Hanoi Tourism Confirms Its Status

The successful organization of important events such as the 1,000 year anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi and Vietnam's role as the President of ASEAN have raised the profile of the capital city in foreign eyes.
In 2010, the tourism sector has made great efforts to jointly organize the 1,000 year anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi and the National Tourism Year 2010; built and completed new impressive tours including home stay tours, Hanoi museums tours, old quarter tours via green vehicles, Red River tours and kung fu tours. Moreover, promotional campaigns such as "Hanoians Welcome Visitors" and "A Green Tourism Year" have contributed in attracting 1.2 million foreign visitors and 10.6 domestic visitors to Hanoi in 2010, up 18.42 percent and up 15.22 percent compared to 2009 respectively.
In 2010, seven luxurious hotels have been put into operation which has provided more 1,500 rooms to satisfy the increasing need of visitors. Moreover, 42 new travel businesses have been granted licensing to provide services for foreign visitors, increasing the total number of travel businesses providing services for foreign visitors to 400 in 2010. These factors have increased the number of domestic and foreign visitors in 2010. At a meeting that assessed Hanoi's tourism promotion, a representative from the Hanoi Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport said that Hanoi tourism has not yet effectively exploited its potential and strength, especially in the field of cultural tourism, traditional craft village tourism and does not have luxurious tourism sites to attract visitors. Truong Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport said that the tourism plan in 2011 will focus on assessing the level of accommodation facilities and travel agents in the city. It will also coordinate with tourism sites to provide training in tourism knowledge; grant tour guide certification for trainees; and implement the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ancient Vietnam capitals. It has set a target to attract 13 million visitors in 2011 with 1.3 million foreign visitors and 11.7 million domestic visitors. To achieve these goals, in 2011, the Hanoi tourism sector will concentrate on implementing key tasks such as assessing the level of accommodation facilities, granting tourism licenses, continuing to certify the eligibility of tourism sites to provide tourism services; complete a database of accommodation facilities and travel businesses in Hanoi; coordinate with tourism sites to provide training in tourism knowledge and grant tour guide certificates, carry out surveys of ecotourism potential, plans and developments in the city; foster tourism promotion campaigns nationally and internationally especially Yunnan - Hanoi as per plan with neighboring China./.