Struggling with the problem of night travel

An Bang Music and Food Festival becomes a pioneering large-scale activity of the night economy in Quang Nam . Photo: KL

Hesitant…

In early August 2024, Con Nhan Xu Restaurant Company Limited (Cam Thanh Commune, Hoi An City) expressed its intention to organize music and night entertainment events to serve tourists.

Specifically, the business will arrange a private space away from residential areas to perform DJ music shows and other entertainment activities, with free entry for guests, and the unit will only sell water and food upon request.

“Many foreign partners suggested that I should organize some night activities for guests to have fun and entertainment while staying in Hoi An, but when I worked with the Department of Culture and Information of Hoi An City to ask about the licensing procedures, I was told that the city does not encourage night service activities in Cam Thanh because they are afraid that the noise will affect people's lives. Although I am sorry, I will not do it anymore,” said a representative of Con Nhan restaurant.

For a long time, Hoi An has had some night activities such as food street, Nguyen Hoang night market, Hoi An Memory Island or Vinpearl Nam Hoi An... however, the organization time is mainly in a small area and ends before 12 midnight.

Even along the coastal route through Dien Ban, Hoi An, Duy Xuyen, there are still no real night entertainment spots. Although this area concentrates large tourist areas and is far from residential areas, convenient for developing night tourism products.

About 10 years ago, Dien Duong night market area (Dien Ban) was invested in construction to form a place to buy and sell local products based on the advantage of being the midpoint between Hoi An City and Da Nang City, bringing the expectation of promoting night tourism not only in Dien Ban but also the number of visitors from Hoi An.

However, due to regulations and legal procedures, especially the lack of clear legal regulations on night markets, the above goal has not yet become a reality.

Lack of policy and planning

On July 27, 2020, the Government issued Decision 1129 approving the Project on developing the night-time economy in Vietnam to make the most of time, opportunities, and diversify economic activities, helping to improve people's income and life, serving the material and spiritual needs of foreigners, especially international tourists.

The night economy will help visitors stay and spend more. Photo: KL

Among the major cities and tourist centers in Vietnam such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang... Hoi An City has also been allowed by the Prime Minister to pilot the organization of night service activities until 6am the next morning.

After the Government had a project to develop the night-time economy and assigned it to localities, the Provincial People's Committee also assigned relevant departments and branches to develop an implementation plan, but so far there have been no clear results.

Mr. Le Ngoc Thuan - owner of Deckhouse restaurant (Hoi An) acknowledged that although night markets play an important role in keeping customers staying longer, the current "bottleneck" is still the policy mechanism.

In 2020, for the first time, Mr. Le Ngoc Thuan organized the An Bang Food and Music Festival to create a playground for tourists and jobs for local people. After a year of COVID-19 pandemic, from 2022 until now, the festival has taken place regularly once a year.

Mr. Le Ngoc Thuan shared that on average, the unit spends 200 - 300 million VND for each event, the city does not support much, and some years it does not support at all.

“Actually, I do it because of my passion and to create a playground for tourists and the community to do business together. In terms of profit, it is not effective. Not to mention, doing it once a year does not solve anything.

I think the city or province must have a policy mechanism, especially planning specialized spaces and locations such as along the Co Co River for businesses to rent to organize events regularly" - Mr. Thuan proposed.

Night-time economic development depends on many factors such as habits, local community culture, security and social situations... and requires appropriate and balanced solutions.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, recently the province has also assigned Hoi An City to research and develop a pilot project to develop nighttime services for tourism such as cuisine, festivals, music... to bring more experiences, keep visitors in Quang Nam longer, spend more, and shop more.

However, Mr. Hong admitted that the province has only planned separate night service products in Hoi An and coastal areas, and has not yet had a separate plan for night service products in the area.

“In the near future, the planning will be in the direction of comprehensive activities such as night cuisine, night music, night entertainment services to attract tourists. In the immediate future, the focus will be on the Hoi An area and surrounding coastal satellites (Thang Binh, Duy Xuyen and out, with Hoi An as the center) and from there, it will spread to other localities” – Mr. Hong informed.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/loay-hoay-bai-toan-du-lich-dem-3140755.html