Hon Cau in Dien Hai Commune in Dien Chau District has a two-kilometer coastline that used to receive thousands of visitors every year.
It was dubbed a "red-light district" as sex-related businesses flourished there.
Many people leased public lands to open seafood eateries. In 2013 they began to build shacks along the coast to facilitate sex work.
Most of them faced the sea, but some were in a wide tree-lined street.
In early 2020 local authorities started to crack down on pimps.
But after prostitution ended, tourism too gradually died out. Many restaurant owners quit and shacks that used to be busy day and night became deserted.
There used to be nearly 150 rooms.
The hotel buildings have deteriorated severely.
Winds blew off the corrugated iron roofs of some structures.
But inside them remain beds and pillows that have not been removed. Women's make-up items remain buried among old blankets and curtains.
Rows of huts close to the sea used to be hired by tourists to enjoy the breeze, but now the area is filled with garbage.
Occasionally, scrap dealers come to Hon Cau to salvage bottles, plastic jars and beer cans left in the shacks.
Fifty meters from the shacks lie old boats abandoned by fishermen, making the beach appear even more desolate.
With no food or accommodation available now, visitors leave quickly.
Phan Van Thuyen, chairman of Dien Hai Commune, said local authorities are looking for investors to develop tourism in Hon Cau, and hoped the area would gradually recover.
Hon Cau tourist area in Nghe An Province is left deserted, October 2023. Video by Duc Hung
