Mausoleum of Khai Dinh King from the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), a tourist attraction in Hue. (Photo: VNA)
Thua Thie Hue (VNA) - Former imperial capital city of Hue received1.5 million foreign tourists last year, increasing by 42.5 percent in 2016.
Foreign tourists comprised half of the total visitors to Hue, a UNESCO worldheritage site, famous for its imperial architecture and culture.
The highest number of foreign tourists – 26 percent of the total – was from the Republic of Korea. Visitors from France, the United Kingdom, the United States,Germany and Thailand had the second to sixth highest percentages, respectively.
Total revenue from tourism last year was 155 million USD.
According to the local Tourism Department, the tourism sector made attempts todiversify its products by adding tour programmes to lagoons and rural areas andintroducing destinations outside the UNESCO heritage system.
The sector expects to receive 42 million visitors this year, half of themforeign tourists.
To achieve this target, the department called for private investment to developstandard restaurants that could accommodate up to 2,000 customers at the sametime. It also requested local authorities to introduce direct flights from Hueto countries with the highest proportion of tourists to the city, including Japan,the RoK and Thailand.
It also suggested local authorities to improve the service quality and behaviourof both public agencies and civil facilities towards tourists.
Hue is considered a top tourism hub in the country. But tourism in the city hasnot witnessed consistent development in the past few years, mainly due to thenarrow mindset towards tourism management by local authorities. It was onlylast year that local authorities formed a separate tourism department withqualified personnel to aid growth in the sector. - VNA
VNA
