The Tourism Gift Festival will introduce a variety of Hà Nội's craft products. The festival will take place in the city this weekend. Photo .vietnamtourism.gov.vn

HÀ NỘI - Products from craft villages in Hà Nội will be featured at the Tourism Gift Festival 2022, which will be held in the pedestrian zone surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake this weekend.

The event aims to gradually recover the capital's tourism activities post-pandemic, in conjunction with the 31st SEA Games and the Visit Vietnam Year – Quảng Nam 2022.

According to the municipal Tourism Department, the event features different spaces for visitors to discover craft village culture, art, travel photos and local products.

Attendees will be treated to performances of graffiti art, flashmobs, acoustic music and skateboarding, as well as a cycle rickshaw ride around the lake.

Other highlights of the fair include talk shows involving ca trù (ceremonial singing) performers and artisans of water puppets and paper fans; a coffee tasting event; hands-on experience activities of making children's toys; and a photo exhibition on Hà Nội.

Also on the occasion, organisers will launch a gift product designing contest, a tourism photo contest with the theme 'Hà Nội Through Tourists’ Perspective', and other social activities like exchanging books for trees, old batteries for trees and books for fruits, while travel companies and airlines are ready to provide a briefing on their special tours and attractive discount programmes.

Hà Nội's Tourism Gift Festival is among a series of events scheduled to take place in late April and May with the aim of attracting tourists to the city on the occasion of the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May.

The number of visitors to Hà Nội – all domestic – totalled four million last year, plunging about 47 per cent from 2020 and just equivalent to 36.3 per cent of the yearly plan. Tourism revenue nosedived some 59.8 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ11.28 trillion.

The city is going step by step to completely resume tourism activities in 2022, with the aim of welcoming nine to ten million tourists, including around two million foreigners, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

SEA Games 31, themed “For a Stronger South East Asia”, will be held in the capital city and 11 neighbouring provinces and cities from May 12 to 23. VNS