Deputy Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Le Hong Son and Director of the Hanoi Tourism Department Do Dinh Hong attended the event.
The first foreign visitor to Hanoi was Mrs. Florence Bernard coming from France. 
They flew with Vietnam Airlines on business class and landed in Hanoi at 6h05 January 1 at Noi Bai International Airport. They were also entitled to visa exemption as encouraged by the Government since July 2015. The couple were going on a 14-day journey across Vietnam organized by Phượng Hoàng travel agency.

Speaking at the ceremony, Director of the Hanoi Tourism Department Do Dinh Hong said that the capital of Hanoi has attractive tourism resources with a system of high-quality services. In particular, the friendliness and hospitality of local residents has made the city becoming an attractive and safe destination to foreign and domestic tourists.
Hanoi’s tourism sector has been remarkably enhanced in the recent years. In the period from 2011 – 2015, the city has been ranked in the top 10 most attractive tourist destinations in Asia by Smart Travel travel magazine, and came in 8th place among 10 emerging destinations of the world according to voting results of reputable travel site Advosor Trip. Particularly, Hanoi was ranked the 4th attrative destination of the world by Trip Advisor website in 2015.

Hanoi’s tourism welcomed nearly 3.3 million international tourists in 2015, an increase of 8% compared with 2014, the number of domestic visitors reached 50 trillion arrivals, an increase of 10% over a year ago.
Through the event to welcome the first international guest visiting to Hanoi, the city wishes to convey the message of an attractive, friendly, warm and hospitable destination in order to attract more foreign guests across the world coming to the capital.
At the ceremony, Mrs. Florence Bernard said, every year, her family holds one trip to Asia. For the first time in Hanoi, Vietnam, only participating in spaces of “Memories of Hanoi” programme, she really feels very close to Hanoi, the capital with thousand years of civilization.
“Hanoi’s architecture, street art and cuisine are very unique and interesting. In particular, people are friendly and hospitable. I feel very privileged to be the first international visitor to Hanoi in 2016. I would recommend to my family and friends about the city’s beauty. We surely will come back to discover your capital ” – Mrs. Florence Bernard shared.

Hanoi will strive to attract nearly 21.2 million tourists in 2016, up 6.7% against 2015, with 3.8 million international arrivals, up 12% year on year, and 17.4 million domestic visitors, up 5.9%. The city is expected to earn over VND60 trillion (US$2.7 billion) from tourism this year, registering an 8.1% increase compared to last year.
In order to achieve the envisaged goals, Hanoi will focus on building planning and investing in developing tourism products, while calling on strategic investors to be involved in developing tourism in the West Lake and Red River areas in preparation for establishing a tourist exclusive zone in Dong Anh District.
The city will also collaborate with cities and provinces nationwide in developing tourism products, standardizing and issueing presentations at tourist attractions across the locality, and build a digital map of Hanoi based on the geographic information system (GIS) technology.
Tourism promotion activities will be implemented in collaboration with embassies and international organisations in Hanoi, aiming to boost connections, advertising and co-operation in tourism development in the international market and vice versa.
In addition to sending delegations to attend international tourism fairs with a focus on the markets of France, the UK, Germany, the US, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Hanoi will also build and organize annual domestic events such as the ‘Memory of Hanoi’ programme, the Hanoi Traditional Craft Village Festival, the Ao Dai Festival and the ceremony to welcome the first international tourist to Hanoi.
The city will provide support and remove difficulties for enterprises, organisations and individuals joining tourism development, and enhance State management over tourism and training qualified human resources for the sector.