Drink and hunt for discounted goods From 18:00 onwards, fashion shops on Nguyen Trai Street (District 1, District 5) began to be crowded with buyers and sellers. Fashion stalls from clothes, shoes, bags … are packed tightly on both sides of the sidewalk. All have discounts to attract customers. Ms. Tran Thi Hoa (35 years old, from Nha Trang) said that every time she had a chance to go to Saigon, she would visit the fashion street to hunt for great discounts. “In the past, I used to go to Ben Thanh night market (District 1), but since the COVOD-19 epidemic until now, this market has closed. Go online, I see people recommending fashion street at night, so stop by and get addicted. Any product is available but the price is very affordable ”, said Ms. Hoa. Fashion street in District 5 is bustling every night, due to discounted goods Every time he has the opportunity to come to Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Tran Duc Binh (from Long Xuyen) often brings his family to the shopping mall while having fun, eating and drinking combined with shopping. “We usually return to the hotel at 22h, because at this time the entertainment, shopping, and dining venues are closed, the streets do not know where to go, there is no play area for children at that time. both. Meanwhile, all day I have to meet, in the evening take advantage of the time to take my family to visit the ruins, but the places have closed since 16:00. At night, only pubs serve overnight, nothing else, ”Mr. Binh expressed regret. Night food area in District 6 Ho Chi Minh City or Bui Vien walking street (District 1), mostly serves food and lacks entertainment activities. “I also want to run other services, but every shop sells drinks. Now” I have a beat “, it does not attract customers. Nobody takes children to the dining area for entertainment, ”said Mr. T, manager of a snail shop in the night food district in District 6. Lack of specific products Ms. Tran Thi Phuong Linh, Marketing and Information Technology Director of BenThanh Tourist, said that the streets and pedestrian streets in Ho Chi Minh City are not focused on investment, there is a lack of outdoor stages. In addition, the scale of the roads is few and small, lacks space for spectacular and exciting night activities. River cruises watching the sunset on the Saigon River have not created a highlight, so it is difficult to attract visitors back. Mr. Tu Quy Thanh, Director of Federation of Travel analysis, Ho Chi Minh City lacks night services for tourists. If you look through the list of culinary business spots scattered in District 1, District 3, District 5 … many people will be really overwhelmed. However, this place is mostly spontaneous. Ho Chi Minh City needs to plan integrated amusement parks (dining, shopping, entertainment …) such as Thailand, Singapore … for convenience for customers to spend money. “Another point is that governments at all levels should not let business people swim by themselves. The tourism industry in Ho Chi Minh City needs to make statistics on how effective it is to deploy business on food streets, gold and silver streets, and if small businesses need any support or not to have appropriate adjustment plans. Pay close attention to local tourists, do not neglect them. Food safety and security is also something that tourists are very concerned about. The epidemic prevention work is also important at this time, so the functional departments must regularly remind tourism, hotel and restaurant businesses to strictly comply with the regulations on epidemic prevention of the health sector ”, Mr. Tu Quy Thành said. In 2020, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has cooperated with the Department of Culture – Sports of Ho Chi Minh City and the district units to build and exploit existing tourism products associated with the night economy in the host city. weak in 3 product groups. Specifically, the group of tourism products associated with the discovery of urban community culture at night, concentrates on streets such as Bui Vien pedestrian street, Nguyen Hue pedestrian street. In particular, last year, the People’s Committees of districts have stepped up the construction and opening of pedestrian streets combined with shopping and food in the district such as Ky Dai Quang Trung pedestrian street (District 10), night market and pedestrian street combined with night activities of Dam Sen Cultural Park (District 11), Hoa Binh Square Go Vap … Besides the pedestrian streets, some specialized streets other businesses that attract many tourists such as the food street; Oriental medicine street; gold, silver and jewelry stones; lantern street. In addition, bars, clubs, cafes also attract tourists. According to Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the HCM City Department of Tourism, “night activities and entertainment” are products that can make a difference to the night economy of Ho Chi Minh City compared to other provinces and cities. Because if there are no activities related to art, cuisine, and shopping, the night activities will be very poor. Ms. Hoa also said that the tourism industry of Ho Chi Minh City is cherishing the plan to implement the Tourism Development Strategy of Ho Chi Minh City until 2030, building the city to become a center for night tourism activities, with many solutions to develop tourism. develop food tourism, shopping and entertainment products at night. However, Ms. Anh Hoa also admitted: “Despite many efforts, the night tourism products in the City in general are not really rich, diverse, and complicated security and order issues. . Survey data also shows that only 15% of tourists will definitely recommend HCMC to their friends and family and 10% will definitely return for the attractiveness of entertainment and activities. nocturnal action ”.

