Feb 24 birthstone

Located at the noisy Thai Ha – Tay Son Crossroads, a luxury hotel is deserted with only several security guards at the entrance door. The project has been facing bad luck since its opening. It initially was an office building but offices were in oversupply and the investor had to shift to another business model.

The building was then redesigned to turn it into a hotel. However, it once again met ill fortune when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Lockdowns and restricted travel policy have kept it deserted.

Even a gold-plated hotel is facing difficulties. With 360 rooms and many gold-plated items, the construction required investment capital of $100 million. The work was executed within 18 months and completed in March 2020, ready to serve the F1 tournament that was later postponed because of Covid-19. The hotel opening day was also delayed.

Other luxury hotels bearing international brands in Hanoi are in the same situation. Matthew Powell from Savills Hanoi said hotels in Hanoi had a difficult quarter because of the impact of another Covid-19 wave which decreased market capacity.

One 5-star hotel in Dong Da district was officially rated earlier this year, while two 4-star hotels in Ba Dinh and Tay Ho districts saw their star rating expire.

Meanwhile, Capella Hotel in Hoan Kiem was put into operation in Q1, but it has not been rated yet. Two 3-star hotels with 130 rooms had closed by the end of the last quarter.

Regarding supply, the entire market has 10,120 rooms in 17 5-star hotels, 17 4-star and 32 3-star hotels, up by one percent QoQ and 2 percent YoY.

The market capacity was 24 percent, down by 9 percent quarter on quarter and 20 percent year on year Meanwhile, the hotel room rate was $76 per night per room, down by 23 percent year on year.

The Covid-19 resurgence in January in Hanoi led to a reduction in hotel room occupancy rate in February and March to below 20 percent. Five-star hotels led the market in terms of revenue per available room in Q1 with $25/room/night.

Local hotels are now expecting more Vietnamese guests.

According to the Hanoi Tourism Department, after the Covid-19 outbreak was controlled, tourism points in Hanoi reopened in March. About 685,000 travelers came to Hanoi, a 180 percent month-on-month and 360 percent year on year increase.

An OAG (Official Aviation Guide) report showed that the Hanoi-HCM City air route continued to be the second busiest route in the world in March with 980,000 passengers.

Duy Khanh

The Australian Embassy in Hanoi and UNICEF on Monday unveiled a landmark A$13.5 million (US$10.5 million) package to help support the successful introduction and delivery of COVID-19 vaccine doses in Vietnam.

The Australia-UNICEF partnership will provide a unique and holistic package that will assist Vietnam across a range of areas that are vital to the successful delivery of a mass immunization program against the coronavirus, the UN body said in a press release the same day.

“Our support will help Vietnam purchase cold chain equipment to store and transport vaccine doses to where they are needed around the country, provide training courses and materials to ensure Vietnam’s health workers and officials are ready, and assist with the development of immunization plans in Vietnam’s remote provinces to ensure equitable and uniform vaccine coverage,” Robyn Mudie, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, was quoted as saying in the press release.

Introducing a new vaccine especially for COVID-19 is a colossal task for any government with many important steps involved, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Vietnam.

UNICEF is committed to working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and other partners to support the introduction and roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in Vietnam, thanks to the partnership with the Australian government, Flowers added.

“No one is safe until everyone is safe, so mass vaccination against COVID-19 is an important step to contain the pandemic, protect frontline workers who serve children and for Vietnam to reopen to the rest of the world,” she remarked.

The package will help Vietnam reach the prioritized 20 percent of its population by the end of 2022 and set the foundation necessary for immunizing the remainder as vaccines are rolled out nationwide.

Funding is drawn from Australia’s A$523.2 million ($407 million) regional Vaccine Access and Health Security Initiative, as well as from its bilateral development cooperation program with Vietnam.

In total, Australia has committed A$40 million ($31 million) over three years to support Vietnam’s vaccine procurement and delivery efforts.

On April 1, 811,200 AstraZeneca doses arrived in Vietnam as part of 30 million shots the COVAX scheme had promised to supply to the country free of charge this year.

The COVAX scheme is a facility co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines as well as ensure fair and equitable access for every country.

The Southeast Asian country received the first-ever shipment of 117,600 AstraZeneca shots via direct purchase from the eponymous company on February 24.

The government has vaccinated over 79,000 people since it launched the national inoculation campaign on March 8, according to the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam has registered 2,791 coronavirus patients as of Monday evening, including 2,475 recoveries and and 35 deaths, according to the health ministry’s data.

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The change in online content consumption habit of Vietnamese users fuels the trend of short-form video advertising

Vietnam’s digital transformation has led to a boom in new communication methods, which opens up countless opportunities for businesses to promote brand awareness. According to the We Are Social report, Vietnam has a total of 72 million active social media accounts (an increase of 7 million over the same period in 2020), equivalent to a penetration rate of 73.7 per cent.

Despite COVID-19, total digital ad spending will still increase slightly by 9.2 per cent to $290 million in 2020. The explosion of digital transformation and new platforms has unintentionally become a pressure for SMEs which do not have the capacity to compete and keep pace with large firms.

Based on data bythe latest report on digital transformation, up to 96.9 per cent of SMEs think that digital transformation plays an important role. However, 57.6 per cent of SMEs in Vietnam do not possess sufficient resources to deploy digitalisation into their business operations.

Commenting on this issue, experts say that SMEs are still too busy running and sustaining their businesses. They do not have enough time to take advantage of the benefits provided by technology. In fact, many businesses share that they need a certain time to familiarise themselves with digital tools before deciding to invest in an advertising solution on the platform. This situation is also quite understandable when most of the online advertising platforms in Vietnam do not have a Vietnamese team to directly support businesses.

