Vietnam's empty beaches and closed resorts

So I finally got a bicycle and decided to head out and explore the area I live in finally. The bike is really nothing special at all and we'll get to that later.

The coastline between Da Nang and Hoi An is covered with resorts who bought up a vast majority of the beachfront property. Thankfully the government (I presume) stepped in and required some of the land be reserved for public access and parking. I went to one such place today called Ngũ Hành Sơn and go ahead and try to pronounce that correctly - I bet you fail.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival is that there was nobody here at all. The stairs and area isn't even being maintained. The lifeguard shacks were empty and I only noticed one other bike that was even parked there.

The resorts are aplenty, and I walked up the beach until I started to feel a bit worried about sunburn only to discover that every single one of them are closed.

There are several very large international resorts here including a Centara that was just monstrous and also completely empty but did have one person, a security guard, who also happened to be the only other person I saw during the entire time I was there.

_{Just one of the many buildings inside the Centara grounds - all completely devoid of people}

I like when a beach isn't overrun with people as much as the next guy, but this was just eerie and kind of made me think of what a place would look like after a zombie apocalypse.

According to my friends who have been here longer than me, this area is normally a really great place to hang out because the expensive resorts see to it that the beach is kept super clean and that there generally will not be a million people here because other than the resorts, there really isn't much in the way of accommodation of any sort in the area.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky because I was one of the last people that made it into Vietnam before they closed their doors to the world - and one of the only countries in the world that hasn't had a massive interior Covid shutdown either. Other than discos, everything is open and life has returned to normal - as long as you are already inside the country - you aren't going to get in for a while unless you are a diplomat.

Another thing I noticed is that there was a lot of construction projects that must have been on hold because it is a non-holiday Monday and there was no activity going on. It was strangely silent except for the sound of the waves, which was nice.

I wonder how long these projects actually will be on hold because the world being what it is right now, there is no guarantee that tourism will return any time soon, certainly not on the level that justifies having even more resorts than the ones that are already closed.

It was pleasant, it was peaceful, but it was also a bit sad to think about the number of people that are employed both at the resorts and the construction sites who now, presumably are out of work and if they specialized in those industries it is unlikely they are going to find another job until tourism fires back up. I suppose the construction workers could work on something municipal but people who focused on tourism? Yeah, those people are screwed for the foreseeable future.

As I was leaving I noticed this in the sand, and maybe it was put there by a group of tourists who were completely unaware of what the later parts of 2020 had in store. I just imagine them enjoying their holiday completely oblivious to what was soon to come.