7 years ago, prostitution at Xuan Thanh beach (Ha Tinh) was eliminated. But to this day, in the north of this tourist area, there still exist many rows of abandoned, unrenovated motels.
The desolate “red light district” of Xuan Thanh (Video: Duong Nguyen).
Xuan Thanh beach tourist area, Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh is about 5km long, located 50km from Ha Tinh city, about 12km from Vinh city (Nghe An) (Photo: Dau Ha).
Xuan Thanh beach used to be a hot spot for prostitution brokerage activities. In 2000, prostitution services in this place developed rapidly and openly and were considered to have the busiest number of “fun” visitors in the Central region.
Xuan Thanh is known as “happy beach”, “entertainment paradise” or “red light market”. At that time, along the beach in Xuan Thanh and Xuan Yen communes, there were about 120 households opening seafood restaurants and motels.
In addition to trading, shop owners also organize disguised prostitution brokerage. From 2016 to 2017, Nghi Xuan District Police coordinated with local authorities to completely eliminate prostitution with the purpose of restructuring the tourist area.
The motel owners then signed a commitment to change jobs and return the rented premises to make room for resort projects. A few motel owners hire people to demolish all the rooms they have built and pack up their belongings to leave. Many others abandoned their properties.
After eliminating prostitution, the Xuan Thanh beach area became desolate with many rows of abandoned and unkempt motels. The southern beach area (Xuan Thanh commune) has returned the land to large investors to deploy new projects. In the northern area (Xuan Yen commune), dozens of rows of houses mentioned above still exist.
This used to be a destination for men who craved “strange things”. The once “happy” rooms are now empty.
Inside, blankets, curtains, pillows and many other furniture lay messy. Some rooms also have women’s clothes, dresses, and shoes left behind.
This is what’s left of the kitchen of a motel. The bowls were broken and lying scattered.
The route through the rows of once “happy paradise” houses in Xuan Yen commune is deserted.
Talk to reporters Dan tri, Mr. Bui Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of Nghi Xuan District People’s Committee, said the reason the motels in the north of Xuan Thanh Beach Tourism Area have not been cleared is because they are located on the land of two slow-to-implement projects. Among them, there is a high-end tourism and resort complex project.
“We have asked the Provincial People’s Committee not to allocate land to businesses and hope to end these two projects. If approved, we will make a new plan and renovate the beach,” Mr. Hung said.
