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The whirlwind formally known as Saigon is a hot, noisy, dynamic city that rarely sleeps, with a complex history and plenty of culture to soak up. Combine this with the laughably good-value prices of everything from lodgings to lunch, and there’s never been a better time to explore this south Vietnamese gem. Here are 11 ways to make the most of a visit.

Pedestrian space at weekends

Bui Vien Street, a popular destination with Western backpackers in Ho Chi Minh City, has been pedestrianised and officially opened to the public on the evening of August 20. This is the second walking street in Vietnam’s southern economic hub after Nguyen Hue Street opened in 2015. Bui Vien Street is pedestrianised from 7pm to 2am the next day on Saturday and Sunday, during which no motor vehicles are allowed to travel on a 1.4 kilometre long section from the intersection with De Tham Street to the intersection with Do Quang Dau Street.

Hit the spa

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is awash with spas, offering the chance to relax and unwind far from the madding crowd while still being slap bang in the city centre. Unlike in the UK, you can easily spend a day pampering yourself without breaking the bank. Jolene Spa in District 1, just round the corner from Ben Thanh market, charges 250,000VND (£8.70) for a gel manicure and regular pedicure, or 150,000VND (£5.20) for a full body massage.

Get haggling

The biggest and best of HCMC’s markets is Ben Thanh (chobenthanh.org.vn). Head over there to grab cheap street food and pick up a range of souvenirs. There are traditional Vietnamese lanterns aplenty, plus colourful fans, scarves, bowls and chopsticks, and, of course, “lucky” cats. Be sure to negotiate heavily on price – as a tourist you’ll be asked to pay far above the odds unless you barter.

Head underground

An excursion to the infamous Cu Chi Tunnels makes for an eye-opening afternoon. Used by the Vietnamese during the war with America, these immense networks of underground tunnels enabled whole villages to stay safe, plus meant Vietnamese guerrilla fighters could take the enemy by surprise. Visitors can crawl their way through a 100m stretch of tunnel and watch their tour guide demonstrate with ghoulish pleasure the ingenious traps the Vietnamese used to kill or maim US soldiers. Costing from $20 for a half-day tour (8am-2pm or 1-7pm), this trip includes return transfers plus entry to the tunnels.

Take in a show

Enter into a magical world of wooden puppets diving and splashing across a water stage at the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre. This traditional form of Vietnamese entertainment includes narration and musical accompaniment from musicians and singers seated at either side of the stage. There are daily 50-minute performances at 5pm and 6.30pm with tickets costing 230,000VND (£8) on the door.

Go for a scoot

HCMC is a city of mopeds – they’re everywhere. And one of the most enjoyable experiences is hopping onto one, which is by far the best way to see the city. Hiring one isn’t massively recommended – there seem to be few rules on the road, with drivers doing random U-turns into oncoming traffic whenever the mood takes them – but you can hire an Uber moto instead. It’s booked exactly the same way as a regular Uber, with a 10-minute ride costing around 10,000VND (35p).

Change your caffeine fix

If there’s one thing the Vietnamese have indisputably nailed, it’s coffee. You can pick up a Vietnamese coffee – white or black, hot or cold – in pretty much every HCMC restaurant or café. Why is it so good? When served white, it’s made with condensed milk, creating a miracle drink that balances the strength of the drip filter coffee with a rich, sweet finish.

Buff up on your history

A visit to the War Remnants Museum is a sobering experience – but an important one. Containing exhibits relating to the Vietnam War and the first Indochina War with the French colonialists, it features photographs, military vehicles, and various weapons. It’s rare to see the horrors of war displayed so starkly. Graphic photographs depict the effects of the USA’s chemical weapons – Agent Orange, napalm, and phosphorus bombs. Entry costs 15,000VND (50p) and the museum is open daily from 7.30am-6pm.

Eat with locals

Com Nieu Sai Gon in District 3 dishes up a range of great-value Vietnamese dishes. It’s slightly under the radar for tourists, so don’t be surprised if the English isn’t too good, or if they don’t have everything listed on the insanely long menu. Just go with it – whatever they bring you will be delicious. A decent piece of sea bass in chilli sauce with a side of steamed rice costs 150,000VND (£5.20).

Get high

For unrivalled views of the city, head to Bitexco Financial Tower, otherwise known as the Saigon Skydeck , in District 1. Opt to enjoy the 360 degree views at 230m from the bar on the 50th floor – it’s free, and you can grab a drink for roughly the same price as entry to the Skydeck. Cocktails start from 220,000VND (£7.60) or a smoothie costs 169,000VND (£5.80).

