2021 is about to come to an end. And for me, 2021 is indeed a year to forget. We have had so much suffering throughout the year when hundreds of businesses were forced to close, families ran into money problems, and the global economy suffered through a severe crisis.
And 2022 is almost here to welcome a new beginning. I bet every single one of us is all hoping for a brighter 2022 with an economic recovery, an instant cure to COVID-19, and businesses becoming financially stable and profitable again. However, it surely is a long way to get to our desired goal.
How has it been in the 4th quarter of 2021?
In terms of the economy of Vietnam so far, we have been seeing some slow progression since the termination of the lockdown on October 1st. Some well-noted sectors such as electronics, fintech, and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), etc. have been doing pretty well so far. A couple of business ideas started to appear as an ultimate solution for a better life experience during the COVID period.
Let’s take Momo as an example. The application began to receive a wider range of adoption when more and more businesses began to adapt Momo as part of their payment method to avoid physical payment. Such a contribution has greatly impacted the way people behave and created a new surge of payment methods to lead Vietnam to a paperless economy.
Tourism has had a hard time to reopen to avoid any further breakout within the country. Especially when the new Omicron variant started to invade all of Europe, it raises a new concern for Vietnam to reopen the border for international arrivals.
A recent announcement from Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that “Vietnam will not hurry” even if many foreign tourists (such as some discussions from this Vietnam Forum about travel to Vietnam) and other international tourism players are looking at the final resume of regular international flights.
Nevertheless, Vietnam still tries their best to slowly reopen tourism as the country heavily depends on the contribution of tourism to recover. If you are wondering how they’re pulling it off, follow the video below to know more.
Secondly, the vaccine rollout in Vietnam is proceeding really well. As for now, more than 70 millions people in Vietnam have received their first vaccination. Almost 60 millions people have been fully-vaccinated with the 2 jabs as required.
Schools started to reopen for grade 9 and grade 12 students as part of the pilot base. So far, everything is still under control. Even though an unfortunate event happened at the beginning of the reopening when 38 students were diagnosed with COVID on their first day back to school, schools still managed to deal with the incident and continued to operate. Hopefully, all other grades will be able to get back to school too. The teachers and students all look forward to reuniting.
Finally, services like restaurants, bars, and others are all allowed to open after 10. It’s such good news to hang out late with friends and have a wonderful time together. Just remember: Wear your mask, and avoid gathering with too many people. It’s important to protect yourself and the people around you during the pandemic time.
How will it be in 2022?
It’s hard to say how 2022 will turn out to be. But in the dark comes the light at the end of the tunnel. If you have in hand the cash and you want to come to Vietnam to invest, this could be a good time to take an early step. The risks are still there so it’s up to how you conduct your research and market analysis.
To learn about investment and business opportunities, you can have a look to the in-depth study guides from Movetoasia.com.
In terms of the recovery pace, I’d say it will take Vietnam at least 6 months to fully recover. You don’t have to rush during this time to invest in Vietnam. Be patient and observe the movement of the market here and see if there are any opportunities.
But one thing to say about Vietnam is that the country is doing its best. And to say Vietnam will come back stronger than ever is not a false statement. I believe that Vietnam will again, prove itself among the global market and become, still, one of the strongest countries in Southeast Asia.