Lack of incentive policies and planning has prevented Hanoi's night tourism from truly breaking through.
Speaking to VnExpress , Ms. Dang Huong Giang, Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism, assessed that Hanoi's infrastructure has many advantages for developing night tourism. The city has an infrastructure system connecting tourist attractions and night-time economic activity points. The system of facilities serving the entertainment, dining, shopping, and rest needs of tourists is quite developed. Hanoi also has spaces for developing the night-time economy, concentrated in districts such as Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, and Tay Ho.
A tour guide at Hoa Lo Prison is giving a presentation to visitors. Photo: Ngan Duong.
In addition, travel businesses and tourist destinations, especially those with historical sites and heritage, have developed several night tourism and experiential tourism products based on exploiting traditional values, such as the Thang Long Imperial Citadel decoding tour and the Sacred Night Tourism tour of the Hoa Lo Prison historical site. Models for organizing nighttime art performances have also been emphasized and developed, such as the Hanoi Cheo Theatre, the Hanoi Cai Luong Theatre, and the Thang Long Puppet Theatre.
"Hanoi's night-time economy has seen recent growth, but it hasn't truly broken through. The main reasons are the lack of mechanisms and policies to attract investment in night-time tourism products, and the absence of spatial planning for the construction of separate night-time tourism complexes," Ms. Giang said.
Hanoi lacks a clear plan for nightlife venues. Many bars and restaurants in the Old Quarter are located in residential areas, making it difficult for them to stay open late.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Travel, said that the night economy should last from 6 PM to 6 AM, while in Hanoi, it's relatively quiet by around 11 PM. Mr. Dat once visited a bar in Pattaya (Thailand) around 11 PM but found it deserted because most customers arrived after midnight and only started to thin out around 4 AM. When he left the bar around 2 AM, it was still packed with customers and the music was still blaring.
The weekend night market in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Photo: TH Chia
On weekends, Hanoi has pedestrian streets, but during the week, tourists are mostly limited to a few sidewalk beer stalls and bars in the Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen areas (Hoan Kiem district). Grant Wilson, a 61-year-old Australian visitor who has been to Vietnam and most other Southeast Asian countries, hopes that Hanoi will develop more night markets, entertainment venues, and art spaces because sitting on the sidewalk drinking beer all the time gets "boring."
The Hanoi Department of Tourism also recognizes that nighttime tourism products must cater to the needs of tourists during this time frame. However, Hanoi is currently only piloting the extension of business operations until 2 AM in the Old Quarter on weekends.
Hanoi has a strong culinary scene, comparable to major cities in Thailand. However, street food activities in Thailand are more organized, with stalls requiring registration, making it easier for authorities to monitor them.
Meanwhile, in the Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian area, street food activities are mainly carried out by vendors, and the hygiene of the food is questionable. Some places even grill squid on the sidewalk, which looks "very messy." "Due to a lack of management, we often see price gouging, which tarnishes the image of tourism," Mr. Dat said.
On the other hand, Hanoi's street food and entertainment activities also conflict with public order and security. Ms. Hoang Anh, the owner of a restaurant and bar that has been operating for about 11 years in Ta Hien Street, known as the "Western Quarter," said that the street is usually crowded after 11 PM, but as soon as her establishment opens, ward officials remind her to pack up so as not to affect the surrounding residents.
Khaosan Road at night. Photo: Party Bangkok
According to this business owner, rent in Ta Hien is expensive, averaging from 70 million to 100 million VND per month for a ground floor; it can go up to over 200 million VND if renting the whole house. Ms. Hoang Anh hopes that the city will soon have mechanisms to relax regulations, allowing businesses to extend their operating hours and legally use the sidewalks.
A representative from AZA Travel suggested that Hanoi needs mechanisms to reconcile the interests of all parties and to plan a separate area for organizing nighttime tourism activities. Initially, people may not be used to it, but they must proactively adapt to suit the city's development direction.
Mr. Dat cited the example of small traders in the Old Quarter who faced many difficulties when Hanoi opened pedestrian streets and banned cars on weekends. However, over time, they adapted and changed, shifting from wholesale sales to other provinces and cities to selling goods to tourists.
Representatives from the Hanoi Department of Tourism stated that they are developing a plan to promote nighttime tourism in the city and have many examples of nighttime tourism products and services around the world that the city can learn from, such as visiting ancient castles at night in York (England); music shows performed by transgender people in Bangkok; the Believe It Or Not amusement park and Pattaya nightlife district; and cruises on the Pearl River in Guangzhou (China).
Besides diversifying products, the Hanoi Department of Tourism also recognizes that the authorities of the aforementioned destinations consistently have policies to encourage and support investors in developing the night-time economy. Hanoi hopes to transform night-time tourism into a key product of the capital's night-time economy, enhancing the destination's competitiveness, attracting visitors to spend more, and extending their stay.
Tu Nguyen
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