Slow Travel with Sofia

Slow Travel with Sofia

COVID: a pandemic’s long-lasting impact on tourism

Phú Quốc | VIETNAM

Walking around, it felt like we were in a dystopian movie set: fake and bizarre, with Pavarotti playing to empty streets and buildings in the background while workers watered perfectly green lawns to be admired by a handful of visitors like me.

The best part of the visit to Phu Quoc was the homestay, a type of accommodation I discovered in Southeast Asia that consisted of a room in the living quarters of a local residence. Lana, the hostess, was an absolute joy to be around, genuinely interested in ensuring all guests had a good time while mingling with her family’s daily rhythms and activities – a prime example of the warm hospitality this part of the world is known for. Her garden was a great spot to meet fellow travellers, and after overcoming an initial shyness, I found people to explore the island with!

The north has a wonderfully lush and green coast home to a unique beach framed by coconut trees and countless orange starfish sunbathing at the waterfront – an exotic mirage I wouldn’t see anywhere else in Asia! About the centre and the south…

Many resorts closed doors after the pandemic, and unfinished buildings punctuated the coastline, giving it a ghostly atmosphere. Paradoxically, some investors built the so-called “Sunset Town” to replicate Italy and attract Asian tourists (see the website: https://sunset-town.com/). Walking around, it felt like we were in a dystopian movie set: fake and bizarre, with Pavarotti playing to empty streets and buildings in the background while workers watered perfectly green lawns to be admired by a handful of visitors like me. Maybe the setting is convincing enough for someone who has never been to Europe?

Although Sunset City is an unexpected place to come across, the beaches struck me the most. Sadly, there was plastic everywhere, in plain sight. As I learned in 9 months of travelling, in most Southeast Asian countries, there’s no system in place to store or recycle waste: bins are rare findings, and burning garbage is the solution most resort to. I think everyone, myself & other backpackers included, felt powerless to improve the situation: when asking around to dispose of a bag of trash collected from the beach, the locals I approached pointed to the beach again. Some others even contributed to this messy state of affairs by throwing away their instant noodle packages to the ocean or allowing small children to play with plastic packages in the water. I can’t say whether the efforts of an afternoon dragging a bag in the sand, trying to leave the beach a better place than I had found it, weren’t washed away along with its contents. I’m no expert, but I can speculate that the environmental challenges in many countries result from a three-fold problem: inexistent infrastructure, precarious living conditions and insufficient knowledge.

In the end, this much anticipated week, crossing off one item of my bucket list of “islandic” delights, turned out to be a cold “reality check”. The disappointment was only soothed by a few meaningful interactions with other long-term backpackers. Oh, and the sight of perfectly balanced dogs in the back of scooters during rush hour, a funny moment I managed to record with my phone!

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