Hanoi (VNA) – By theend of July 2019, Hanoi had 3,499 accommodation establishments with 60, 812rooms, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

Of the figure, only 564 establishments have been rated, offering 22,749 rooms,with 67 three- to five-star hotels, and seven four- to five-star condotels.

The capital city has been emergingas a top destination for both domestic and foreign travellers in recent years,and it is still working to establish itself as a true tourist hub.

Hanoi welcomed more than 2.4million tourists and pocketed over 8 trillion VND (345.2 million USD) fromtourism services in July, up 9.5 percent and 31.5 percent against the samemonth of 2018, respectively.

Statistics released by themunicipal Tourism Department show that of the total holiday-makers, over460,000 were foreigners, a year-on-year rise of 9.6 percent.

In the first seven months of2019, over 16.7 million people, including 3.7 million foreigners, chose Hanoias a destination for their holidays, up 9.2 percent and 8.9 percentyear-on-year, respectively. Total revenue from tourism was estimated at 57.7trillion VND (2.4 billion USD), up 28.8 percent.

In July, 64.2 percent of hotel roomswere used, up 2.87 percent against the same month last year, but down 3.2percent compared with that in June. Notably, the occupancy rate for four- andfive-star hotels was about 80 percent.

The city is striving for 29million tourists and earning 103 trillion VND (4.42 billion USD) in revenuethis year.

It aims to welcome 30 milliontourist arrivals, including 5.7 million foreigners, in 2020, and attain annualgrowth of 8 – 10 percent in the sector. Its revenue from tourists is expectedto reach 120 trillion VND (5.16 billion USD) in 2020 and grow by 15 – 17percent year on year.

Director of the municipal TourismDepartment Tran Duc Hai said better tourism products and services that meetinternational standards have made the capital’s tourism sector moreprofessional and impressed tourists.

Hanoi is now home to manyinternational luxury hotel brands, international-standard golf courses andlarge-scale trade centres.

This year, the city was againlisted in various tourism rankings. Japan’s All Nippon Airways ranked it 25thamong the 26 best Asian cities for a combination of business and leisure. Thecapital city was ranked fourth among 25 destinations in Asia and 15th among 25destinations in the world in 2019 by TripAdvisor. Most recently, it was namedin the Cable News Network (CNN)'s list of the 17 best places in Asia.

To promote its image, themunicipal People’s Committee and CNN recently signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on advertising the capital city on the channel for 2019-2024.

Besides, municipal tourismofficials have worked with Vietnam Airlines in welcoming survey teams fromJapan, Australia and Europe and organising the “Summer in Europe” programme atLy Thai To Park besides Hoan Kiem lake. The department has also stepped up thedevelopment of tourism products in the suburbs.

To attract more domestic andforeign tourists, Hai said the tourism sector will increase the quality ofcultural tourism products, building quality destinations to make themoutstanding attractions.

Instead of developing downtowntourism as before, the sector is gradually tapping the potential in the suburbsto diversify products, contributing to socio-economic structure shifting in thelocalities.

Phung Quang Thang, Director ofHanoitourist, advised localities to focus on developing key products as it isnot enough to rely on their potential.

It is important to pay attentionto destination management to avoid affecting product exploitation between localenterprises and those from other places, and intensify connectivity betweenthem to build products suitable to tourists’ tastes.-VNA