Hanoi (VNA)✨ – With several attracting activities, Hanoi Tourism Ao dai Festival 2023 aims to preserve and promote national traditional cultural values while honouring Ao dai (traditional long dress) and turning it into an unique tourism product of the capital city, according to Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang.

The festival will take place from October 27-29 on Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian street. The event is jointly organised by the municipal Department of Tourism and the municipal Women’s Union. A range of unique cultural and artistic activities will be held during the event, including an art music night themed "Colours of Hanoi" on October 28, a photo exhibition and exhibition space for Ao dai collections, an Ao dai parade of the Hanoi Women's Union, and a forum on orientations and development of Ao dai in the community and enhancing tourism connectivity. Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh said that the event will an activity to promote the capital's tourism images as a "safe - friendly - quality - attractive destination", promising to become a unique activity, attracting a large number of people including domestic tourists and international friends.

The festival aims to promote Vietnam's tourism in general and Hanoi's tourism in particular, changing the image of Ao dai from "cultural ambassador" to "tourism ambassador" - a typical tourism product of Hanoi.

The festival is intended to stimulate tourism, drawing more domestic and international tourists. At the same time, it will honour the traditional Vietnamese dress and the capital’s heritage. It is expected to create a chance for artisans, fashion designers and tourism firms to exchange and explore cooperation opportunities.

Hanoi hopes to attract about 22 million tourists in 2023, rising 17.6% from last year, with 3 million foreign arrivals (doubling the figure in 2022) and 19 million domestic visitors (up 10.5%). It also targets an increase of 28.2% in tourism revenue to about 77 trillion VND (nearly 3.3 billion USD).

Statistics from the municipal Department of Tourism showed Hanoi welcomed 18.9 million tourists in the first nine months of 2023, up 36.5% year-on-year. Of these, foreign tourists totalled 3.2 million, marking a four-fold increase year-on-year and surpassing the annual target of 3 million. 

The figures have proved the attractiveness of local tourism to domestic and international visitors, as well as the city’s efforts to draw tourists back, the department said.

The department said it will increase advertising of local destinations and new tourism products on both domestic and foreign media in the coming time.

൩ It will also hold more tourism promotion events in such key markets as Northeast Asia, Europe, the US, and India while coordinating with Vietnam’s diplomatic representative agencies and trade offices abroad as well as international organisations to step up promotional activities./.