More Int'l Tourists Flocking to Hanoi

More Int’l Tourists Flocking to Hanoi  

Hanoi has so far this year become one of two localities in the country attracting the largest number of foreign tourists, mainly from 162 countries worldwide, said Nguyen Quang Lan, director of the capital city's tourism service.

Foreign arrivals to the capital city accounted for 34% of the total in the country in 2004, Lan added.

This was attributed to the efforts of Hanoi's tourism companies to advertise attractive tourism programs such as tours to traditional craft villages, pagodas, temples, and ancient villages in the City and surrounding areas, he said.

To date, Hanoi's tourism sector has cooperated with 15 provinces and cities in organizing hundreds of tours to those localities such as adventure tourism in northern mountainous areas, Fanxipang mountain climbing in northern mountainous Lao Cai province, sea tourism in Nha Trang, eco-tourism in Cuc Phuong National Park (northern Ninh Binh province) and Sapa (Lao Cai province) and tours to ethnic minority-inhabited areas.

According to Pham Tu, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, to meet the target of welcoming 4.5 million tourists, including one million foreigners this year, the local hospitality sector capital should bolster its competitiveness in the quality of services, tours imbued with national cultural identity and enhance cooperation with other provinces and cities.

In addition, the city's tourism industry should continue tapping international tourism markets, including France, Russia, China, the US, Japan and Western Europe while seeking new markets such as Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia, he noted.

Hanoi now has around 360 hotels with almost 8,000 rooms meeting international standards and 200 international travel agencies with more than 1,000 tourist guides.

In the first three months this year, Hanoi welcomed around 262,000 foreign visitors, posting a large on-year increase of nearly 50%.

Last year, the city received 950,000 foreign tourist arrivals and 3.5 million local visitors, earning tourism revenue of around VND5.3 trillion ($337.57 million), including VND2.3 trillion ($146.5 million) from hotel and restaurant businesses.

VNA