion for North America.

The region is home to half of the world’s top 10 most visited cities: Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

Hanoi was named the cheapest travel destination by TripAdvisor travelers between 2014 and 2016. The travel site estimated last year that a three-night holiday for two in Hanoi cost only $494, nearly four times less than New York, the most expensive travel destination in the ranking.

In 2015, the visual social network Pinterest ranked the Vietnamese capital the third most-pinned location of all time, while Lonely Planet named the city’s Old Quarter a once in a lifetime experience.

International arrivals to Hanoi in 2016 increased 23 percent to more than four million from the previous year.

The number reached 3.5 million in the first nine months of this year, up 24 percent from a year ago, according to the city’s statistics office.

Source: Vi Vu

Vietnam names 50 top IT enterprises

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The Vietnam Software Association (VINASA) published the 2017 list of Vietnam’s 50 leading information technology (IT) enterprises on Thursday, as part of a national effort to promote and encourage co-operation between local IT enterprises and potential partners.

According to VINASA’s data, the 50 chosen companies have a total revenue of VND20.67 trillion (US$ 936 million), with a combined workforce of 35,542. Many enterprises on this year’s list are considered pioneers in the industry, such as FPT Software, Global CyberSoft, MobiFone, VNPT, and VNG.

The list also named other high-technology companies such as ELCOM, NextTech, MK Smart. Those that have grown especially quickly, such as RikkeiSoft, VMG, SmartOSC and FSI, or are leading companies in the software development and technological solutions sector, such as Fujinet, DIGI-TEXX, and Swiss Post Solution rounded out the list.

This year’s findings are the result of the Vietnam 50 Leading IT Companies event, an programme organised by VINASA annually since 2014 to select, certify and honour the country’s top IT companies active in the fields of digital transformation, Internet of Things, and other new technology trends such as artificial intelligence, Big Data and Virtual Reality.

“The programme is not only about selecting and honouring businesses, but also about promoting communication and increasing the company’s values in terms of image, branding and market shares, in the international IT arena,” said VINASA’s Chairman Truong Gia Binh.

Launched in June 2017, the yearly programme of company selection included preliminary evaluation rounds for enterprise in IT Outsourcing; IT software, solutions and services; as well as Digital content, applications, solutions for mobile.

According to the organisers at VINASA, such recognition for outstanding domestic IT companies is an important step towards strengthening the industry. Domestic businesses in the field may not have strong reputations, but with more support they will hopefully soon catch up with global technology trends, attract investment and grow quickly.

The follow-up award ceremony for these top 50 IT companies will be held on October 25, along with the International Conference on Smart Cities and the 11th Japan ICT Day from October 25 to 26, 2017 in HCM City.

Source: VNS

Congestion in Saigon’s District 8 to ease as new bridge opens to traffic

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People having to commute through an infamous intersection in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City can now expect their daily travel would become much easier as a new bridge was inaugurated on Thursday.

The Nhi Thien Duong 1 Bridge was put into use after nine months of construction, three months earlier than scheduled.

The structure lies in a crucial traffic hub, linking District 5, District 8 and Binh Chanh District and functioning as a connection point between Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong Delta provinces.

The bridge is connected to such streets as Pham The Hien, Tung Thien Vuong, Tuy Ly Vuong, National Highway No. 50 and the Binh Dong Wharf, playing a certain role in local eco-social development.

Despite its crucial position, the area surrounding the bridge is a traffic hotspot, where heavy congestion takes place almost on a daily basis.

The new bridge, measuring 800m in length, consumed a total investment of VND163 billion (US$7.18 million).

The old Nhi Thien Duong 1 Bridge, which was built nearly a century ago, was dismantled in February to prepare for the construction of the new bridge.

“During construction, we have either maintained or restored all light poles, bearing the ancient architecture of the old bridge, as well as the old name sign, to keep them as a memory of an ancient Saigon,” the project developer said.

The Nhi Thien Duong 1 Bridge runs parallel to the Nhi Thien Duong 2 Bridge, both crossing over the Doi Canal.

From Thursday, the Nhi Thien Duong 1 will be opened to traffic from the city center to District 8, and the Nhi Thien Duong 2 in the opposite direction.

Source: Tuoi Tre News