Economy

With the recent inauguration of many pedestrian streets, themed spaces, and night tours, authorities in Hanoi hope to give the city’s night economy a major boost.

Every evening at about 7:00 pm, Hanoi’s Old Quarter begins to bustle with tourists rushing between shops, food stalls, and entertainment venues.

The Old Quarter’s evening rush holds such a footing in Hanoian culture that nicknames have even been given to certain areas.

The intersection of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen Streets, for example, is affectionately called ‘International Intersection’ while Ta Hien Street is known as ‘Beer Street,’ Gam Cau Street is known as ‘BBQ Street,’ To Lich street is called ‘Mixed Fruit Street,’ and Tong Duy Tan Street is dubbed ‘Food Street.’

Weekends in the Old Quarter are especially busy, with groups of tourists and locals gathering in the area for entertainment and food, art performance venues, and karaoke parlors.

The pedestrian street around Hoan Kiem Lake has also been a major contributor to the economic development of the area.

In the first three years since its launch in 2016, the number of international visitors to Hoan Kiem rose 13-22.8 percent each year, and the number of stores offering tourism services in the vicinity jumped by 594.

Hoan Kiem Pedestrian Street is busy on the weekend. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

In 2022, the city opened two additional pedestrian spaces, Trinh Cong Son Street, which was reopened after nearly two years of closures due to COVID-19, and Son Tay Old Fortress in Son Tay Town.

According to Nguyen Dang Thao, director of the management board of Duong Lam Ancient Village-Son Tay Old Fortress, the ancient fortress welcomes about 10,000 visitors on normal days and up to 15,000 visitors on weekends and holidays.

Other popular night tourism products in Hanoi include the tour ‘Decoding Thang Long Imperial Citadel’ by the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, ‘Sacred Night – Glorious Vietnamese Spirit and Sacred Night 2: Live like Flowers’ at the Hoa Lo Prison relic site, and an art show named the Quintessence of Tonkin by the Tuan Chau – Quoc Oai tourism area.

Son Tay Old Fortress has four main gates. The gate in the south, called Tien, features a flagpole made of laterite. Photo: Ha Thanh / Tuoi Tre

Boosting Hanoi’s night economy

Hanoi is currently drawing up a pilot plan to develop the night economy in Hoan Kiem District.

The plan is expected to focus primarily on cultural, entertainment, culinary, shopping, healthcare, tourism, transport, finance, and banking services.

As per the plan, six spaces have been designated as the driving forces of the city’s night economy development, including the pedestrian space around Hoan Kiem Lake and the adjacent areas; pedestrian spaces in the Old Quarter; the Phung Hung – Gam Cau culture, service, and trade space; the Tong Duy Tan – Cam Chi night-time pedestrian and food street; and the area from Hang Khay – Trang Tien Streets to the Hanoi Opera House, which is expected be turned into a promenade in association with a shopping center.

In addition, the city plans to establish additional pedestrian spaces, including the Dao Ngoc-Ngu Xa food street in Ba Dinh District, a pedestrian street around Ngoc Khanh Lake in Ba Dinh District, a pedestrian space near Thien Quang Lake in Hai Ba Trung District, and a pedestrian street in a new urban area in the south of Ring Road No. 3 – Bitexco in Hoang Mai District.

The capital city also seeks to develop pedestrian spaces in the Bac An Khanh – Splendora Urban Area in Hoai Duc District and around the Temple of Literature in Dong Da District.

These spaces, when in place, are expected to attract a large number of visitors and contribute to the development of trade and services in surrounding areas.

Dang Huong Giang, director of the municipal Department of Tourism, said despite no specific policies to boost the nigh-time economy, the sector has become a vital part of the city’s socioeconomic development.

Night-time economic activities should be developed in areas with high potential for service, trade, and tourism development.

Hanoi should enhance the planning of spaces for night-time economic activities, such as night markets, areas for the exhibition of products of traditional craft villages, and markets for handicraft, Giang added.

She proposed that specific regulations on night-time economic activities, such as operation times, venues and eligible products, as well as measures to handle violations, should be worked out.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Digital initiative, to be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Monday (July 4), is a clear signal to the world that Malaysia is ready to put the country at the forefront of the digital economy.

Communications and Multimedia Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pic), said that countries which took the opportunity to make adjustments, in terms of mechanisms and capabilities, to face the new digital economy ecosystem after the Covid-19 pandemic would be at the forefront of global races and competitions.

“It is fitting for the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to focus not only on appreciation (to digital economy industry players), but also to focus further, with a new emphasis starting from now for the next 25 years.

“It is apt for us to launch the programme tomorrow; an initiative that symbolises our country’s commitment to address and master this new ecosystem,” he said when addressing the Malaysia Digital Industry Awards presentation ceremony, in conjunction with the MDEC Silver Jubilee celebration.

Malaysia Digital is an enhanced and revamped programme at the country’s leading digital economy agency, MDEC, succeeding MSC Malaysia, which has been in operation for 25 years.

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) — China’s digital economy logged rapid expansion in recent years, with its scale increasing from 11 trillion yuan (1.65 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to over 45 trillion yuan in 2021, official data showed.

The proportion of the digital economy in China’s GDP rose from 21.6 percent to 39.8 percent in the period, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

China has sped up digital infrastructure construction. By the end of May, the country had built the world’s largest and technologically advanced network facilities, covering prefecture-level cities with fiber-optic networks and having 1.7 million 5G base stations.

The country has also accelerated the integration of big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence with such sectors as energy, medical care, transportation, education and agriculture.

In 2021, the value-added output of major electronic information manufacturers rose 15.7 percent year on year, hitting a record high in a decade, while the revenues of software and information technology services as well as internet and related services also registered double-digit growth, said the ministry.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine President Alberto Fernandez held meetings and telephone calls on Sunday morning as he scrambled to find a new economy minister, official sources said, after the exit of ally Martin Guzman.

“No news,” a government spokesperson told Reuters on Sunday morning.

Guzman, 39, submitted his resignation late on Saturday amid rising tensions within the ruling Peronist coalition of how to handle economic crises that have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sky-high inflation.

Fernandez has yet to publicly address the resignation of Guzman, a moderate who had served as economy minister since the president took office in late 2019 and was the driving force behind major debt restructurings.

Guzman was key to sealing a new $44 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year to replace a failed 2018 program, as well as other major debt restructurings with local and international creditors.

Fernandez’s choice for Guzman’s successor will be an important signal for the direction his government will take on economic policy over a tightly controlled foreign exchange market, ongoing debt deals and trade. Argentina is a major export of soy, wheat and corn.

Guzman had come under fire from the militant wing of the ruling coalition around powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which has been pushing for more state spending to support hard-hit Argentines.

He had been balancing that pressure with the need to cut a deep fiscal deficit, which had become tougher amid soaring energy import costs that have hit foreign currency reserves.

“We are facing a complex political crisis, deepened by the fight for power,” said Rosendo Fraga, a political analyst.

(Reporting by Jorge Otaola; Editing by Adam Jourdan)