On September 1, tens of thousands of Hanoians and visitors flocked to the streets to enjoy the pedestrian space around Sword Lake in central Hoan Kiem District. Hanoi desires to turn its walking area into a special space, introducing visitors to a capital city full of arts and culture, from traditional to contemporary styles, while creating a push for the city’s tourism sector.Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said: "We believe that the unique culture of Thang Long (Hanoi’s former name) along with its diverse culinary and artistic features amidst the current lifestyle will meet the needs of healthy cultural activities and entertainment for Hanoians, as well as domestic and foreign tourists."
Traditional arts performed in Sword Lake promenade. Photo: Ho Ha
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Not only a colourful space of the arts, the new pedestrian routes also lay a positive impact on the lives of local people. As restaurants and bars will be open until 2am, they have more opportunities to earn additional income, while tourists have more time to visit the Old Quarter and discover Hanoi with no concern about the curfew as before. This is a practical and effective solution to extend the length of stay and increase the average spending of tourists, while promoting tourism product development, head of Hanoi’s Department of Tourism Do Dinh Hong said. He added that visitors to Hanoi from Europe or North America that have different time zones with Vietnam will enjoy the extended late night hours.
After going out for late-night dinners, tourists from such countries usually do not want to return to their hotels but go out to entertainment spots to enjoy the nightlife with friends. The ban after midnight makes them feel that nightlife and tourism services in Vietnam are unable to meet their needs. This is one of the reasons that have led to Hanoi’s tourism products in particular and Vietnam’s in general becoming monotonous and not particularly attractive to tourists, especially compared to other cities in the region such as Bangkok, Singapore and Manila, Hong said.
As for foreign visitors, having space to walk around Sword Lake and especially with the lifting of the ban on entertainment activities and services after midnight is "absolutely awesome". Samantha Hart, a US female tourist, who spent two weeks in Hanoi, said: "I've never seen such a great night-space like this before. Great food, friendly people and the night-time scenery are great. All these things ensure that I will not be returning to my hotel before midnight, but on the contrary, I will have more time to enjoy the exciting atmosphere of the city."
Sarah Baldwin from the UK highly praised the idea to open walking streets around Hoan Kiem Lake, as the areas during the weekdays are always crowded and sometimes dangerous. She said that the pedestrian streets would ensure safety for her while walking and sightseeing and help her to avoid the traffic. Sarah’s friend, Oliver King, said Hoi An was the first destination of the couple in Vietnam. Leaving Hoi An content with its walking spaces while shopping and relaxing, Oliver said Hanoi’s promenades would be another reason for them to stay there for longer.
On average, there are about 18 -25 thousand people/day coming to the walking street. Activities of the pedestrian street clearly impact on Hoan Kiem District's tourism with about 1.5 million turns of international visitors, increasing by 40% over the same period in 2015. Photo: Ho Ha
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According to Long, around Hoan Kiem Lake there are many administrative offices and very few residents’ homes, so when the walking streets were organised the idea to make use of space in such areas to organise community activities was entirely appropriate. The initiative was thought of many years ago and finally realising it during the pilot run was a great achievement, he affirmed.
“Specialties” of the walking streets are the traditional Vietnamese folk games reproduced around Sword Lake and in front of the Cam Tu (Self-sacrifice) Monument. A variety of games, such as tug of war, mandarin square capturing, stilt walking and rope skipping, have worked to bring back childhood memories among participants and have become appealing attractions to visitors to the walking space.
The animated atmosphere of folk games has drawn huge attention from foreign visitors. Celie Frederic, a Frenchman and a teacher at the Alexandre Yersin international French school in Hanoi, could not hide his excitement while joining folk games in the walking space. In addition to the joyful faces of young children immersed in traditional games, it is also not difficult to catch sight of the appealing performances put on by amateur circus artists and street musicians, as well as the group dances and improvised singing on the side of Sword Lake.
The creativity and diversity of the traditional and modern features have blown a fresh breeze into Hanoi’s pedestrian streets, turning the walking space into an interesting destination for the youth, local families and foreigners living in the Capital. With a positive response from both tourists and locals, it can be said that the walking space around Sword Lake and surrounding streets has been working effectively in improving Hanoi’s living environment, honouring historical and cultural heritages of the capital and meeting the recreation demand of local citizens and visitors, both at home and abroad.
