Hai Ba Trung walking street has fewer visitors than when it first opened.

Not as expected

Coming to Lang Co town, Phu Loc district, I was surprised to see that the Nguyen Van walking street was no longer crowded, although this street had been opened for less than a year and was far from the city center. Nguyen Van walking street is considered a rare nightlife spot of the tourist destination with Lang Co Bay, one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Mr. Vuong Dinh Tuan, Chairman of Lang Co town People's Committee shared: "Due to unfavorable weather, from the rainy season of 2024, the walking street's activities were affected. It is expected to restart in early April 2025."

The restart of the Nguyen Van walking street is also expected to have many concerns, because according to the assessment of the local government, the effectiveness of this night walking street since its opening is not too outstanding. According to Mr. Tuan, due to the short time of operation, the promotion work is not strong, so people and tourists still do not have a clear understanding of the activities of this walking street. In addition, the walking street only stops at eating and drinking activities, with restaurants, some souvenir shops, while there are no street art activities to create attraction.

Hai Ba Trung walking street space

If Nguyen Van walking street was formed later and is not yet known to many tourists, then a few dozen kilometers away, Thanh Toan tile-roofed bridge night market (Thuy Thanh commune, Huong Thuy town) has been known to tourists for a long time (since 2019). In the beginning, on weekends, there were many people and tourists coming to the night market to experience. However, when I returned to this night market in early 2025, I could not help but feel sad when I saw the desolate scene.

In the “core area” of Hue City, where investment in walking streets and night streets is larger and more convenient, attracting visitors is also a problem. Except for the walking street in the Western Quarter (Chu Van An, Pham Ngu Lao and Vo Thi Sau streets), the remaining walking streets have encountered a situation where they were too crowded when they opened, and later on, they lacked visitors, such as Hoang Thanh night street and most recently Hai Ba Trung walking street.

Ms. Mai Thi My Duyen, a tourist in Quang Ngai, shared: “I have experienced the night streets in Hue, and I really found them monotonous and lacking in services, not much different from other localities. It is still a walking street with food stalls, and occasionally there are art and entertainment activities. If they are all similar, tourists will only come because there is no place to play, but it really does not stimulate their desire to experience and explore.”

A paradox is that Hue is still considered to lack night tourism products. However, tourists are not interested and rarely "spend money" in night streets and night markets. Ms. Nguyen Lan Chi, a tourist from Hanoi, said frankly: "I hold money to spend in the night streets, but there is really nothing worth buying. Moreover, the night streets only operate on weekends. Tourists come in the middle of the week, but there is still a lack of places to have fun at night."

Thanh Toan tile bridge night market when it still attracted visitors

Lack of character, open then close”

Talking to many tourists, I was startled by the judgment: "Lack of uniqueness, open then close". In reality, in the night streets, walking streets, night markets in Hue, or in other localities, I suddenly realized that more or less that judgment has some basis.

The leaders of the Department of Tourism Planning and Development, Department of Tourism are concerned that the opening of walking streets, night streets, and night markets are all aimed at creating night tourism products, night entertainment highlights, and in fact the ideas and purposes are very good, aiming to solve the desires and needs of people and tourists. However, the effectiveness of operations is another story. Partly, due to ineffective business stability, some participants in night streets and night markets no longer do it, leading to a lack of services. In addition, the art programs, even if they exist, are still not really attractive. The reason why the Western street maintains good operations is because it connects the surrounding service points, while other night streets, walking streets, and night markets still do not have diverse products and services.

According to many tourism experts, the model of night streets and night markets must escape the mindset of “food markets” and souvenir shops and must develop a systematic night economy. In addition to commercial activities, cuisine must show the unique values ​​of culture, customs and practices of a land. For Hue, a place that contains many heritages, the unique features of cuisine, handicrafts and performances are the main flavors of the night streets that should be exploited.

Tourism expert Phan Yen Ly, in a press release, also said that to make night tourism effective, we should look to effective destinations in Korea and Japan; have solutions to attract investment, socialize to make products, and change night tourism products to make them more attractive.

Lack of night tourism products is a concern of Hue. The tourism industry is researching to coordinate with relevant units to develop plans to organize night activities. Obviously, when the story of existing night streets and night markets opens up "both too much and too little", it needs to be studied very carefully. The models opened must be truly unique, bearing the local mark, methodical and "hitting" the desires of tourists.

Minh Tam