Experience a touch of Paris

Perhaps the most stand-out of the many traces left by French colonialists in the 1880s is the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral. Trying to recreate the feel of the cathedral of the same name in Paris, builders used French bricks and constructed huge Romanesque bell towers. Have a gander any time from 5.30am-5pm daily.

Source: Nhân Dân Online , The Independent

While China still leads as the No.1 sourcing destination for the majority of fashion companies, Vietnam is the rising star. An FN Platform today focused on the reasons why the country is one to watch in sourcing.

Julie Hughes, president of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association led a discussion with speakers Steve DiBlasi, VP global sourcing at Lanier Clothes; Ron Klein, director retail & consumer management at PWC; Avedis Seferian, president & CEO of World Responsible Accredited Production; and Chris Walker, an apparel production advisor.

A reason for the country’s rapid growth in export manufacturing is based on its speed to market capabilities and focus on compliance.

Vietnam takes social compliance seriously, both on a factory and societal level, according to Seferian. “In terms of understanding good legal structure and law-enabling compliance, Vietnam is reliable and consistent,” he continued.

He also added that regardless of President Donald Trump’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal withdrawal, Vietnam will still remain a leading destination, and there’s money to be made.

Other factors adding to Vietnam’s appeal include its English-speaking management and machinery investments. The speakers also noted that because factories are moving from cities to rural areas, wages and employee turned are in turn being reduced.

The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reported by IHS Markit fell to 51.7 in July from 52.5 in June. The result remains above the critical 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction, but signals a slowdown in the pace of expansion in the manufacturing sector.

Output growth eased in July as new orders increased at a slower rate. As a result, manufacturers’ purchasing activity rose at a more subdued pace. Nevertheless, backlogs of work picked up, recording the fastest rise in more than six years, and depleted stocks of finished goods as inventories were used to meet new orders. Consequently, firms continued to hire more workers in July, although the speed of job creation was relatively stable from the previous month. Moreover, input cost inflation moderated to the weakest rate in over a year, easing firms’ cost burdens and prompting them to reduce their output prices. Business sentiment rose as more than half of the survey respondents predicted an increase in output going forward owing to expected higher demand and planned expansions.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see investment rising 8.3% in 2017, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2018, the panel expects investment to grow 8.0%.

Source: FN Platform , FocusEconomics

Vietnam saw a record number of international arrivals in 2016 – more than 10 million tourists and a 25% increase over the previous year – and 2017 is already on track to surpass that.

During the first six months of the year, Vietnam recorded more than 6 million international arrivals, 30% increase over the same period a year earlier. It should be no surprise that the hospitality and property development sectors are expanding to cater to tourists seeking to enjoy Vietnam’s diverse attractions and rich culture.

Such figures are driving remarkable growth in the second, or holiday, home segment, with condotels (a blend of hotel and condominium: resort hotel levels of service with the independence of a condo) taking center stage.

For local and international guests this will mean an ever-increasing choice of options across the budget spectrum as resorts compete with fresh appeals.

With exciting new and established brands to experience and an abundance of new properties to choose from, at no doubt often heavily discounted rates during start-up periods, the next couple of years will be a great time to discover or rediscover Vietnam.

This is particularly true in Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Phu Quoc Island. Growth in these markets has been in the double digits, and with an abundance of new resort and hotel properties in the pipeline will no doubt, at some point, have to overcome a case of supply “indigestion”, just as Da Nang coped with a few years ago.

Duong Thuy Dung, chief market researcher at real estate consultancy firm CBRE, said at a recent press briefing that Da Nang has “too many” condotels and there will also be tough competition in Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

In fact , a survey showed that 7,000 new apartments were completed in Khanh Hoa last year, and 70 percent of them were condotels. But industry insiders think that oversupply could be a problem.

Duong Thuy Dung said Da Nang will have 32,000 condotels by the end of this year, but it’s uncertain if the city will receive enough tourists to fill them.

The supply of condotels to the market in 2016 actually failed to meet demand or bolster existing tourism infrastructure, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association (VNREA), told at a workshop entitled “Condotel Market and Fears of Oversupply” held by VET on August 10 in Hanoi.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, the vice chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, is worried more about legal issues. He said Vietnam does not have comprehensive regulations regarding ownership rights and management for this form of property.

Developers are quick to name projects located in or close to a destination as condotels but the concern is the “tel” part of condotel. In many cases, we see little regard for the hotel part of the project and the long-term management implication this entails. The concern is that to have any chance of matching promised returns, projects need an impressively performing hotel component. But in most cases this seems to be missing or, at best, incomplete.

One more important things is ,according to the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency under the construction ministry, red books (documents that confirm ownership in Vietnam) are currently not issued for condotels. That puts subinvestors at high risk, experts said.

