Hanoi (VNA) – Tourist arrivals to the capital cityof Hanoi topped 13.19 million in the first half of this year, up 10 percentyear-on-year, pushing up revenue by 9.3 percent annually to over 39.2 trillionVND (1.74 billion USD).
According to the Hanoi Tourism Department, the number offoreign visitors to the capital city surpassed 3 million, marking ayear-on-year increase of 26 percent. Meanwhile, domestic visitors rose by 6percent to more than 10.1 million.
Foreign visitors were from about 190 countries andterritories worldwide, especially those with high affordability such as Westernand Eastern Europe, Australia, North America and Southeast Asia, with China,the Republic of Korea, Japan, France and the US remaining key markets.
Director of the department Tran Duc Hai said Hanoi tourismhas proved itself as a major economic sector with stable growth, makingeffective contributions to the city’s shift in economic structure.
Despite positive outcomes, Hanoi is also meetingdifficulties in maintaining its status as one of the most attractivedestinations nationwide, including limited promotion activities and lack of large-scaleentertainment areas and resorts to extend tourists’ stay.
Moreover, travel agencies are mostly on small scale withlimited competitiveness and workforce sometimes failing to meet demand.
In the foreseeable future, the sector will improve thequality of destinations; develop cultural tourist products, focusing oncultural heritages and high-quality craft villages; and increase linkage with othercities and provinces with tourism potential.
Tapping relations with international organisations, citiesand provinces nationwide, the sector will seek support in building trademarks,marketing, training human resources and connecting tourist products.
It also aims to build Hanoi into a safe, friendly andcivilised tourist destination.
This year, Hanoi is striving to welcome over 25.4 milliontourists, including 5.5 million foreigners-VNA
Hanoi expands international cooperation to develop tourism
Hanoi has signed several cooperation programmes with international partners to promote the capital city’s images abroad.