Hanoi has grounds for further accelerating tourism recovery

Hanoi has already fulfilled the tourist arrival target for 2022, but it is believed to have conditions for obtaining a better result and so, needs to take new measures for speeding up tourism recovery.

The capital city welcomed 15.38 million visitors in the first 10 months, rising by over five-fold from the same period last year. They included nearly 983,000 international tourist arrivals, according to the municipal Tourism Department.

With this result, Hanoi has surpassed the set target of 9 - 10 million arrivals for this year, according to the Nhan dan (People) daily.

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

Since the National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day holidays, Hanoi has launched and upgraded a number of products and services such as a night tour of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, a cycling tour of Bat Trang pottery village, the pedestrian zone surrounding the Son Tay ancient fortress, and the Trinh Cong Son pedestrian street.

Nguyen Dang Thao, head of the management board of the Duong Lam ancient village relic site, said previously, tourists often visited Duong Lam by personal vehicles in one day. But thanks to some new products designed by local authorities like experience tourism, craft village tourism, photo tours, and the pedestrian zone surrounding the Son Tay ancient fortress, much improvement has been recorded in local tourism.

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

Director of the Hanoitourist travel company Le Hong Thai said the city has satisfied travel demand, especially in the National Reunification Day and May Day holidays, adding that it still has much room to obtain a better result and should take measures for promoting tourism recovery.

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

Tran Sy Tien, 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 yet to flourish. To boost agricultural and craft village tourism, authorities should make a tourism development plan in the new-style rural area building programme and multiply such models as the Bat Trang pottery village and Van Phuc silk village.

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

From a remote area, Ba Vi district has emerged as a bright spot of tourism thanks to its optimisation of local natural conditions and special cultural identities of the Muong and Dao ethnic minority groups.

Vice Chairman of the Ba Vi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Anh noted the district is expected to welcome more than 2 million tourist arrivals in 2022.

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

Pham Diem Hao, 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 advantages of each area, noting that it is facilitating experience, sports, relaxation, health, and homestay tourism in Ba Vi district, Son Tay town, and Soc Son district; shopping tourism in Dong Anh and Soc Son 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./.