Foreign tourists are pictured in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

HÀ NỘI A tourism festival will take place at the pedestrian area around Hoàn Kiếm Lake in the heart of Hà Nội from March 24-26, under the theme of heritage connectivity for tourism development.

It aims to promote cultural exchanges, honour cultural heritage, and step up tourism promotion.

The festival will include different areas to showcase local tourism products and those from other localities nationwide; display products of the city’s trade villages such as Bát Tràng, Vạn Phúc and Đường Lâm; popularise Hà Nội’s typical dishes; and introduce products of travel agents and airlines.

Foreign tourism agencies are also expected to showcase their countries’ destinations there.

A conference on developing heritage tourism products and new ones, and a photo exhibition will be organised within the framework of the festival.

Hà Nội hopes to attract about 22 million tourists in 2023, rising 17.6 per cent from last year, with 3 million foreign arrivals (doubling the figure in 2022) and 19 million domestic visitors (up 10.5 per cent). It also targets an increase of 28.2 per cent in tourism revenue to about VNĐ77 trillion (nearly US$3.3 billion).

Director of the Tourism Department Đặng Hương Giang said Hà Nội will strive for comprehensive tourism development, in terms of both quantity and quality of services and visitors, in 2023 so that the sector can truly recover and help the city maintain its role as a major tourism hub of Việt Nam.

Visitors are seen at the archeological site of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng HIếu

Hà Nội is the leading locality in the country in terms of the number of urban heritages, boasting nearly 6,000 cultural and historical relics, including 16 special national monuments and nearly 1,200 nationally ranked relics. Particularly, the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long was recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world cultural heritage in 2010.

The capital city ranks 17th in a global list of 25 most popular holiday destinations for 2023 as voted by readers of US travel site Tripadvisor and was honoured as Asia’s Leading City Break Destination at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2022 – Region: Asia & Oceania. The editors of Canadian magazine The Travel have ranked Hà Nội as sixth on a list of the 10 most beautiful destinations in Southeast Asia. VNS