The most crowded restaurant is around 19:00 – 21:00, most of the customers are young people. “I ate Van snails since the shop also sold outside the Ben Thanh night market until they moved to Nguyen An Ninh. I met famous people at this restaurant, the next time I was married to Tang Thanh Ha, the day I met Le Quyen, Tran Thanh, Mi Du, many actors, models come here very often ”, Ms. Trang (district Tan Binh) – a regular customer of Van Van for 12 years – told Zing . Trang’s family has been a regular guest of Van Van for more than 10 years. Before the epidemic, Trang said, the area was very cramped because the restaurants were crowded with many tourists. During this time, many shops stopped doing business, so customers like her were allowed to go out and sit more comfortably and comfortably. “I have eaten many snail shops. Anywhere I heard that it was delicious, I went, but eating at snail is still the most stable. It’s not cheap in the center, but because it’s delicious, I don’t care about the price. I find the best avocado-related dishes here, such as butter-fried fat snails, garlic snails sautéed with cheese. Family of 3 generations selling snails Quan Vi Hao (24 years old), son of the owner of Van snail shop, said that the family has a 3-life tradition of selling snails, respectively great-grandmother, grandmother, now his mother. “My grandmother sold snails from the 1940s. At that time, the shop had no signboards but was very famous and expensive, just mention the Chuong Duong wharf restaurant or the snail at the foot of the Mong bridge that people knew immediately. Her most famous dish is grilled carp, priced at 7,000 VND / plate ”. Ms. Thuy Van is the famous snail brand builder in Saigon. When his mother came to work on her own, the shop adopted the name of Van snail, now it has been 20 years. “My house has moved 3 times. Initially sold at the current place, Nguyen An Ninh street, then to the Ben Thanh night market, selling for 9-10 years. By 2009, the market no longer supplied water to business households, so they moved back to their old place and sold until now ”. Since the opening of the sale, Ms. Van has devoted a lot of energy to discovering and learning new dishes, creating a recipe for the taste of most diners. She is the only one who holds the recipe of the dishes and chooses the ingredients and spices herself. The menu is varied with about 30 types of snails, each can be processed into 3-5 different dishes. Van snail restaurant attracts a large number of diners because of its special delicious taste. “Fortunately, the restaurant is supported by many people, there are quite a few famous people who are patrons. I think that business in the food industry, the most important thing is the word ‘delicious’. Because of its deliciousness, people come and spread each other’s ears, so my family attaches great importance to the quality of food as well as the way of serving it, ”Hao said. Van Van’s employees are family members, both paternal and maternal side. During the day, each person has a different job, in the evening together as a sales assistant. “The time of the shop is quite flexible, open from 17:00, some day until 2-3 am, depending on the needs of customers. Every day without guests, I will rest early, but if people come in late to eat, my house will still comfortably serve. There are nights when customers come in crowded at the same time, unable to get close to each table, it is difficult to avoid mistakes, so I hope everyone understands, ”said the owner of the shop owner. The restaurant is sometimes open until midnight to serve guests. Delicious snails do not look at the price Being the first time to eat at Van snail, Tran Bao (28 years old, district 4) and his friends felt impressed with the delicious and strange taste of the dishes here. He told his friends that this is a famous snail shop, often with artists coming to eat so he was very curious. “The first time I came here, I was surprised because there were many dishes with strange cooking methods. For example, the red snail dish I ordered has added chili sauce, the spicy taste is quite attractive, I find a few restaurants that do that way. The price here is much higher than the places I used to eat, but compared to the quality, that level is appropriate. I will come back here many more times and recommend to my friends ”. Having a high price because it is located in the city center, Van Van still retains its customers thanks to delicious food. Only getting to know the Van snail 1 year ago through the recommendation of a friend, Tran Phu Thien (30 years old, an office worker) has become a customer of the restaurant. Working on Mac Dinh Chi Street (District 1), Thien and a group of colleagues often come here to eat and chat after work. “I am a culinary fanatic, especially love snail dishes. Here in Saigon, where there are famous snails, I have come to eat but I feel this place is the best, I have to eat 4-5 times a month. My favorite dish here is garlic snail sautéed with onion fat ”. Thien said that his friends told him that many famous people often visit Van snail, but he did not care too much, what he was most impressed with was the typical delicious taste of the restaurant. “Today we ordered 8 dishes, priced at 70,000-150,000 VND. Snails here are seasoned to suit many people, not too sweet like most other goods. I feel that the ingredients of the restaurant are also fresh, carefully selected. Compared to the places where used to eat, Van snail is more expensive, but because it is so delicious, I don’t care about the price “. “Moreover, I like the comfortable, quiet atmosphere here, eating and watching Saigon at night, it is very interesting,” Thien added.