Dr Pham Ha
Founder and CEO of LuxGroup®
Vice President of the Vietnam Green Tourism Association
A night-time economy should not be measured by how many lights remain on, how many businesses stay open after midnight or how loud the streets become. Its true measures are longer stays, higher visitor spending, better jobs, stronger heritage conservation, a cleaner environment and happier local communities.
One More Night Can Expand an Entire Value Chain
There is no universal ratio applicable to every market or segment. However, in terms of spending structure, a premium overnight journey typically generates two to three times more revenue per guest than a conventional day tour. The figure can be even higher among private-charter guests, luxury travellers, multigenerational families, honeymooners and those celebrating special occasions.
A typical daytime bay excursion generates revenue primarily from the cruise ticket, lunch, admission fees and a limited range of activities. Once guests stay overnight, the spending chain expands to include accommodation, dinner, beverages, wellness treatments, art, entertainment, shopping, transportation, private guiding and personalised services.
More importantly, a night-time product extends a visitor’s stay at the destination by at least one night. The value created no longer belongs solely to the cruise operator. It flows through to hotels, restaurants, artists, fishermen, craft villages, transport providers, food suppliers and local communities.
In Ha Long, spending on a typical day excursion generally ranges from VND1.8 million to VND2.5 million per guest. A premium overnight journey may generate VND6 million to VND8 million or more, depending on the season, cabin category and level of personalisation. One additional night can therefore create approximately VND4 million to VND6 million in extra value per visitor.
Significantly, more travellers no longer regard an overnight cruise as something to experience only once. Some now spend three or four nights on the water. Many families choose longer journeys through Ha Long Bay, Lan Ha Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay and the broader Gulf of Tonkin.
They are not merely looking for a beautiful cabin aboard a ship. They are seeking stillness amid mountains and water: the sound of wind and waves, the wonder of waking in nature, and the opportunity to understand Vietnam’s maritime culture, local communities and cuisine.
In a world that is becoming faster, louder and more crowded, tranquillity has emerged as a new form of luxury.
In Nha Trang, a sunset cocktail programme combining dinner, music and a voyage across the bay does not replace the daytime tour. It creates an entirely new layer of experience and expenditure during hours when visitors might otherwise return to their hotels.
A guest can explore the islands during the day, enjoy the sunset, music and fine dining on the bay in the evening, and then continue experiencing the city’s other services. With Emperor Cruises, the value of a premium sunset, music and dinner experience can be approximately five times that of a conventional bay tour.
Yet the guest is not simply paying for dinner. They are paying for atmosphere, emotion, privacy and memory.
That is the real power of the night-time economy: not merely collecting more revenue over a few additional hours, but making the entire journey longer, deeper and more memorable.
LuxGroup® is continuing to develop sunset, culinary and cultural experiences through Sông Show® on the Saigon River. Conceived as a live cultural performance on the water, the show will tell the story of the river, the commercial port of Saigon, Nha Rong Wharf and the young Nguyen Tat Thanh, who departed Vietnam on 5 June 1911 aboard the Amiral Latouche-Tréville in search of a path to national liberation.
To mark the 115th anniversary of that historic voyage, aboard Amiral Cruises for Presidents®, we aspire to create an experience of “slow travel in a fast city”—an invitation for visitors to step away from the urban rush, move slowly along the river, view the city from the water, listen to its history and discover the cultural depth of Ho Chi Minh City.
Affluent Travellers Do Not Buy Darkness—They Buy Time Worth Remembering
LuxGroup® has pioneered new night-time experiences across Vietnam’s seas, bays and rivers. We seek to speak the language of our guests, understand their expectations and tell the story of Vietnamese culture on the water.
Affluent travellers do not buy darkness, decorative lighting or an expensive dinner. They buy quality time, privacy, authentic emotion and a story they cannot experience anywhere else.
LuxGroup® therefore does not begin by asking, “What more can we sell at night?” We begin with a more important question:
“After tonight, what will our guests remember, what story will they tell, and why will they want to return to Vietnam?”
From that question, we design the entire journey as a continuous narrative—from the welcome and the design of the vessel to the music, art, cuisine, lighting, fragrance, cultural interpretation, rhythm of service and every personalised touchpoint.
The experience must be present, personal and unrushed.
