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Formula 1 to Start Races in Vietnam Amid Booms in Tourism, Sports Enthusiasm

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Formula 1 car racing will debut next year in Vietnam
   as the fast-growing host country tries to attract high-end tourism and
   its own moneyed citizens take an ever keener interest in sports.

   A racing circuit is due for completion next month in the capital Hanoi,
   Formula 1 says on its website. In April, the international car racing
   event will hold the country's first Formula 1 Grand Prix.

   The race's arrival in Vietnam, a country racked by widespread poverty
   and the aftershocks of war 40 years ago, shows that many people have
   the money as well as the interest to buy tickets and the goods sold by
   event sponsors, country analysts say.

   Hosting Formula 1 races is also expected to stimulate more tourism.

   "It's probably one of the strategies of the government to increase
   value-added tourism and also to brand the tourism economy in a better
   way, and then of course Vietnam's own more upper middle class
   population would be interested in these types of events," said Rajiv
   Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at market research firm IHS
   Markit.

   The Vietnam Grand Prix circuit will extend 5.6 kilometers, 1.5
   kilometers of which will be straight. It will allow speeds of about 335
   kilometers per hour.

   Formula 1 keen on Vietnam

   The race organizer spotted in Vietnam an increasingly market-driven
   economy experiencing a boom in tourism and a growing local population
   with a "large and young workforce as well as an increase in disposable
   income in recent years", corporate communications head Liam Parker
   said.

   "Hanoi is one of the most exciting cities in the world right now with
   such a rich history and an incredible future ahead of it," Parker told
   VOA. "This is the perfect formula for Grand Prix racing and we believe
   this will become a real highlight of the F1 calendar."

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