Economists, while believing that night-time economy would be an important source of revenue to localities and the state budget, stress that Vietnam needs to draw up a thorough development strategy.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently asked relevant ministries and localities to study China's night economy policy.

In the immediate time, Vietnam should not develop night economy on a large scale until it finds suitable management solutions.

Bui Trinh, a respected economist, showed a different view about night-time economy development. He thinks each country has its own advantages, and what Vietnam needs to do is understand its strong and weak points to find suitable measures to develop economy.

“I think there is no need to put forward the issue of ‘day-time’ or ‘night-time economy’. People travel to discover the traditional culture of other countries, to sightsee, relax and engage in entertainment, not just to play and participate in night activities.

Economists, while believing that night-time economy would be an important source of revenue to localities and the state budget, stress that Vietnam needs to draw up a thorough development strategy.

Trinh cited problems that the tourism industry is facing. Vietnamese beaches are beautiful, but many of them have been concretized. At many tourism sites, travelers are overcharged. 

Trinh said when workers and tourists participate in night activities, this affects their health and productivity for official daytime work. It s necessary to discover the pros and cons of the development of night economy.

The most important thing is to conduct thorough surveys to find out what tourist want.

“Before thinking of developing night economy, it would be better to do the ‘daytime economy’ well first,” he said.

Nguyen Van My, a tourism expert, also said the wrong way would do more harm than good.

Before thinking of developing a night economy, localities should ask themselves which products they have to offer to travelers.

“Currently, services can be provided until 10 pm. But we still lack products for travelers. Will we have enough products and services to offer through nighttime?” he said.

The expert believes that Vietnam should learn from Thailand on how to develop services, and learn from Laos and Cambodia on how to develop night tourism activities.

Cambodia’s Siem Reap night market is famous. In 2018, Cambodia received 6.32 million travelers, though it has only 16 million population.

Mai Lan 

How should Vietnam develop its night-time economy?

Economists and businesses all believe that developing the night-time economy will bring new opportunities to Vietnam.