Our differentiation rests on four foundations.
The first is identity. Every vessel should serve as a cultural ambassador, not as an anonymous floating function room. Its art, architecture, cuisine and stories must be rooted in the destination and in Vietnamese heritage. The moment guests step aboard, they should know they are in Vietnam—not in a generic luxury product that could exist in any country.
The second is personalisation. Guest numbers should be carefully controlled so the team can remember names, preferences, dietary requirements, birthdays and the purpose of each journey. For us, luxury is heartware, not hardware. True luxury begins with people—with empathy and the ability to care for guests from the heart.
The third is completeness. High-end international travellers do not want to be charged repeatedly for every small service. A largely inclusive model makes the journey seamless, transparent and relaxing. Guests should be free to enjoy each moment without worrying about a series of incidental costs.
The fourth is operational excellence. A beautiful idea without rigorous safety standards, service procedures, skilled people, quality management, international sales systems and distribution networks will struggle to become a sustainable product. Retaining high-spending guests requires consistent quality every day, not just a few visually impressive moments.
Many night-time economy models remain fragmented because they concentrate on shopping, food, sound and lighting without creating a complete guest journey.
Vietnam does not lack things to do at night. What we lack are distinctive products with a clear theme, a strong identity, reliable standards and a compelling story—experiences powerful enough to persuade visitors to stay for another night.
Experiences Can Be Scaled—but They Must Never Be Cloned
Premium night-time experiences can certainly be developed across Vietnam. But scaling does not mean copying.
Every destination must create its night-time products from its own cultural DNA.
Ha Long possesses natural heritage and maritime culture. Nha Trang has its bay, fishing communities and resort lifestyle. Hue offers imperial heritage. Hoi An carries the memory of an ancient trading port, lanterns and centuries of cultural exchange. Ho Chi Minh City has the Saigon River, the legacy of the “Pearl of the Far East,” port-city architecture and a dynamic urban rhythm. The Mekong Delta offers a river civilisation shaped by floating markets, đờn ca tài tử music and orchard cuisine.
These cultural resources can inspire live heritage performances, culinary journeys, night museums, curated markets, river experiences, fashion presentations, light festivals, architectural tours, historical storytelling and creative spaces for younger generations.
Ho Chi Minh City could develop accommodation on the river, allowing visitors to admire the city at night, wake on the water and discover the metropolis from a different perspective. A major city does not simply need more hotel rooms on land. It can transform its river into a tourism boulevard, a cultural stage and a distinctive place to stay.
A performance, however, should never stand alone. It must connect with transportation, dining, shopping, accommodation and activities before and after the show. When these services form an ecosystem, one performance ticket can generate multiple layers of revenue for the destination and create livelihoods for a wide range of local participants.
I believe particularly strongly in the combination of cruising, cuisine, art, heritage and storytelling. Today’s travellers do not merely want to see a beautiful landscape; they want to understand the soul of the place.
Vietnam possesses everything required to turn each evening into a living cultural stage. But these experiences must be professionally developed, interpreted through a contemporary language and handled with sufficient sophistication to prevent culture from becoming a superficial performance.
Successful scaling means creating diverse products that meet the same high standard. It does not mean bringing the same night market, pedestrian street or style of performance to every destination.
We Cannot Operate a Night-Time Economy with a Daytime Mindset
Vietnam’s greatest obstacle is not a lack of resources or ideas. It is the absence of a coordinated ecosystem and an operating framework designed specifically for the night.
The period between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. has enormous revenue-generating potential. Yet many activities are still managed through daytime administrative structures. Once office hours end, responsible points of contact become difficult to reach, while ports, public transport, support services and related infrastructure are not coordinated for night-time operations.
A business may invest in an excellent restaurant, an elegant vessel or an engaging performance, but it cannot independently resolve issues involving ports, night transportation, planning, licensing, security, noise, fire prevention, rescue services, waste management, workforce quality and international promotion.
The regulatory framework has not fully caught up with emerging business models. A product combining transportation, accommodation, artistic performance, dining and events may fall under the authority of multiple agencies. When procedures are prolonged, no single body assumes responsibility and different localities interpret the rules differently, businesses struggle to make long-term investments.
Infrastructure is another significant bottleneck. The night-time economy cannot thrive if public transport disappears after 10 p.m., or if destinations lack safe embarkation points, clean public toilets, multilingual signage and civilised pedestrian spaces.
