Vietnam’s Walking Streets: Shaping Tourism Product Development Through Online Tourist Insights on TripAdvisor

Walking streets in Vietnam represent vibrant urban spaces that integrate cultural, culinary, and social elements, serving as key attractions for sustainable tourism development. This study employs netnography to analyze 426 English-language TripAdvisor reviews from 2022 to 2024, focusing on four prominent walking streets: Bùi Viện and Nguyễn Huệ in Ho Chi Minh City, and Tạ Hiện and Hoàn Kiếm Lake Walking Street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Grounded theory coding revealed four core themes influencing tourist satisfaction: culinary experiences (emphasizing variety and authenticity, yet hindered by hygiene concerns), cultural experiences (balancing tradition and modernity amid commercialization risks), environmental experiences (highlighting ambiance and liveliness against overcrowding and pollution), and enjoying the moment (fostering relaxation and social connectivity). Positive sentiments dominated (68%), underscoring these streets’ appeal as multifaceted tourism products, while negatives (22%) point to sustainability challenges. The findings extend urban tourism theory by integrating user-generated content (UGC) for product development, addressing gaps in Vietnam-specific research on digital behaviors and multidisciplinary impacts. Practical implications include targeted strategies for hygiene improvements, crowd management, and hybrid cultural events to enhance visitor experiences and local benefits. Limitations include UGC biases and the exclusion of non-tourist perspectives, suggesting future multi-platform and stakeholder-inclusive studies.