The year of 2023 was a successful year for Hanoi tourism, with targets met and prestigious travel awards received. In 2024, the industry strives to welcome 27 million visits, including 5.5 million international visits.

Nguyen Van Hung, member of the Party Central Committee and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism awarded Certificates of Merit to the Hanoi Department of Tourism for its achievement during the past year. Photo: Hoai Nam Le

Those were the key points from the conference themed ‘Summarizing the Work in 2023 and Implementing the Task of Developing Tourism in Hanoi City in 2024’. The event was held by the Hanoi Tourism Department on the afternoon of January 19, with the attendance of Nguyen Van Hung, member of the Party Central Committee and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as Nguyen Manh Quyen, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.

At the conference, groups and individuals with notable achievements in developing Hanoi tourism in 2023 were rewarded with certificates of merit from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (one collective, one individual, plus an emulation flag), the Hanoi People's Committee (15 collective, and 21 individual), and the Hanoi Tourism Department (four collective, 14 individual).

Diversify types of tourism

With the growth momentum from 2023, Hanoi tourism industry sets new goals for 2024. Accordingly, the city strives to welcome around 27 million visits, an increase of 9.2% from the 2023 volume.

Hanoi is an entertainment hub of Vietnam. Photo: Migo Travel

That should include 5.5 million international visits (with 3.8 million stays) - a 16.4% rise vs the 2023 benchmark - and 21.5 million domestic visits, up 7.5%. Total revenue from tourists is expected to reach about VND103.74 or over $4,2 million, an 11.1% increase from the 2023 level, while the average room occupancy rate of accommodation establishments rises to 62%.

On the outstanding results of the capital tourism last year, Hanoi Tourism Department Director Dang Huong Giang said that, besides numerous international awards, Hanoi had affirmed its position and role on the domestic, regional and international tourism map.

According to Giang, in 2024, Hanoi still aims at sustainable and efficient development, being the gateway that welcomes and distributes tourists in the North as well as the whole country, and a ‘Safe - Friendly - Quality - Attractive’ destination. Hanoi’s new tourism product development also effectively helped attract tourists and improve the destinations’ competitiveness. While continuing to work with localities to build inter-regional tourist routes, Hanoi also developed products linking the inner city and suburban districts, notably the routes of Hanoi Center - Thanh Oai - Thanh Tri - Thuong Tin - Phu Xuyen, and Hanoi Center - Thanh Oai - Ung Hoa - My Duc.

Foreign travelers to Hanoi. Photo: Hanoi Department of Tourism

Speaking at the Conference, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung contended that, for Hanoi tourism to develop more strongly, it was important that the city innovate and renew products with existing resources. As a tourism hub distributing visitors and linking localities, Hanoi should continue to strengthen regional links to create attractive tours and tourist routes, while pioneering digital transformation in the tourism sector. “The capital of Hanoi needs to be at the forefront of MICE tourism, culinary tourism, or medical tourism,” he suggested.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen requested that the Tourism Department and relevant departments and sectors integrate the planning of key tourist areas and clusters into the capital's General Planning and General Construction Planning, step up the construction of large places of entertainment in the city, improve the quality of tourism statistics to review and shape policies, as well as promote efficient and sustainable tourism development.

In addition, Do Minh Tuan, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Soc Son district said that in the coming time, the locality will add color to Hanoi's tourism picture with a series of sports-related activities.

“Domestic and foreign tourists from Hanoi center to Soc Son are very crowded on weekends. Besides the need for relaxation, but also a desire to explore nature and exercise. This is a great tourism potential that Hanoi needs to exploit,” he stated.

Build up more tourism products associated with heritage, monuments and craft villages

Exploiting heritage is one of the directions of Hanoi tourism in 2024. Photo: Lai Tan

According to Phung Quang Thang - Head of the Hanoi Travel Association, with more than 1,000 years of history and rich cultural identity, Hanoi has great potential for developing tourism products associated with heritage.

“Hanoi owns thousands of relics and craft villages associated with the history and culture of each long-standing residential area. These are extremely valuable resources for the Capital Tourism industry to build unique tourism products for each locality, serving a diverse range of domestic and international tourists,” he said.

Thus, Hanoi determines that fostering heritage values to promote tourism and attract more local and international tourists is an important mission of Hanoi’s cultural policy-makers in the coming period.

With abundant cultural resources, Hanoi’s heritage destinations have been constantly developing impressive and distinctive cultural products from their unique materials.

This not only helps promote these destinations but also contributes to unleashing creativity from heritage resources, which is the goal set by the Hanoi Party Committee’s Resolution on “Developing the cultural industry in the capital in the period 2021-2025, with an orientation towards 2030 and a vision for 2045”.