Cities must also be designed to remain beautiful after dark. Many public parks, civic buildings, architectural landmarks and urban façades become poorly lit, visually unappealing or lifeless at night. Urban lighting is not simply a matter of installing more lamps. It is the art of shaping public space, celebrating architecture, ensuring safety and creating memorable night-time landmarks.
The tourism economy must begin with research into what travellers genuinely need, not with an attempt to continue selling what destinations already have. The objective is to create experiences valuable enough for visitors to spend more, stay longer and still feel that they have received excellent value.
When they leave Vietnam, they should want to return—and enthusiastically recommend the country to others.
Vietnam’s national tourism brand also needs a renewed promise that is concise, emotional and consistent—perhaps “Experience Vietnam” or “Wow Vietnam.” That promise must then be translated into a coherent identity, tangible products and lived experiences. A slogan has value only when visitors can feel its promise at every destination.
Human resources present another challenge. High-end guests require more than foreign-language proficiency. They expect cultural understanding, storytelling ability, anticipation of their needs and subtle handling of unexpected situations. Vietnam must train experience ambassadors, not merely service operators.
Above all, we must change our mindset. If the night-time economy is understood simply as selling later, playing louder music or extending drinking hours, we will create more noise, waste and pressure for residents—not more value.
A premium night-time economy must be safe, cultured, green, low in single-use plastics and harmonious with the lives of local communities.
From Policy to Practice: Five Points of Clarity
Resolution 26 has opened a new space for the development of tourism. The next step is to translate that direction into a government action programme based on five points of clarity: clear tasks, clear responsibility, clear deadlines, clear resources and clear outcomes.
Five groups of measures deserve priority.
First, each destination needs its own night-time economy master plan. The plan should clearly define operating zones, target markets, capacity limits, hours of operation and signature products. Every locality should not reproduce the same pedestrian street, night market and amplified performance. Each destination must identify its distinctive advantage and turn it into a commercially viable experience.
Second, Vietnam needs a one-stop administrative mechanism and controlled pilot frameworks for new models. Night cruises, river accommodation, live performances, night museums and creative spaces require clear legal pathways. Businesses need one responsible authority to coordinate the entire process instead of being left to navigate disconnected procedures.
The night-time economy must also be governed by institutions that operate at night. An economy running from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. cannot be managed effectively by a system that closes at 5 p.m.
Third, destinations need investment in shared infrastructure. This includes piers, ports, night-time public transport, car parks, aesthetic lighting, public toilets, multilingual signage, rescue systems, security and cashless payment facilities. The state should provide infrastructure and clear rules; businesses should invest in products, innovate experiences and remain accountable for quality.
Fourth, Vietnam should establish national standards for night-time tourism products. These standards must cover safety, noise, environmental impact, service quality, consumer protection and responsibility towards local communities.
Development must be accompanied by capacity limits, waste separation, reductions in single-use plastics, wastewater controls and mechanisms ensuring that local people can participate, earn sustainable livelihoods and share in the benefits. We cannot sacrifice the environment, heritage or the peace of residents for short-term revenue.
Fifth, the night-time economy must be managed through data. We need to measure how long guests stay, where they spend, how satisfied they are, how much waste is generated, how many jobs are created and how much value remains within local communities.
Data should guide planning, promotion, resource allocation and performance evaluation. Decisions can no longer be based primarily on assumptions or intuition.
Vietnam Does Not Need to Stay Awake the Latest—It Needs to Create the Most Memorable Nights
The night-time economy should not be measured by the number of lights switched on, the number of businesses trading after midnight or the volume of entertainment in the streets.
The right measures are longer stays, higher visitor spending, better jobs, stronger heritage conservation, a cleaner environment and happier local communities.
Tourism must place the customer at its centre, culture at its foundation, happiness at its heart, and green, sustainable development on its long-term path.
Vietnam does not need to become the destination that stays awake the latest.
It should become the destination that creates the most memorable nights—a place where every visitor can encounter Vietnamese culture, people and beauty through experiences that are profound, private, emotional and sustainable.
Because the true value of the night-time economy is not how long we keep a city awake, but how long Vietnam remains alive in the traveller’s memory after the night has ended.
