While the Bui Vien Street in HCM City's District 1 which is a popular nightlife place for foreign tourists has quickly revived after local restaurants, bars and clubs were allowed to resume operation two months ago, some areas home to Japanese and South Korean communities in District 1 and District 7 remain quiet with many closed shops and restaurants.
The Japanese area runs some 300 metres on Le Thanh Tong Street in District 1. Formed in the early 2000s with the openings of just a few Japanese restaurants, the street soon became busy with hundreds of restaurants, bars and massage venues serving Japanese foods and products until it was suspended for Covid-19 pandemic prevention activities in 2021. Since then, many shops have been closed or put up for sale.
Nguyen Cam Tu, manager of Fujiro Restaurant said that although they have reopened, the number of customers has fallen by a third compared to the pre-pandemic time.
"We used to receive between 250-300 customers daily on weekends before the Covid-19 pandemic but now only some 100 are coming," Tu said. "On weekdays we have only some 80 customers a day."
Tu said restaurants and shops here mostly serve customers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan who are visiting or living in Vietnam, but due to the falling number of customers, many remain closed.
"Although the country has opened to foreign tourists, we are seeing just a few visitors," she said.
In Tan Phong Ward of District 7 which gathers a large community of South Korean people, many restaurants and bars have also been closed since the Covid-19 pandemic. Local residents said that lots of service providers here have leased out or sold their venues after being suspended during the last Covid-19 outbreak.
South Korean restaurants in District 7 receive few customers
A staff member at the Jin Sundae Restaurant said that up to 80 percent of their customers are South Korean people.
However, the number of South Korean tourists to Vietnam is still limited, they only receive those who are living in the area.
"Now we can only hope that more South Korean tourists will return to Vietnam in the coming time, especially after the country dropped the Covid-19 test requirement for visitors entering the country starting from May 15," he said.
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