Developing amusement centers in both the inner city and the suburbs comes high on the list of priority works mentioned in the capital city tourism program by 2020.

Hanoi is the city which attracts more foreign travelers than any other localities in Vietnam. However, the travelers do not have long stay in the city: a traveler stays in Hanoi for 2.1 days on average for every trip.

According to Luu Duc Ke, Director of Hanoitourist, said Hanoi tends to become a place for travelers to transit. Travelers do not intend to stay for many days in Hanoi, because they have nothing to do in the city, where there are very few big shopping malls and entertainment complexes, especially nightlife.

“In Thailand, the nightlife industry brings the highest income proportion to its tourism. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, travelers have nowhere to go at night,” Ke said.

Even in the two biggest cities of Vietnam – Hanoi and HCM City – there are very few bars and dancing halls meeting the standards to serve foreign guests, while they have to shut the door prior to 0 am. Visitors to Hanoi also do not have opportunities to go out for night meals.

As for domestic travelers, the only way to entertain themselves in the evening is singing at karaoke room or playing cards in the hotels, according to Hoang Cong Vinh, a tour guide of Dulichvietonline.

It is expected that Hanoi would have more than 10 million residents by 2030, while it would receive 4.5-5.1 million foreign travelers. By that time, Hanoi would be a big market with high demand for entertainment services for both domestic and foreign travelers.

This explains why the Hanoi Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided that entertainment complexes need to come high on the list of priority works that must be done to implement the tourism development strategy, even though people still keep arguing about whether to make investment to develop the services.

Under the strategy, the nightlife would be programmed for the central area in Hanoi, which gathers the majority of foreign travelers.

It is expected that the areas around the Hoan Kiem Lake and the ancient streets would be developed into pedestrian areas. Regarding the nightlife services, every street or area would provide a certain kind of services. Therefore, Bar street, night food street and night service street.

Especially, Hanoi would have a center to specifically serve foreign travelers, which provide different entertainment services, including electronic games or art shows. The center may be set up in the suburb area, which is not too far from the city’s center (less than 20 kilometers). This would be near enough to ensure to best serve foreign travelers, and far enough to restrict the impacts on the domestic cultural and social environment.

The idea, observers said, has been put forward in order to persuade people to recognize the need of the existence of entertainment complexes in the capital city, because the plan compilers have foreseen the strong protest from people, who keep thinking that this is a “sensitive issue.”

Mai Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the establishment of entertainment complexes and the way the services are programmed would create favorable conditions for state agencies’ management.

Hanoi would not only try to attract foreign travelers, but also to target domestic travelers with amusement centers and theme parks.

The Ho Tay Water Park remains the only theme park in the central area. However, more theme parks would appear in the capital city in the time to come. The Thu Le Park would be a zoology park, while Bach Thao would be the park of plant species, while Thong Nhat would be reserved for sports and entertainment activities.

Source: VNN