On the spotlight at a tourism –themed seminar held on Friday in Da Nang were discussions on ways to build up and implement a project for developing more new night-time tourism products in Viet Nam.

The event was jointly organised by Viet Nam's National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Director of Tourism Department under the VNAT Nguyen Quy Phuong said the Prime Minister has issued the Night Economic Development Scheme, paving the way for driving the development of night-time tourism products, including allowing a number of service facilities nationwide to operate from 6:00pm through 6:00am the following day.

For the time being, night-time tourism products are present mainly in some major cities and tourist destinations such as Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Sa Pa, Ha Long, Hue, and Nha Trang.

According to a representative from the Sun Group, in order to develop night-time tourism, it is necessary to set up an affiliate network, with a focus on encouraging trade centres, supermarkets and convenience stores to run later at night, optimising public transport services and solving transport infrastructure-relating issues.

Mr Le Tan Thanh Tung, Deputy General Director of the Vitours underlined a need to carefully study the real needs of tourists so that suitable tourism products can be developed.

In Da Nang, the municipal authorities are making preparations for the trialing of the ‘Da Nang by night’ programme, which is set to begin trials on the National Day (April 30) and run until 2023 will impress both local residents and tourists with an array of highly- inviting activities.

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism Tan Van Vuong proposed that  VNAT and other relevant agencies give suggestions to the Prime Minister about the issuance of specific policies on night-time economy and development models in a number of tourist hubs suitable to the real situations and the tastes of visitors.

The night-time economy, usually dubbed as a ‘gold mine’ for the hospotality sector, describes economic activity taking place in the evening after many people finish daytime employment or formal education, such as eating and drinking, entertainment, and nightlife.

In reality, the favorite time for tourists to dig deep into their pockets is from 6:00pm to 3:00 am the next day, and so the tourism sector earns 70% its revenue from night consumption. Therefore, it’s a pity the potential of nighttime economy is left under-invested for the time being.

Reporting  by THU HA –Translating by A.T