Hanoi People’s Committee has recently issued a plan on restoring and developing tourism in the capital city, while safely and flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022-2023.

Under the two-phase roadmap, Hanoi will welcome tourists from provinces and cities in association with pandemic control and prevention procedures in the first and second quarters of this year while preparing the conditions for the reception of international tourists once the national borders are reopened for international travelers.

Tourism activities will be conducted in accordance with the city's regulations on levels of pandemic risk.

Hoan Kiem Lake in the early morning of Spring 2022. Photo: Cao Anh Tuan

In the case of complicated pandemic developments, the scales and scopes of activities will be reduced based on the pandemic control situation.

In the third quarter, Hanoi will resume all tourism activities without limitations on their types, scales, and scopes, on the condition of safely adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The resumption of inbound tourism will be carried out according to the Government’s roadmap, focusing on key markets with high vaccine coverage and good pandemic control.

In order to effectively implement the proposed plan, the municipal People's Committee requested that the Department of Tourism, related departments and agencies execute uniform measures, such as ensuring safety at destinations and tourism service establishments as per regulations, developing diversified, unique and appealing tourism products, focusing on improving the quality of products and destinations including heritages, relics and craft villages.

The development of night tourism and experiential tourism products on the basis of traditional tours should be enhanced, while the building of culinary tourism streets and themed pedestrian streets should be accelerated.

The Ba Vi National Park - a tourist attraction in Hanoi. Photo: Mia

Besides, it is necessary to devise a number of pilot models of rural and agricultural tourism in districts with potential and strengths such as Ba Vi, Son Tay, My Duc, Soc Son, Thuong Tin, Gia Lam, Dan Phuong, among others, as well as strengthen linkages with other provinces and cities to develop safe tourism products between localities. In addition, advertising and promotional activities should be enhanced, together with the expansion of digital transformation in tourism activities, and increasing support for enterprises in developing human resources to meet the requirements of tourism recovery.

The Hanoi People’s Committee also required that tourism activities must absolutely ensure pandemic prevention and control according to regulations, as well as safety assessment criteria for tourism activities within the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

With this roadmap, Hanoi hopes to gradually restore the Capital's tourism towards normalizing all tourism in 2022, striving to receive 10 million visitors, including 2 million international tourists, with total tourism revenue of VND27.84 trillion-35.84 trillion (US$1.22 billion – 1.58 billion).

In 2023, these figures are expected to reach 12-14 million visitors, including 2.5-3.5 million international tourists, and VND42.78-55.78 trillion of revenue ($1.88-2.46 billion).