Hai Phong (VNA) – The number of visitors to the northern port cityof Hai Phong increased 16 percent year on year to nearly 9.1 million people,including 930,000 foreigners, according to the city’s Department of Tourism.

Total revenue from tourism services was estimated at more than 3.1 trillion VND(133.7 million USD).

The tourism department said the robust results were buoyed by outstanding tourismproducts such as luxury cruise in Lan Ha Bay, agri-tourism in Bau island andgolf tourism, excellent tourism infrastructure and sound communications andpromotion works.

Currently, Hai Phong has 501 accommodations, with 11,781 rooms, up 7 percent ascompared to the previous year. There are three five-star hotels, sevenfour-star hotels, and six three-star hotels.

Furthermore, Hai Phong is the only city in Vietnam’s northern region accessibleby all five kinds of transportation, which are road, rail, inland waterway, seaand air transport.

The inauguration of the Dinh Vu – Cat Hai bridge in 2018 has helped reducetravel time from central Hai Phong to Cat Ba island, making Cat Ba become a hottourism spot in the locality. Meanwhile, Cat Bi International Airport servedmore than 2.6 million passengers in 2019.

Regarding communications work, the tourism sector popularised special tourismproducts on media, joined many tourism fairs, and signed a cooperativeprogramme with Quang Ninh province during 2019-2025.

This year, the city will strive to welcome more than 10.6 million visitors.

According to Vice Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Khac Nam, thetourism sector should work to improve quality of tourism service, and study todevelop new tourism products.

He asked competent authorities to better manage luxury cruise tourism, open newair routes to and from Cat Bi airport, as well as promote tourism linkage withdomestic and international cities.

Along with launching smart tourism application, inspection of tourism activitiesmust receive due attention to ensure safety and environmental hygiene attourism spots, he added./.