by Hanoitimes 05/07/2024, 02:00

Hanoi looks for ways to attract longer-stay visitors

Hanoi has great potential to attract tourists to stay longer and increase tourism revenue.

Hanoi is taking a number of measures to encourage visitors to stay longer during the summer, including improving accommodation by adding a number of four- and five-star hotels, according to the city's Department of Tourism.

Capella Hanoi Hotel has won the title "#1 City Hotel" in the Travel Leisure Asia Pacific Awards 2023. Photo courtesy of the hotel

Nguyen Hong Minh, Deputy Director of the department, said the city currently has 3,760 lodging establishments with more than 71,200 rooms. The number of ranked hotels and apartments accounts for 16% of the total.

"This shows that Hanoi has great potential to attract long-term tourists and increase tourism revenue. However, the proportion of international visitors staying in Hanoi in the Summer is not high, only professionals or short-term tourists," Minh said.

He added that lodging establishments must take advantage of this and offer attractive incentives to attract regular and long-term visitors.

This summer, many accommodation facilities have planned to stimulate demand with attractive programs. Typically, JW Marriot Hanoi Hotel offers a promotional program for families during the summer months, which costs VND4.5 million (US$177) per night with services such as breakfast and afternoon tea. Silk Path Hotel offers a 15% discount during the summer. Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel also has a flexible and preferential program that allows guests to check in at 12:00 am and check out at 2:00 pm.

In the suburbs of Hanoi, many luxury accommodations also have promotional programs during the summer to attract more visitors.

"Tourists staying at Meliá Ba Vi Resort can experience many tourist activities, especially camping and team building for free in our entertainment service package," Hoang Van Phuong, resort manager told The Hanoi Times.

Tourists experience sightseeing activities while staying at the Melia Ba Vi Resort in Hanoi's Ba Vi district. Photo courtesy of the resort

Meanwhile, Glory Resort in Son Tay Town is applying a discount program for some days to encourage guests to stay longer.

Nguyen Anh Phuong, Deputy Director of Delta Travel in Hanoi said that the areas of Ba Vi and Son Tay boast great potential for ecotourism as well as cultural, recreational, and sports tourism suitable for families and groups of tourists.

"Hanoi has yet to optimize its rich tourism potential, I think the city should develop more new, unique, and typical tourism products like the ones mentioned above," Phuong talked to The Hanoi Times.

Chu Ngoc Quan, Deputy Director of Ba Vi National Park, said that in May alone, the site saw a 170% increase in visitors compared to last year.

"I hope travel companies will promote connectivity to create attractive tourism products with high quality, and the city will organize large-scale events as planned to attract more visitors. The development of culinary and nightlife tours should also be a focus," Quan said.

Connectivity needs to be strengthened

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh said the capital city lacks hotels with more than 1,000 rooms and synchronous services including accommodation, sports, and entertainment. "There are plenty of restaurants, culinary services, and shopping services, but they are scattered and have not been linked with hotels and resorts to create an effective input value chain," Minh said.

He added that in order to increase the number of visitors, accommodation facilities need to build specific tourism product packages to attract domestic tourists to Hanoi during off-peak periods, such as service discounts and many accompanying activities, forming service supply chains from accommodation to entertainment.

Director of Hanoitourist Travel Company Le Hong Thai said that hotels should have a policy of cooperation and sharing with travel agencies to jointly build a complete product package to increase the number of group guests for hotels.

"In addition to hotel discounts and demand stimulation policies, Hanoi needs more experiential tourism products to attract longer-term tourists," Thai told The Hanoi Times.

Currently, in response to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's domestic tourism stimulus program with the theme "Vietnamese People Travel to Vietnam - Vietnam I Love" and to attract domestic tourists to Hanoi, especially in the fall and summer of 2024, the Hanoi Department of Tourism is launching a program to stimulate experiential activities at four or five-star hotels in Hanoi.

Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang said that Hanoi has a very large number of on-site visitors and has an abundant source of international students.

"This summer, Hanoi's accommodation facilities need to coordinate with airlines and travel agencies to create suitable tourism products to prolong tourists' experience. At the same time, there needs to be a reasonable pricing policy to attract Hanoians to travel right in the capital city," Giang emphasized.