Vietnam: Background, Economic Conditions, and Tourism

Abstract

The northern areas of today’s Vietnam were part of the Chinese sphere of influence for hundreds of years, while the political history of the central and southern regions shows more fragmented political control and more connections with other Southeast Asian countries. The different regions of today’s Vietnam were incorporated into the French Indochina colonial empire. Prior to World War II, an independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh supported by international Communist organizations emerged and became a major military and political force. In the years following World War II, a war for independence started pitting the Communist forces again the French, supported militarily and financially by the USA. The war ended in a partition of the region into two countries, North and South Vietnam. Hostilities resumed with the North being provided support from the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, while the South was supported by the USA and some of its allies. Shortly after the USA removed its troops, the country was reunited under Communist rule. At first, the economy in the newly reunited country saw serious declines, but upon implementing economic reforms in the late 1980s, the country has experienced impressive levels of economic growth and even more impressive levels of poverty reduction. Tourism has in the past and is expected in the future to contribute to economic growth and reductions in poverty.