The legality of condotels needs to be clarified to better manage this new type of property gaining popularity in Vietnam, a representative from the Ministry of Construction has said.

According to Le Hoang Chau, President of the HCM City Real Estate Association, regulations are needed to ensure transparency in profit sharing in the long term and the rights of buyers, adding that profit sharing now relies mainly on developers’ guarantees, with yet a solid framework for buyers’ benefits protection.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Chairman of the Board of Management at Phu Quy Land, said the company has worked with customers from South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and they are very much interested in Vietnam and its real estate resort products but the legal framework is problematic. “An open legal corridor should be proposed for foreigners to develop condotels and exploit economic potential,” he added.

The construction ministry is working with the finance and environment ministries to come up with a specific legal framework for the new market.

Vietnam’s southern metropolis is on track to achieve 8 percent annual growth over the next five years.

Ho Chi Minh City will become the second fastest growing economy in Asia by 2021, Bloomberg cited a new study by the UK-based Oxford Economics as saying in a Wednesday report.

In the next five years, HCMC’s economy is expected to grow by 8 percent each year, according to the study, which ranked Asia’s 30 largest cities.

The city is the only non-Indian city in the top five that also includes New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad, reflecting its success in establishing itself as a manufacturing center, as well as its strong services sector, according to Bloomberg.

In January, Chicago-based financial and professional services firm JLL ranked HCMC the world’s second most dynamic city, after India’s Bangalore.

The city was categorized in the “High Potential Cities” that are driven by low costs, rapid consumer market expansion and high levels of foreign direct investment.

In the first half of 2017, the southern economic hub attracted $2.15 billion in foreign investment, double the amount it received in the same period last year, official data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

With economic expansion of 7.76 percent during that period, the city expects to hit annual growth of 8.4-8.7 percent, its leaders told local media in June.

The performance of different industries in Ho Ming City is good this year.

Ho Chi Minh City’s total retail sales and services revenue are expected to hit nearly 450 trillion VND (19.8 billion USD) in the first half of 2017, up 10.2 percent from the same period last year.

According to Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy head of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, of the total, revenue from retail is estimated at 291 trillion VND (12.8 billion USD), 64.7 percent of the total and up 12.1 percent year-on-year.

From now until the end of this year, the department will continue measures supporting enterprises, hold a second meeting for municipal leaders and enterprises and complete industry and support industry data to help connect production businesses with distributors, Dong stated.

The department will also speed up the implementation of the supply-demand linkage programme and the “Vietnamese people prioritise using made-in-Vietnam products” campaign, and intensify promotion activities inside and outside the country.

Source: VnExpress International , Vietnam+

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse chaired a ceremony to mark the 50th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 22 years of Vietnam’s accession to the bloc in Hanoi on August 8.

The PM highlighted the achievements that ASEAN has gained over the past a half century to become a strong and united community with rules-based operation and comprehensive and extensive connectivity across the fields, contributing to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

ASEAN has an increasing role and position in the region and beyond, he said, adding that the association is also playing a crucial role in the evolving regional architecture.

The bloc should reinforce solidarity and unity, promote internal strength to increase its connectivity and build a rules-based community with the widespread participation of people to bring them with pragmatic benefits, he recommended.

 With a population of over 630 million and the total gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly 2.6 trillion USD per year, ranking sixth in the world, along with a peaceful and stable environment, ASEAN is a spotlight of economic cooperation in the Asian-Pacific region and the world at large.

“The achievements that ASEAN has gained over the past 50 years are very huge, creating a firm foundation for the development of the ASEAN Community and the realisation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025,” he said.

He affirmed that Vietnam always considers ASEAN a prioritized pillar in its foreign policy and vows to continue accompanying the bloc’s member states to build the ASEAN Community of unity, peace, stability and strength and successfully accomplish the ASEAN Vision 2025 and blueprints, contributing to maintaining peace and stability, and stepping up cooperation and development in the region.

On the occasion, he also thanked the bloc’s partners, international organizations and friends for their cooperation and support for the ASEAN member states over the past time, and wished that the Ambassadors and officials of the international organizations would continue acting as an effective bridge for their countries and organizations and Vietnam and ASEAN.

Addressing the ceremony, Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam Noel Servigon stressed that one of ASEAN’s big achievements over the past five decades is developing into a strong bloc, which has been acknowledged and respected globally, from a five-member organization.

He highly valued Vietnam’s organization of numerous activities to mark ASEAN’s 50th founding anniversary in many localities and informed participants of the successful outcomes of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings.

source: Vietnam+