Can Tho injects life into the nigh-time economy
The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has launched a project to boost the development of its night-time economy as part of its efforts to attract more tourists.
According to Nguyen Minh Tuan, vice director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, this kind of the economy is seen as the future locomotive of the city which is regarded as the centre of the region.
However, he pointed out that night-time services in Vietnam in general and Can Tho in particular are currently small in scale and facing safety and security challenges.
The city approved a project to pilot night-time services in Ninh Kieu district on April 22, under which tourism and entertainment services will be available from 6pm to 6am in a number of local tourism attractions. The area will house as pedestrian streets, night markets, tours, and entertainment-trade centres.
Currently, shopping and entertainment services are only allowed to operate from 6pm to 10pm at night markets in Ninh Kieu district.
After a two-year pilot programme, Can Tho will implement night-time services across many parts of the city in an effort to bolster its tourism sector and boost socio-economic development.
At a workshop to launch the project, participants stressed the need to continue evaluating the potentials, opportunities and challenges of night-time economic development and factors affecting the work, thus sketching out development orientations suitable to Can Tho’s future development.
They underscored that in order to boost the development of night-time economy, Can Tho should make adequate investment and design comprehensive mechanisms and policies to create a smooth and coherent legal corridor to guide activities.
At the same time, localities and businesses should work to associate activities at night with the development of local culture to attract more visitors, they said.
Director Tuan said that through the project, the city hopes to create more jobs and increase income for locals, and effectively optimise the municipal natural and cultural advantages.
The project will be initially implemented in Ninh Kieu district in the 2022-2024 period.
At the same time, Can Tho is also calling for investment in other promising destinations. From 2025, the model is expected to be expanded to the remaining districts in the city.
Can Tho, with an estimated population of 1.61 million, is one of Vietnam's five centrally-managed cities, alongside Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong and Da Nang.
In July 2020, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a master plan for night-time economy development in Vietnam, allowing major cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang as well as other tourist destinations like Hoi An, Hue, Da Lat and Phu Quoc to pilot night-time services from 6pm to 6am.
