Hanoi (VNA) ꦍ– The capital city of Hanoi welcomed more than 270,000 tourists during the National Day holidays (from August 31 to September 2), up nearly 8.6 percent year-on-year, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

Of the figure, there were some 37,000 foreign holiday makers, up 3.2 percent against the same period last year. They were mainly from the Republic of Korea, China, Japan, the US, the UK, Spain and Malaysia, among others. The city’s earnings from tourism hit 328 billion VND (14.11 million USD) in the three days, a year-on-year surge of 22 percent. The capital’s main attractions include the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature, the National Museum of History, Hoa Lo Prison and Bat Trang pottery village. The occupancy rate in Hanoi’s hotels stood at 64 percent in the period. Meanwhile, the tourist number in the city surpassed 19.3 million in the first eight months of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 9.5 percent. That includes more than 4.2 million foreigners, including over 3 million staying overnight, up 10.5 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively. At the same time, Hanoi also served over 15 million domestic travellers, rising 9.2 percent from a year earlier. Revenue from tourists between January and August is estimated at 67.22 trillion VND (2.89 billion USD), up 31.1 percent. The city is striving for 29 million tourists and 103 trillion VND (4.42 billion USD) in tourism revenue this year. It aims to welcome 30 million tourist arrivals, including 5.7 million foreigners, in 2020, and attain annual growth of 8 – 10 percent in the sector. Its revenue from tourists is expected to reach 120 trillion VND (5.16 billion USD) in 2020 and grow by 15 – 17 percent year on year. This year, Hanoi was again listed in various tourism rankings. Japan’s All Nippon Airways ranked the city 25th among the 26 best Asian cities for a combination of business and leisure. The capital city was ranked fourth among 25 destinations in Asia and 15th among 25 destinations in the world in 2019 by TripAdvisor. Most recently, it was named in the Cable News Network (CNN)'s list of the 17 best places in Asia. Director of the Tourism Department Tran Duc Hai said better tourism products and services that meet international standards have made the capital’s tourism sector more professional and impressed tourists. Hanoi is now home to many international luxury hotel brands, international-standard golf courses and large-scale trade centres. To promote its image, the municipal People’s Committee and CNN recently signed a memorandum of understanding on advertising the capital city on the channel for 2019 – 2024. Besides, municipal tourism officials have worked with national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines in welcoming survey teams from Japan, Australia and Europe and organising the “Summer in Europe” programme at Ly Thai To Park besides Hoan Kiem Lake. The department has also stepped up the development of tourism products in the suburbs. To attract more domestic and foreign tourists, Hai said the tourism sector will increase the quality of cultural tourism products, building quality destinations to make them outstanding attractions. Instead of developing downtown tourism as before, the sector is gradually tapping the potential in the suburbs to diversify products, contributing to socio-economic structure shifting in the localities. Phung Quang Thang, Director of the Hanoitourist travel company, advised localities to focus on developing key products as it is not enough to rely on their potential. It is important to pay attention to destination management to avoid affecting product exploitation between local enterprises and those from other places, and intensify connectivity between them to build products suitable to tourists’ tastes./.