Lack of incentive policies and planning has prevented Hanoi's night tourism from really taking off.
Responding to VnExpress , Ms. Dang Huong Giang, Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism, assessed that Hanoi's infrastructure has many advantages to develop night tourism. The city has an infrastructure system connecting tourist destinations and night economic activities. The system of facilities serving the needs of entertainment, dining, shopping, and resting for tourists is quite developed. Hanoi also has spaces for developing the night economy, concentrated in districts such as Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, and Tay Ho.
A tour guide at Hoa Lo Prison is explaining to visitors. Photo: Ngan Duong
In addition, travel agencies and tourist destinations, especially relic and heritage destinations, have developed a number of night tourism and experiential tourism products based on exploiting traditional values such as the Decoding Thang Long Imperial Citadel tour; the Sacred Night Tour of Hoa Lo Prison Relic Site. Night art performance models have also been focused on development such as the Hanoi Cheo Theater, the Hanoi Cai Luong Theater; and the Thang Long Puppetry Theater.
"Hanoi's night-time economy has grown recently, but has not really made a breakthrough. The main reason is the lack of mechanisms and policies to attract investment in night-time tourism products, and the lack of space planning to build separate night-time tourism complexes," said Ms. Giang.
Hanoi does not have a clear plan for nightlife spots. Many bars and restaurants in the Old Quarter are located in residential areas, making it difficult to operate late.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Travel, said that the night economy must last from 6pm to 6am, while in Hanoi it is relatively empty around 11am. Mr. Dat once went to a bar in Pattaya (Thailand) around 11pm but found it deserted because most of the customers came after midnight and it did not clear out until 4am. When he left the bar at around 2am, it was still crowded with customers and the music was still loud.
Weekend night market in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Photo: TH Chia
On weekends, Hanoi has a walking street, but during the week, tourists mostly only know about a few sidewalk beer stalls and bars in Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen areas (Hoan Kiem district). Grant Wilson, a 61-year-old Australian who has been to Vietnam and most other Southeast Asian countries, hopes that Hanoi should develop more night markets, entertainment and art activities because sitting on the sidewalk drinking beer all the time is "boring".
The Hanoi Department of Tourism also recognizes that night-time products must serve the needs of visitors during this time frame. However, Hanoi is currently only piloting the expansion of business activities until 2 a.m. in the Old Quarter on weekends.
Hanoi has a strong culinary background that can be compared to the big cities of Thailand. However, street food activities in Thailand are more organized with stalls having to be registered, making it easier for the authorities to control.
In the Hoan Kiem Lake walking street, street food activities are mainly street vendors, food hygiene is difficult to ensure, some places even grill squid on the sidewalk, looking "very dirty". "Also due to lack of management, we often see cases of overcharging, damaging the image of tourism", Mr. Dat said.
On the other hand, Hanoi's street food and entertainment activities also conflict with security and order. Ms. Hoang Anh - the owner of a restaurant and bar that has been operating for about 11 years on Ta Hien "Western Street" - said that the street is usually crowded after 11 p.m., but "as soon as the restaurant opens for a while, the ward officials remind us to clean up so as not to affect the people living nearby."
Khaosan Road at night. Photo: Party Bangkok
According to this business owner, the rent for a house on Ta Hien is expensive, averaging from 70 million to 100 million VND per month for a ground floor; it can be up to more than 200 million VND if renting the whole house. Ms. Hoang Anh hopes that the city will soon have loose mechanisms, allowing shops to increase operating hours and use sidewalks legally.
AZA Travel representative said that Hanoi needs to have mechanisms to balance the interests of all parties, and plan separate areas to organize night tourism activities. At first, people may not be familiar with it, but they must proactively change to suit the city's development orientation.
Mr. Dat gave the example of small traders in the Old Quarter who faced many difficulties when Hanoi opened a pedestrian street and banned vehicles on weekends. However, over time, they also adapted and changed, from selling wholesale to other provinces to selling to tourists.
A representative of the Hanoi Department of Tourism said that they are developing a plan to develop night tourism for the city and there are many models of night service products in the world for the city to learn from, such as visiting ancient castles at night in York City (UK); music shows performed by transgender people in Bangkok, the Believe It Or Not entertainment area and the Pattaya night market; and cruises on the Pearl River in Guangzhou (China).
In addition to diversifying products, the Hanoi Department of Tourism also realized that the authorities of the above destinations always have policies to encourage and support investors to participate in developing the night economy. Hanoi hopes to turn night tourism into the main product of the capital's night economy, improve the competitiveness of the destination, attract visitors to spend more and extend their stay.
Tu Nguyen
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