With a total of 258,000 arrivals, the tourist influx to Hanoi increased by 6.1% in May compared to April, according to the Hanoi Department of Tourism.

The arrivals in May dropped by 87.7% inter-annually due to impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the total 258,000 tourists in May, international arrivals to Hanoi increased 41.2% compared to April to 12,000, while domestic tourists jumped 811% against April to reach 246,000. Foreign visitors are mainly expats, diplomats as Vietnam still bans foreign entry.

There were about 400 foreign tourists making overnight stay in Hanoi last month, according to the city’s Immigration Department.

In the first five months of 2020, Hanoi welcomed 4.13 million tourists, a decrease of 64.5% compared to the same period last year. Revenue from tourists to the city was VND16.6 trillion (US$713.2 million), representing an inter-annual fall of 59.3%.

Source: Hanoi's Department of Tourism. Chart: Nhat Minh.

The occupancy rate of hotels in the city reached 19.26% in May, up 6.46 percentage points from April, but still down 51.74 percentage points from a year earlier.

In the five-month period, hotels in the city had 32.25% of their rooms filled up, down 38.37% percentage points from the same period of 2019.

From May 14, many relic sites and tourist destinations in Hanoi, such as Temple of Literature, Hoa Lo Prison, Thu Le Park, Ngoc Son Temple, and museums, reopened to visitors after a period of the closure to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic.

To revive the tourism industry, Hanoi plans to focus on building typical tourist packages, the highlights are among which are the “Thang Long Tu Tran” (Hanoi’s four sacred temples) tour in the inner city and visits to craft villages and eco-tourism in suburban areas.