Hanoi (VNA) – The tourism sector of Hanoi has worked hard to step up linkages with other localities nationwi🐎de to diversify products and improve the quality of tourism services, toward attracting more holidaymakers to the capital city.

Since the beginning of 2023, Vietnam has seen a significant rise in the number of tourists. Hanoi alone welcomed more than 3 million visitors in January and February, an increase of 2.8% compared to 2022. The figure included 535,000 foreign tourists. In February, hotel occupancy in Hanoi was about 56.2%, up by 39.5% over the same period in 2022. The total revenue from tourists reached 13.2 trillion VND, 3.6% higher than that last year. Tours featuring destinations in Hanoi are always connected with other tourist attractions such as Ha Long (Quang Ninh), Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Trang An (Ninh Binh), and Moc Chau (Son La). Such tours are suitable for tourists nationwide, especially international visitors who are here on extended travel time. In recent years, Hanoi’s tourism sector has organized tourism connection programmes in Quang Binh, Binh Dinh, Ho Chi Minh City, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Ninh Binh, and Ha Nam and Quang Ninh, northern mountainous and Mekong Delta localities, attracting the participation of many travel agencies. This year, it focuses on developing package products to stimulate tourism demand through the air transport connection. It has signed tourism development cooperation programmes with localities in the southwest region, the Hong (Red) River Delta, and the northwest region. According to Dang Huong 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. Hanoi targets 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. Accordingly, the municipal Department of Tourism will direct the Tourism Association to build unique products bearing the capital city’s characteristics. This year, Vietnam is set to welcome 110 million visitors, including 8 million foreign arrivals. This is a big challenge but also an opportunity for Hanoi tourism to achieve its goals. Foreign tourists coming to the city are mainly from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and other countries in Southeast Asia. Hanoi is striving to build itself as a “safe - friendly - quality - attractive" destination. Accordingly, Hanoi 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./.