The tourism-oriented town that I live in that depends very heavily on Chinese tourism has been going through a rough time. It is quite likely that this will continue well into the future.
It's quite tragic because I don't know if you know much about Vietnam, but the people here aren't exactly wealthy for the most part. Sure there are a few rich fuckers here and there but for the most part, people will work for well under $500 per month. You'd be surprised how happy people can remain with so little. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they've never known any different and the idea that the government would send you a check for $1200 just to tide you over for a bit during difficult times is something that they can't even imagine ever happening.
Of course I suppose it would be fair to say that it is significantly cheaper to live here than anywhere in USA - just to put things in perspective.
When I first moved here over a year ago construction was literally everywhere. The coastal areas were constantly expanding and more and more hotels and restaurants were popping up all the time. It was noisy at times and a bit annoying but you gotta look at this from the perspective of that these businesses were certainly going to be making tons of money for already rich people... sure. But at the same time they were going to be employing a whole lotta local people in the process as well. People who otherwise might not have a job.
Unfortunately, those jobs have almost entirely disappeared and it will almost certainly remain that way for perhaps years.
I'm not just talking about the places that were already finished but this extends to the places that were being built. If you go up to the rooftops of any of the condos here you can look all around and see massive structures that have simply suspended construction. There is no reason to rush to finish these projects or perhaps to finish them at all until it can be determined whether or not tourism returns in the forseeable future.
The building in the picture is a few blocks from the beach, which was an increasingly popular place to put new development as the beach-front places were significantly more expensive.
Now when you walk down the beach there are dozens of high rise buildings that are skeletons of construction and the work has simply stopped. It is eerie.
I also found another piece by the street artist who I am calling Daegu to Danang because that is how all of his stuff is signed.
I Do not like this guy because his pieces are all the same, they are uninspired and typical, and this is the 3rd one of his that I have found on private property that he/she/they almost certainly didn't have permission to do.
In case you are not aware, Daegu is a city in Korea and this reflects even worse on the guy. Not only did this person(s) not have permission to do this, bu they aren't even local...and in my mind that simply makes the vandalism even worse. As xenophobia starts to infiltrate more and more aspects of our lives, things like this certainly aren't going to help.
I am happy that someone marked over his garbage.