Growing Vietnam
by Jack Boulware"There's a good level of basic education among the population - a
young and vigorous population of which a high percentage is under
age 25. Many Vietnamese [speak] English and other European
languages."
Of this eager, young workforce, rooted in tradition yet impatient
for the future, an estimated 1.5 million enter the job market every
year. When a national stock market debuted in 2000, the floodgates
of investing opened not just for other nations but also for the
Vietnamese themselves, who sit in
Internet cafés and trade stocks
online.
As with any emerging economy that has a population willing to
pursue a capitalistic lifestyle,
Vietnam has reached the next
logical step in development: a growing middle class. Although the
average income is still less than $700 a year, more and more people
now have money to spend.
The streets of Ho Chi Minh City are filled with waves of
motorcycles, luxury items that were once unattainable to everyone
but the wealthy. Shopping malls boast the latest from Gucci and
Prada. Club kids gather in swanky hotel bars, guzzling $7 cocktails
and talking on cell phones. The Hanoi Sofitel Plaza Hotel hosts
Vietnam Fashion Week each year, during which models parade the
latest couture designs of raw silk, which cost the equivalent of
hundreds of U.S. dollars.
The nouveau riche head for a four-star resort at the Mui Ne beach,
nicknamed the Hamptons of Vietnam. Children are now enrolling in
international schools that formerly catered only to expatriates.
Families shop for groceries in bulk at supermarket chains owned by
French and German companies. Cemeteries are boasting larger and
more elaborate monuments atop graves. And a guaranteed indicator of
affluence: Sales of ice cream continue to grow.
Vietnam's tourism bureau has picked up the baton, and the country
anticipates four million visitors this year. Whereas 20 years ago,
there was little or no tourism, today, cruise ships packed with
Europeans and Americans pour into the harbors, and international
flights arrive from cities like
Moscow and
Paris.
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