Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi has welcomed more than 5.3 million foreignarrivals so far this year, up 10.8 percent from the same period in 2018.

According to the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, thenumber of foreigners staying overnight surged by 8 percent to over 3.73million. Meanwhile, the capital city also served nearly 18.5 million domestictourists, rising 9.3 percent year on year.

Revenue from tourists during the January-October period is estimated at 83.16trillion VND (3.58 billion USD), up 31.3 percent.

This year, Hanoi was again listed in varioustourism rankings. Japan’s All Nippon Airways ranked the city 25th among the 26best Asian cities for a combination of business and leisure. The city rankedfourth among the 25 destinations in Asia and 15th among the 25 destinations inthe World in 2019 Index compiled by TripAdvisor.

Most recently, it was named in the Cable News Network (CNN)'s list of the 17best places in Asia.

The city is striving to welcome 29 million tourists and record 103 trillion VND(4.43 billion USD) in tourism revenue for the year.

It is working to establish itself as a true tourism hub, and looking to improvethe quality of destinations and developing infrastructure and tourism products.

The capital plans toattract investment to build shopping centres and accelerate major projects likethe Kim Quy cultural, tourism and entertainment park in Dong Anh district, ahorse racing and entertainment complex in Soc Son district, and the HanoiMuseum. It will also boost preservation projects at the Imperial Citadel ofThang Long, Bat Trang pottery village and Van Phuc silk village.

Efforts are also being made to develop 20 – 30high-quality tourist sites across the city. Additionally, the values of localcultural heritages and traditional villages will be utilised to turn them intomagnets for tourists.

Hanoi will also augment preparations forupcoming big sports events such as Formula One racing and the 31st SoutheastAsian Games to attract visitors.

Additionally, it will also make use of localculinary culture and promote MICE tourism as well as tourism products based onthe strengths of its localities.

The Vietnamese capital is also working todevelop high-end accommodation facilities.

Director of the department Tran Duc Hai saidthe municipal People’s Committee has approved in principle 75 high-endaccommodation projects with nearly 20,000 rooms. As of June this year, therewere 3,499 accommodation establishments with 60,812 rooms in the city,including 67 hotels rated three to five stars with 10,004 rooms and sevencondotel complexes rated four to five stars with 1,349 rooms.

Cooperation in tourism development is also akey task of the sector, he said, noting that his department is carrying out apromotion cooperation programme for 2019-2024 with TV channel CNNInternational.

It will also take part in meetings of theCouncil for Promotion of Tourism in Asia and cooperation activities of theTourism Promotion Organisation for Asian-Pacific Cities.

Coordination with airlines, domestic andforeign media, embassies, international organisations and travel companies willalso be strengthened to hold trips for businesses and reporters from keymarkets, according to the department.

Hanoi aims to welcome 30 million touristarrivals, including 5.7 million foreigners, in 2020, and attain an annualgrowth of 8 – 10 percent in the sector. Its revenue from tourists is expectedto reach 120 trillion VND in 2020 and grow by 15 – 17 percent year on year./.