The capital city of Hanoi is striving to welcome 5.5 million foreigners among over 25.4 million tourists in 2018 (Photo VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The capital city of Hanoi is striving to welcome 5.5 million foreigners among over 25.4 million tourists in 2018, confirming itself as an attractive destination in the region and the world.
The year 2017 was considered a success for the city’s tourism sector with 5 million foreign vacationers arriving in Hanoi, up 23 percent against the previous year, surpassing the set target of 15 percent. The biggest tourism markets included China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, France, the US and Germany.
[Hanoi expands international cooperation to develop tourism]
The outcomes are significant as the city is taking new measures to turn tourism into a spearhead economic sector by promoting its brand and competitiveness.
Apart from traditional tourism products, the capital is carrying out a series of tourism projects such as building a cultural, tourism and amusement park, and a national exhibition centre in Dong Anh district, a sport park in Quoc Oai district, and preserving and promoting values of Bat Trang ceramic village and Van Phuc silk weaving village.
Hanoi has invested in building 20 four- and five-star hotels to meet the increasing demand for accommodation. The city spent 2 million USD promoting its image in the American Cable News Network (CNN).
It also developed a system of shopping and food services for customers and updated the list of shopping, trade centres and supermarkets on in the internet.
With these efforts, Hanoi expects to serve more than 25.4 million holidaymakers, including 5.5 million foreigners, and gross some 75.78 trillion VND (3.33 billion USD) in revenues.
To reach the goal, the city is increasing communications campaigns and tourism development cooperation abroad, said Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Tran Duc Hai.
The city will participate in tourism conferences and cooperation activities held by the Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asian Pacific Cities (TPO) and launch collaboration and survey programmes in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia, among others.
It will engage in the annual conference of the Council for Promoting Tourism in Asia (CPTA) 2018 in Malaysia and cooperate with CPTA members to make movies promoting tourism and build instruction boards in foreign languages at popular tourist destinations.
The city will focus on developing high-quality products at favourite destinations such as the world heritage site of Thang Long imperial citadel, Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and Ho Chi Minh Presidential Palace.-VNA
