The first Chinese tour group to visit Hà Nội after long COVID-19 border closures explore the Temple of Literature in mid-March, 2023. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Đức

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội's tourism sectors has worked hard to step up links with other localities nationwide to diversify products and improve the quality of services to lure more holidaymakers to the capital city.

Since the beginning of 2023, Việt Nam has seen a significant rise in the number of tourists. The capital city alone welcomed more than three million visitors in January and February, an increase of 2.8 per cent compared to 2022. The figure included 535,000 foreign tourists.

In February, hotel occupancy in Hà Nội was about 56.2 per cent, up by 39.5 per cent over the same period in 2022. The total revenue from tourists reached VNĐ13.2 trillion (US$561.3 million), 3.6 per cent higher than that last year.

Tours featuring destinations in Hà Nội are always connected with other tourist attractions such as Hạ Long (Quảng Ninh), Sa Pa (Lào Cai), Tràng An (Ninh Bình), and Mộc Châu (Sơn La). Such tours are suitable for tourists nationwide, especially international visitors who are here on extended travel time.

In recent years, Hà Nội’s tourism sector has organised tourism connection programmes in Quảng Bình, Bình Định, HCM City, Kon Tum, Đắk Lắk, Ninh Bình, Hà Nam, and Quảng Ninh, as well as in northern mountainous and Mekong Delta localities, attracting the participation of many travel agencies.

This year, it is focussing on developing package products to stimulate demand through air transport connections. It has signed tourism development cooperation programmes with localities in the southwest region, the Hồng (Red) River Delta, and the northwest region.

According to Đặng Hương Giang, Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, in 2023, the city will concentrate on developing regional linkage products, MICE (meeting, incentive, convention, exhibition) tourism, weekend tourism, urban tourism, sea and island tourism, health care tourism and educational tourism.

Hà Nội targets receiving 22 million holidaymakers in 2023, including 3 million foreigners, Giang said, adding that the municipal Department of Tourism needs to have a methodical strategy and the cooperation of travel agencies.

The agency will promote the connection among travel businesses, State management units and tourist destinations to introduce tourism locally, she noted.

It will also actively coordinate with tourism associations to implement specific tourism products. The municipal Department of Tourism will direct the Tourism Association to build unique products bearing the capital city’s characteristics.

This year, Việt Nam is set to welcome 110 million visitors, including 8 million foreign arrivals. It should be noted the goal is made at the beginning of the year, before China officially announced its border reopening plans and resumption of international tourism after three years of COVID-19 restrictions.

This is a big challenge but also an opportunity for Hà Nội tourism to achieve its goals.

Foreign tourists coming to the city have been mainly from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and other countries in Southeast Asian region.

Hà Nội is striving to build itself as a “safe - friendly - quality - attractive" destination.

Accordingly, the capital city proposes to implement the tasks which can have an immediate impact on the city’s tourism development, as well as long-term policies to promote the local tourism industry's sustainable development. — VNS