Exploiting the strengths of night tourism

Night tourism products are increasingly proving their importance in attracting and retaining tourists. Hanoi has actively deployed many products and services to meet the needs of tourists for night tourism. In particular, the city focuses on exploiting the strengths of heritage tourism and cultural tourism, with outstanding products such as: "The Quintessence of Dao Hoc" Tour at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, Thang Long Night Cycling Tour... These products are creating attraction for tourism in the capital.

Tourists ask for calligraphy while participating in the night tour at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam.

Less than half a month after launching the Essence of Daoism experience tour, the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of the Temple of Literature has had to increase the number of experience nights per week from three to four. Furthermore, the experience sessions are all “sold out” early.

Help guests discover new things

At exactly 7:30 p.m., the night tour at the Temple of Literature (Dong Da District, Hanoi) began to welcome guests. As soon as they passed through the main gate (Van Mieu Mon), visitors had a different feeling when being welcomed by a "party" of technology and light. The traditional red brick floor on the walkways was transformed into a place to display images of patterns on the border of the Doctor's steles with delicate lines of lotus flowers, pomegranate flowers, and crabapple flowers...

At night, Khue Van Cac also has a new look. The light both enhances the ancient look and creates a magical sparkle. Passing through Khue Van Cac, tourists come to the Doctor's stele garden, where there is Thien Quang well and experience many surprises. The "question-answer" session with the "old turtle". Many tourists are delighted when, when asked difficult questions, the old turtle humorously answers: "I am 500 years old so my memory is sometimes confused". The area in front of the Bai Duong house is where the Quoc Tu Giam, the first university in Vietnam, is introduced. Here, tourists can experience "calligraphy" using virtual reality glasses.

The entire journey to explore the Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy is meticulously cared for in every detail. There are fish made of vivid light on the water surface, or an ancient tree that also "transforms" into a picture of a village, with a boy diligently practicing writing. But the biggest surprise waiting for tourists is the 3D mapping projection show with the theme "The Quintessence of Dao Hoc". The entire facade of the Tien Duong house on the Thai Hoc yard turns into a giant screen. Stories related to Dao Hoc, the oldest university in Vietnam are "told" through the theme: Examination school, the old scholars, related to the will, the dream of passing, studying, carp turning into dragon, and the difficulties and challenges that each person needs to overcome...

The subtle handling of color and light enhances the beauty of the heritage. After participating in the experiences, Mr. Nguyen Duc Minh said: “All the experiences at the night tour at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam brought me surprises. It is not the usual way to introduce heritage and tradition, but in a very special way. I think, not to mention the content, just the beauty of traditional culture expressed through technology is a plus point to attract visitors.”

Also on this occasion, a bicycle tour with the theme of Thang Long-Hanoi Night was deployed by the National Museum of History and the Vietnam Sustainable Tourism Company (Vietnam STID). Participating in the bicycle tour, visitors can cycle to explore the capital's landscape, especially the remaining vestiges of ancient Thang Long such as: Hanoi Flag Tower, Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Quan Thanh Temple, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Hanoi's North Gate, Quan Chuong Gate... and some Hanoi architectures of the early 20th century such as: Presidential Palace, Opera House, Government Guest House...

On the journey, visitors will have a snack at the night food court of Ngoc-Ngu Xa island and the last stop is to explore the Vietnam History Museum - a typical architecture for the East-West cultural exchange. Here, tourists can also learn about many valuable cultural heritages in the Museum such as: Incense tree of Tu Ky pagoda (dated in 1666), Nam Giao stele (dated in 1679)...

In addition to famous relics such as Hoa Lo Prison, Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, museums have also started to implement night experience tours. After the Literature Museum, the Women's Museum is the latest unit to implement a special art experience program "Legends of Youth".

The program recreates the fierceness of the war at Dong Loc T-junction in 1968 using visual technology, 3D effects with bomb craters, A-shaped bunkers, roads passing through key points, artillery positions and images of convoys carrying goods and troops to battle... From there, it speaks to the qualities of heroic Vietnamese women. New night tourism products put into operation in Hanoi help tourists have many different options.

Creating momentum for night tourism to take off

If in the past, most of Hanoi's night tourism activities were spontaneous, now they have developed quite richly, with many different types, from walking spaces to experiences at relics, museums... Most of the night tourism products attract a large number of visitors. Even paid activities such as experience tours at Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Hoa Lo Prison, Women's Museum, Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam are always in a state of sold out early. Notably, some products have their own characteristics. For example, the walking space at Hoan Kiem Lake (Hoan Kiem District), Son Tay Ancient Citadel (Son Tay Town) is shaped as a space for performances and cultural exchanges; the Ngoc - Ngu Xa island area is characterized by cuisine.

For experiential tours, the experiential activities at Hoa Lo Prison and the Women's Museum bear a strong impression of the theatrical form. Meanwhile, the night cycling tour "catches the wave" of green living and slow living trends of many people. The tour of the Essence of Taoism at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam leads the story through technology, especially 3D Mapping technology.

Director of the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam Le Xuan Kieu said: “What we aim for is to convey the values of Vietnamese philosophy, of the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, a special national relic, in a worthy manner, using modern technology without letting the technology overwhelm the beauty of the heritage. Diversifying activities and promoting the application of technology is also a way to attract young people to the heritage. Initially, the number of visitors to the Tinh Hoa Dao Hoc tour was quite large; however, we will not only fix the product as it is now but continue to improve and innovate”.

In the future, Hanoi will continue to develop new night tourism products, typically walking streets in the districts of Dong Da, Ba Dinh or night tourism products - Space for experiencing lighting art "Hanoi Night - Touching point of emotions" at the Center for Culture and Arts (No. 22 Hang Buom Street, Hoan Kiem District) ... However, to develop Hanoi night tourism more strongly, there is still much to do. For example, currently Hanoi has many walking spaces, but some walking streets have similar activities. If the city continues to expand this model without improvements, it will cause boredom for tourists.

Another big difficulty is the mechanism and policy. Currently, tourism products in Hanoi only take place in the evening. By around 11pm, many services and shops have closed. Meanwhile, many tourists, especially foreign tourists, want to have fun and be entertained until morning. However, the city has not yet allowed services to open overnight. Many experts have suggested that in order to develop night tourism, it is necessary to perfect mechanisms to properly manage night-time economic activities associated with tourism development, including specific regulations on: Business types, business areas, restricted areas, operating hours, operating standards (noise, light) ... so that people and businesses can feel secure in organizing services.

In July 2023, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued the project "Some models for developing night tourism products". The project was implemented to promote the advantages of night services to develop diverse, unique, sustainable night tourism products in Vietnam with high quality and added value. The project aims to strive to form separate night entertainment complexes in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City by 2025.

However, at present, there is still a lack of mechanisms and policies to encourage investors to invest in the night economy - a field that still has many potential risks. Given the fact that night tourism activities in Hanoi are still mainly around the Old Quarter, Director of the Vietnam Institute for Tourism Development Research Nguyen Anh Tuan said: "Hanoi can study and expand night tourism products such as developing tourism services on both sides of the Red River; planning for the construction of modern shopping centers near the central area, for example, building an underground shopping center at Thong Nhat Park".

Article and photos: Giang Nam

Source: https://nhandan.vn/khai-thac-the-manh-du-lich-dem-post783193.html