Tourists take photo at the Hoàn Kiếm Lake area in the centre of Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội has already fulfilled its tourist arrival target for 2022, but city and industry officials are eyeing new measures to speed up the tourism recovery even further.

The capital city welcomed 15.38 million visitors in the first ten months, rising five-fold from the same period last year, including nearly 983,000 international tourist arrivals, just shy of the target of 1-1.2 million for the year, according to the municipal Tourism Department.

With this result, Hà Nội has surpassed its target of 9-10 million in total arrivals for this year.

This achievement can be attributed to the city’s thorough preparations for the tourism reopening after a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism revenue is estimated at VNĐ43.69 trillion (over US$1.7 billion), increasing over five times year on year.

Since the National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day (May 1) holidays, Hà Nội has launched and upgraded a number of products and services such as a night tour of Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, a cycling tour of Bát Tràng pottery village, the pedestrian zone surrounding the Sơn Tây ancient fortress, and the Trịnh Công Sơn pedestrian street in the West Lake area.

Nguyễn Đăng Thảo, head of the management board of the Đường Lâm ancient village relic site, said previously, tourists often visited Đường Lâm by personal vehicles in one day. But thanks to some new products designed by local authorities such as experience tourism, craft village tourism, photo tours, and a pedestrian zone surrounding the Sơn Tây ancient fortress, local tourism has flourished.

The number of room bookings has increased by 30 per cent over the last six months, he noted.

Director of the Hanoitourist travel company Lê Hồng Thái said the city has satisfied travel demand, especially during the National Reunification Day and May Day holidays, adding that it still has much room to improve and should take measures to promote the tourism recovery.

Aside from capitalising on heritage values in inner districts or famous relic sites in outlying areas, Hà Nội should step up the development of new tourism products, he recommended.

Trần Sỹ Tiến, deputy head of the division for rural development at the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said agricultural tourism has developed in the city for several years but has yet to flourish. To boost agricultural and craft village tourism, authorities should make a tourism development plan in new-style rural areas based on such models as the Bát Tràng pottery village and Vạn Phúc silk village.

Some experts held that due to strong urban development, people have high demand for relaxation at the weekend. Therefore, Hà Nội should foster farm tourism and tap into natural values to promote relaxation and exploration tourism.

Remote Ba Vì District has emerged as a bright spot of tourism thanks to its optimisation of local natural conditions and the special cultural identities of the Mường and Dao ethnic minority groups.

Deputy Chairman of the Ba Vì District People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Anh noted the district is expected to welcome more than two million tourist arrivals in 2022.

Some experts also recommended Hà Nội strongly improve the quality of human resources in the tourist industry, which they said is important to winning visitors’ satisfaction and enhancing the city’s attractiveness.

Phạm Diễm Hào, deputy head of the division for planning and development of tourism resources at the municipal Tourism Department, said the sector is encouraging enterprises and localities to develop new and unique tourism products based on the advantages of each area, noting that it is facilitating experiences, sports, relaxation, health and homestay tourism in Ba Vì District, Sơn Tây Town, and Sóc Sơn District, shopping tourism in Đông Anh and Sóc Sơn districts, along with night and culinary tourism in the Old Quarter.

In the time ahead, the Tourism Department will devise mechanisms for assisting enterprises and localities to build and upgrade their tourism products, she added. — VNS