From barrier to driver

Obviously, there are still many barriers hindering the digital transformation of businesses. However, there are still ample opportunities if SMEs take a proactive approach and get timely support. Phan Bich Tam, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, said that, “The smaller a business, the more it must take advantage of the tools available in the market to unlock the potential. If they do not adopt these tools, they are likely to miss valuable business opportunities which are offered at very low cost, even free. We can create TikTok, Zalo, or Facebook accounts for free. The problem is how businesses can reach the target audience as accurately as possible.”

To address problems about costs, technology and marketing strategies for businesses, TikTok, the leading global platform for short-form videos, has recently announced a commitment to heavily invest in innovative solutions for SMEs in Vietnam when they deploy advertising activities for short-form videos. TikTok is the first global platform with a commitment to investing resources and innovative solutions for Vietnamese businesses.

TikTok has signed a strategic partnership with the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) to support local companies

Unlike other online platforms in Vietnam, TikTok’s team of Vietnamese experts will be available 24/7 to promptly answer every question of the local businesses that are in the process of setting up and measuring advertising efficiency. This will help businesses catch up with the market demand in special occasions such as the Tet Holiday. TikTok’s expert team will triple in 2021 to support the boom of SMEs in the digital marketing playground.

In addition, TikTok develops resources to empower SMEs in actively seeking information and learning with the launch of Small Business Resource Center. TikTok has also been implementing a series of webinars throughout the year to enhance advertising knowledge and expertise for SMEs. Overall, brushing up skills is the only way for SMEs to accelerate digitalisation.

Digital transformation is a long-term process, depending on each business and sector. However, to operate effectively, SMEs should take a proactive approach to new tools as an important long-term investment. As experimenting and growth opportunities have great potential, business owners need to keep an open mind of market change, especially from a technology perspective to increase business efficiency in a smart way.

SMEs can get real-time assistance from TikTok marketing experts based in Vietnam

By TikTok

Artist Bùi Hoàng Dương. Photo courtesy of the artist

HÀ NỘI  The secrets of spiritual culture and life of the Mường ethnic minority in the north-central province of Thanh Hóa will be revealed at an exhibition titled Mo Mường to be held this week.

The exhibition will display 35 paintings and two installations by Bùi Hoàng Dương, a Mường artist from Thanh Hóa.

It features the Mo Mường – a popular ritual ceremony which has become the unique cultural heritage of the Mường ethnic community in Thanh Hóa and many other provinces in the northern mountainous region.

Mo Mường is a job and also a performance practiced at funerals, religious festivals, and life cycle rituals by the ethnic Mường sorcerers.

“Ah…. Today I clasp my hands together to pray to you here.” That is the opening words of a sorcerer in most of the praying practice that Dương had been very familiar with since he was a little child living in his native village in Thạch Thành District.

Dương said he was born in a family with generations of practicing the  Mường prayers. His great-grandfather recited the prayers but since he passed away in 1954, the practice no longer remained in the family. However, many of his followers tried to preserve it.

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An oii and canvas painting features part of the Mo Mường practice. — Photo courtesy of the artist

​The artist said his exhibition was aimed to help promote and preserve the unique cultural value of the Mường.

“About 10 years ago, many people did not understand Mường prayer, so considered it a kind of superstition due to the wrong methods of some local shamans. Actually, Mường prayers are all about morality, ethics and doctrines of humanity and life that teach people about good personality, social behaviour and filial piety. Many practitioners now understand they have a responsibility to lead the nation in the best spiritual direction, maintain and protect the cultural foundations,” said Dương.

Dương, who has travelled extensively throughout the country and abroad since 2000, has a deep and endless affection for social life, humans and animals particularly dogs which appear in many of his works displayed in this exhibition.

Commenting on his works, writer Nguyễn Đình Chính said: “It is not unusual that when people see paintings, they often ignore what is ‘right or wrong, ugly or beautiful’. If they like, they will stop to look at them but If they don’t, they will walk away.”

“It is not like that for Dương’s paintings. Even if you don’t like them, you can’t walk away,” he said.

“Be patient and wait until the colour and lines in the paintings disappear. The paintings are slowly emanating and erupting a very strange but familiar energy. It is not the energy that pushes people to drown and become corrupted in hatred, greed and confusion but a clean spirit that inspires people to slowly find the deep, pure, true dimension hidden in their souls, helping us know who we are, where we come from and where we will go. Strangely, we also understand deeply about the natural world, which we are exposed to every day by our five senses. That real world, actually is not real,” Chính said.

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A painting shows one Mo performing the Mo Mường – a spiritual activity of the Mường people in Thanh Hóa Province. — Photo courtesy of the artist

​This is Dương’s fourth solo exhibitions since 2007. His latest group exhibition was XOM, which took place in Hà Nội last August.

He chose this time to open the display as it was safer since COVID-19 impacted the whole art and culture sector. The artist said he spent almost a year preparing for it and hoped he would help preserve the Mường epic poem “Land and Water”.

Through the generations, Mường prayers have been passed down verbally in the community. When they’re collected, translated, and published in books, however, they begin to exist separately from people.

These days, most Mường prayers are called “Mo Mường”. They are a collection of verses recited at traditional Mường funerals.

Each Mường community has its own version of prayers, but they are all fairly similar. The existence of various versions of “Mo Mường” has helped expand the heritage and spiritual life of the Mường people.

The Mo Mường exhibition will open between April 24-28 at the Việt Nam National Fine Arts Museum at 66 Nguyễn Thái Học Street, Hà Nội. — VNS

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