Entrepreneurialism and Tourism in Contemporary Vietnam

By (author) Jamie Gillen

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 March 2016

Length of book:

126 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739173312

Entrepreneurialism and Tourism in Contemporary Vietnam examines the intersection of entrepreneurialism and the tourism industry in modern-day Vietnam and uses case studies from tourism operators in Ho Chi Minh City to understand the effects of market reforms on Vietnam’s society. The primary argument undertaken in this study is that in order to understand changes to the Vietnamese economy, one must take an approach that combines the “cultural” with the “economic.” The tourism case studies presented here collectively demonstrate that there is no easy analytic distinction between the cultural and economic dimensions of the Vietnamese tourism industry. The empirical material is primarily drawn from interviews with private tour operators and participant observation on tours. This book also examines the collaboration between the private sector and the Vietnamese government in the tourism industry. These coordinative entrepreneurial relationships between two unlikely bedfellows are shaped by the interpersonal exchanges that produce the tourism cultural-economy. Lastly, there are links between entrepreneurialism, tourism, and other case studies in urban Southeast Asia illustrated in the conclusion.
Focusing on the diverse entrepreneurial activities that have created a vibrant tourism sector in Ho Chi Minh City today, this work unravels the complex relationships between private actors and local government agencies in their quest for the tourism dollar. Providing a critical framework for the study of tourism entrepreneurship, and being highly cognizant of the nuances of a post-socialist setting, the author examines how entrepreneurial relationships are built less on distinctions between state and non-state enterprises, and more on an intricate blend of market opportunities and complex informal relations.