The project will focus on developing cultural activities, festivals, and nightlife entertainment to contribute to promoting and preserving traditional culture, creating a unique and impressive space for tourists, especially foreigners.
Many localities, especially key tourist areas, have begun to pilot to promote local strengths.
A night tour of the Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) in the heart of Hanoi was officially launched on Oct. 29 by the Center for Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam Cultural and Scientific Activities where tourists will have an opportunity to enjoy a feast of dazzling light and traditional music and a taste of quintessence of Vietnamese educational history.
This is the fourth tour of this kind in Hanoi, following those at the Hoa Lo Prison Relic, the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, and the Vietnam Museum of Literature.
The night tour "Decoding the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long" made its debut in April 2022 and was well received by domestic visitors at weekends.
The northern province Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO-recognized world natural heritage site Ha Long Bay, is among the localities pioneering in exploiting night-time tourism products.
Pham Ngoc Thuy, director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said that night tourism in Quang Ninh is currently focused on several services such as restaurant cruises, music galas on the bay, and night streets.
Quang Ninh welcomed a total of 8.86 million visitors in the first half of this year, earning VND16.6 trillion (US$675.3 million), ranking it third, after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in terms of tourism revenue in this period.
Many other localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, and Can Tho are all exploring available strengths to develop night tourism products to attract more holidaymakers.
Experts suggest night-time tourism not only allows tourists to enjoy the unique local culture and culinary specialties, but also helps disperse the number of tourists during the daytime, thus reducing the load on main tourist destinations during peak hours, and enhancing sustainability.
This kind of tourism also contributes to creating more jobs for local people, promoting the local economy, and increasing the competitiveness of the country’s tourism sector. However, there are problems related to night tourism that need to be solved towards sustainable development.
In late 2022, the Institute for Tourism Development Research (ITDR) conducted a survey on night services for tourists in Vietnam in Da Nang, Hoi An (Quang Nam), Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat (Lam Dong).
These sites already offer night services and are piloting the application of extending service hours until 6 a.m. of the next day.
Through the survey they found that in Hoi An, services are still cursory. Tourists mainly come to visit and rarely stay overnight, and the workforce for night activities are hard to find.
In addition, Hoi An is an ancient city and a world cultural heritage, so appropriate planning is needed when developing night services.
As for Da Lat, infrastructure and planning do not yet meet the needs of vehicle circulation or walking tours, while service quality is not yet professional, along with environmental and noise pollution.
Many night tourism activities in Ho Chi Minh City are still spontaneous and issues related to management and environmental pollution also need to be given appropriate attention.
For Hanoi, the difficulty facing the capital city is lack of human resources, mechanisms to encourage households to expand business activities, and clear planning of space and time for night services.
Forming night tourism brand of Vietnam
Under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's project, five models of night tourism product development are targeted. These include cultural artistic performances, sports, health care and beauty services, shopping and night entertainment, night tours, and culinary culture.
Bui Hoang Son, permanent member of the National Assembly’s culture and education committee, said that to successfully carry out night-time tourism and bring about high economic efficiency, it needs appropriate investment in infrastructure like lighting, public utilities and transport to ensure safety and convenience for tourists.
Night tours also require solid policies and regulations to encourage the engagement of businesses, and protect the environment.
It can be said that there is huge potential to develop night-time tourism. However, to make that move effective, the engagement of management agencies, enterprises and the community is essential.
