Hanoi aims for 30 million visitors by 2020

The The Huc bridge in Hoan Kiem Lake, one of popular destinations for international visitors in Hanoi. (Source: planetware.com)

Hanoi (VNA) - The capital city plans to welcome 30 million visitors, including 5.7 million foreigners, by 2020, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

The city also hopes to generate 120 trillion VND (5.36 billion USD) in tourism revenue by 2020, with an annual growth of 15-17 percent till then.

Head of the tourism department Do Dinh Hong said the city will continue to develop infrastructure, improve tourism products in terms of quality and diversity and invest more in human resources in a move to make tourism more sustainable and a key industry.

The department’s statistics revealed that Hanoi posted annual growth of more than 10 percent in tourist arrivals in recent years. In 2015, the city attracted approximately 19.7 million travellers. Of them, 3.3 million came from overseas, accounting for 40 percent of the foreign visitors to Vietnam.

The number of travellers coming to the city reached more than 11 million in the first half of this year, including two million foreigners, up 30 percent year-on-year. That has earned the city 31.3 trillion VND (1.4 billion USD).

During the reviewed period, most foreign tourists came from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and the UK, besides Australia, the United States, France and Germany. However, the department said, the number of international visitors to Vietnam is still much lower than that of other capital cities in the region. It is just one-sixth of the number of visitors going to Bangkok (Thailand), and one-third that of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

Hanoitourist Director Do Duc Ke said the capital city needs to make greater efforts to affirm its position as the country’s largest tourist centre.

Top priority should be given to developing attractive tourism packages and perfecting the quality of existing tourist services, he said.-VNA