Hanoi Focuses on Domestic Market Development

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The Temple of Literature is one of Hanoi’s most popular and popular historical sites for tourists. Photo: VNA / CVN

According to the Hanoi Tourism Service, the sector lost USD 3.6 billion in 2020 due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The city welcomed a total of 8.65 million tourists, down 70% year-on-year, including 1.1 million international travelers down 84.4%. The turnover of the sector reached 28 trillion VND, a drop of 73% compared to last year. Tourism contributed 3.4% to the city’s GDP compared to 12.54% in 2019.

About 90% of tour operators have closed or suspended their activities, and 950 of the 3,587 registered hotel establishments have been forced to close their doors.

“2020 was the worst year in the history of tourism”, Vuong Dinh Huê, secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, said at a recent meeting with the Hanoi Tourism Service. And yet, “Tourism remains one of the decisive factors for achieving the city’s growth objectives in the years to come as it represents an important part of the city’s economy”, added Mr. Huê. Tourism greatly contributes to “job creation and budget revenue for the city”.

Diversification of the tourist offer

According to the director of the Municipal Tourism Service, Dang Huong Giang, Hanoi has built “three tourism development scenarios” in which Hanoi has set itself the objective of welcoming 15.34 million national tourists (double compared to 2020).

A trip to the village of Bat Tràng in Hanoi is a pleasant discovery. Photo: Thuy Hà / CVN

For his part, Vuong Dinh Huê also affirmed the importance of applying information technologies in tourist activities and strengthening the exploitation of heritage discovery circuits, the organization of major cultural or sporting events …

By the way, Hanoi plans to organize events such as tourist festival, festival ofao dài, the gastronomic festival, the SEA Games 31 …

“The city must restructure the tourism market, adjust its strategy and development planning by giving priority to the construction of cutting-edge development zones and the promotion of domestic tourism”, insisted Nguyên Trùng Khánh, director general of the National Tourism Administration of Vietnam (under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).

At the same time, Hanoi must promote school tourism, establish more river circuits linking historical and cultural remains to artisanal craft villages, allowing the development of spiritual and leisure tourism.

The exploitation of the internal market remains a priority in the context of the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. “It is necessary to organize discovery routes in the city, to identify and promote villages and streets of culinary specialties, to develop MICE tourism (meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition), organize large-scale conferences, seminars and exhibitions. In addition, the city must develop the night economy, the sharing economy, strengthen the link between culture, industry and commerce, agriculture … with tourism “, Vuong Dinh Huê concluded.