The night economy: a novel approach to illuminating city tourism in Vietnam

Danang, a famous coastal city in Vietnam, is considered a global, attractive destination and a relatively safe place, with an annually increasing number of tourists. However, there has been a lack of leisure activities at night for visitors, which limits the city from exploiting its full potential to the degree it could. Policymakers have launched the 3-stages of Night-time economy (3-s NTE) development in 2021-2025 to stimulate tourism in Da Nang in the post pandemic period. Research introduced numerous features to assure the Danang 3-s NTE's smooth functioning from policymakers’ perspectives and to understand citizens' viewpoints on how it affects their daily lives. This study applied an inductive qualitative research method through interviews, sentiment analysis, and text data analysis to understand policymakers’ and citizens' positive and negative viewpoints to provide feedback on ensuring the NTE’s smooth operation. Twelve experts and twelve citizens were invited to the discussion and answered several questions related to Night-time economy elements oriented by city leaders. The data gathered were examined and deeply analyzed to explore interviewees’ reactions to the Night-time economy operation. In a post-pandemic world, issues related to fragility, sensitivity, and responsibility are interesting to Danang policymakers and citizens. The study outcomes explore the Da Nang government and citizens in relation to "landscapes" and "security," followed by the themes "development capability", "efficiency", "infrastructure" and "attractiveness". The results will contribute to managerial and practical implications for city leaders in considering how effective the Night-time economy is during the first phase of the operation process.