Making Ho Chi Minh city an "all night destination"

Situation

2017 is considered to be a successful year because the number of international visitors to Ho Chi Minh city reached more than 6.3 million, however the city still lacks key tourism products, especially entertainment products for visitors from 6pm to midnight.

many foreign tourists want to spend more time for entertainment activities and enjoying cuisine in the city. Moreover, due to time zone differences, they often operate more in the evening so the city needs to create more space and time to meet their entertainment demands.

Projecting Bui Vien pedestrian street and opening services for foreign visitors are considered an effective solution. However, it is not enough. The city needs to disseminate the model and open attractive services in District 1, which receives many international tourists.

In large tourism cities of many countries, tourists will experience special tourism products at night such as scenery, museum, water music, light, festival, stage, cinema and outdoor activities. Meanwhile, these products are rare to find there.

Mr. Daan from the Netherlands, the founder and CEO of Bright, a new lifestyle brand, said that he has been in Ho Chi Minh city for over two years and found that it is very interesting but not all tourists know that. Most foreigners love visiting famous sites such as Cu Chi tunnel, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum; enjoying some street food and then experiencing waterway routes to the Mekong river. They follow popular online guides or some popular travel websites. Some even don’t leave Bui Vien street area in District 1, so they do not feel the attraction of this Southern hub. As a result, they came once and did not return.

Solutions

Many people agree to build Ho Chi Minh city to become an "all night destination" to compete with other destinations in the region and encourage international travellers to explore, experience and spend more.

At present, night-time tourism products are limited, even monotonous. Therefore, the city needs a mechanism to create attractive and eventful destinations and amusement centres so that the city becomes an “all night destination in the eyes of visitors.

Through proposals from travel agencies, it now has some night-time tourism products such as Ben Thanh night market in Thu Khoa Huan in District 1, and Bui Vien pedestrian street, which are much liked by visitors, however their scales are not big and they have not become mainstay products.

Apart from opening more pedestrian, cuisine streets and night markets, the city should organize street art activities and expand night-time space for visitors to exploit and experience the culture of the local people. It can allow the tourism sector to take advantage of part of the pavement to serve food and offer shopping for tourists to experience. Many foreign visitors, especially European tourists, like to experience daily activities of people on pavement./.