Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho city, said: “Can Tho tourism has a lot of strengths but has not developed to its full potential in recent years. The average number of days that tourists spend in Can Tho city is about 1.5 days, while tourist spending in Can Tho is still low. One of the reasons is that the tourism product of Can Tho city is still simple, monotonous. Particularly, Can Tho city lacks activities and services for night-time tourism. Therefore, Can Tho city is orienting to develop the night-time economy associated with tourism, in order to prolong the guest-staying time and increase tourists’ spending when coming to Can Tho”. In fact, night-time activities are available in Can Tho city through the following forms: night markets, food, and entertainment areas (karaoke, bars, etc.). However, these activities are often limited in time. Moreover, they are monotonous, have unstable and low revenue. The average hours for operation of these night-time activities are from 18:00 to 22:00, some services such as karaoke and bars may last longer.

Mr. Tran The Nhu Hiep, Deputy General Director of NHONHO Technology Co., Ltd., said: “Through the survey, we found that night-time economic in Can Tho focuses mainly on food, accounting for 50% of the market share, but the income from this activity is not much and unstable. Therefore, there must be orientations to increase and diversify entertainment services and increase revenue”. The survey results also show that people and tourists also want to have more experience activities, namely an area for selling regional specialties, an area near Hau River to watch sunrise and sunset, street festivals, regional cultural activities, street food, and so on.

On this basis, the Plan on Development of the Night-time Economy in Can Tho city (The project will be piloted in Ninh Kieu district) also proposes orientations, in which the development of the overnight services in Can Tho focuses on 4 areas namely sightseeing tours, food and drinks, shopping and entertainment services. Accordingly, two models are built: the centralized night-time economy and the night-time economy. The difference between these two options is in the investment. The first option is to build and embellish infrastructure, organize cultural, artistic, and culinary activities, etc., at the expected location namely the embankment of Hau River, Hai Ba Trung Pedestrian Street, and the embankment of Bung Xang Lake. Under this option, there will be a public-private partnership, and the locality will find suitable investors through bidding. The second option is to stick to the pilot plan of developing overnight activities and services in Ninh Kieu district, based on available infrastructure and services. In fact, Ninh Kieu district has a plan to develop the night-time economy, including specialized routes, such as De Tham and Tran Phu food street; Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Viet Hong fashion street, etc. However, there are not many entertainment services on tourism.

Mr. Vu Chan Hung, Chairman of Can Tho Tourism Association, said: “For many years, we have not planned an area for night-time economic development. Establishing an area for night-time economic development will contribute to promoting local economic development, creating more jobs for people, and also creating momentum for tourism to develop in a new direction. However, in order to develop the overnight economy, we must have specific, large-scale, and concentrated plans. In my opinion, the suitable location for night-time economy development is from Hai Ba Trung road to the embankment of Hau river in Cai Khe islet, in which many services are concentrated in the sections of Khai Luong canal. I think that entertainment and services must be diverse and connected to attract tourists”.  Mr. Pham Trung Hieu from Can Tho City Institute for Socio-Economic Development Studies, said: “The plan also needs to consider the development of entertainment on the river at night. We can organize many festivals and activities to offer more experiences to visitors. On the other hand, it is also necessary to capture the tastes of visitors to have appropriate development orientation”. Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Le Thanh Phong, Standing Vice Chairman of the Mekong Delta Tourism Association, said: “We should target and focus on young people because these regular customers contribute greatly to the development of the night-time economy. Therefore, it is necessary to research and grasp the tastes of customers to have a suitable orientation. On the other hand, we develop the overnight economy in the direction of ensuring safety and quality, so we must carefully consider issues related to security and order”.

Mr. Pham Quang Trieu, Director of HT Travel Tourism Trading & Service Co., Ltd, shared his opinion: “Can Tho tourism has changed impressively, but in order to increase its attraction to tourists, we need to have more visitor experience products. The development of the night-time economy can meet this demand when more entertainment activities are allowed to be organized. The formation of pedestrian streets and the organization of periodic art performances, music and light festivals, Don ca tai tu (Southern folk music performance), film festivals will attract tourists. In addition, it is also possible to organize a food street, a night tour to explore the river. It is also necessary to pay attention to the issues of landscape maintenance, food safety, and infrastructure investment. Mr. Nguyen Thai Bao, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ninh Kieu District, said: “Night-time activities had previously been a subject to legal problems. However, Decision No. 1129/QD-TTg has solved this problem with many directions for night-time economy development associated with tourism. This is just a pilot phase, so we'll be doing and learning at the same time. In fact, night-time activities are available in Ninh Kieu District, but there is still a lack of cultural and recreational activities on a large scale. Therefore, when building a model for the pilot phase, we also consider carefully to make appropriate recommendations”. The plan of night-time economy development in Can Tho city (piloting in Ninh Kieu district) will have 3 phases. In phase 1, the model for night-time economy development will be piloted in Ninh Kieu (when the COVID-19 pandemic is under control) in 2022. In phase 2 (starting from 2023), we evaluate the results of phase 1 and expand the model across the city. Phase 3, we continue expanding the model from 2025 onwards.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho City, said that establishing a zone for the night-time economic development needs to be associated with the integrated planning of Can Tho city in the period of 2021-2030, a vision to 2050. Only then will there be appropriate orientations, mechanisms, and solutions. Product orientations and development spaces must also be more specific, especially activities on the river, cultural activities, and nightlife. The overnight economy is considered as one of the important solutions to increase attraction to tourists, create a diverse system of products and services, contribute to prolonging the length of guest-stay, increase tourist spending, and promote local economic development. However, the night-time economy development associated with tourism is a new model and is in the pilot period, so it faces many difficulties in terms of overlapping regulations. It is necessary for each locality to have flexible policies and active mechanisms. Can Tho is also in the process of researching and building a model to ensure harmony between the interests of the parties, especially for people, businesses, and tourists.