City for Peace designation boosts tourism in Hanoi

Hanoi's tourism is undergoing a dynamic transformation, embracing essential products that reflect the city’s rich heritage and timeless traditions passed down through generations.

As the capital evolves, its tourism leaders are increasingly focused on leveraging ancient heritage while developing creative products, according to Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh.

Safe and attractive experience in City for Peace

Hanoi tourism is considered to have made positive breakthroughs in the last decade. What values or advantages do you think have contributed to this?

First and foremost, in my opinion, Hanoi has a unique value that demonstrates its position and is a must-visit destination for any traveler to Vietnam. Because the historical values of the nation, as well as many cultural and traditional values, converge in the capital.

Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh at the Hanoi Tourism Ao Dai Festival. Photo: VGP

Second, the capital's infrastructure has always been the focus of investment, such as the Noi Bai International Airport, which is one of the international transit hubs with spiralling socio-economic effects to various provinces and cities.

Thirdly, we have recently promoted investment in the construction of expressways and ring roads 1, 2, 3 and 4 to facilitate transport in the Hanoi area and between Hanoi and neighbouring provinces.

In terms of accommodation, statistics show that as of September, Hanoi has around 3,700 different types of accommodation, including hundreds of 1-5 star hotels. It is also a strength to attract conferences and seminars and to welcome international delegations to events in the capital.

What's more,  the capital's tourism sector, from travel agents to accommodation providers, is of high quality and multilingual.

We have also advocated the creation of tours and product itineraries linked to the experience of agritourism, eco-tourism or overnight service products to extend visitors' stay in Hanoi after attending conferences and seminars.

We recognize that MICE tourism makes a significant contribution to the development of the tourism industry and the overall economy of the capital. In the future, we will have more specific policies for this type of tourism. But first of all, we are going to support the companies involved in MICE tourism so that the accommodation facilities have their own preferential policies for guests.

We plan to promote the training, promotion and improvement of the quality of services and human resources for accommodation establishments, thereby contributing to the upgrading of product quality and reinforcing the City for Peace brand.

Foreign tourists enjoy their time in Quang Phu Cau village. Photo: Le Nam/The Hanoi Times

The tourism industry and businesses in the tourism sector have made great efforts throughout the post-COVID-19 period to overcome the aftermath and quickly resume activities.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the entire capital's tourism industry and businesses, Hanoi has recently received many awards from the world's most prestigious tourism organizations and has been highly praised by the international media.

For three consecutive years, Hanoi has been honored as the Best Tourist Destination in Asia and the World's Best Golf Destination in 2023. Hanoi has also won the World's Best Tourism Award and Asia's Best for Short Breaks.

Hanoi has been a UNESCO "City for Peace" for the past 25 years, a proud and well-deserved honor for the capital, which has helped to promote it and Vietnam tourism as a whole to a large number of international and domestic tourists.

While the world today is experiencing instability in many places, with wars, social evils, robberies causing insecurity and disorder, Hanoi is extremely peaceful with the hospitality of the people of the capital. This guarantees foreign friends a safe, attractive, friendly and quality experience.

Cradle of heritage and craft villages

The 70th anniversary of the capital's liberation is an auspicious time for tourism. How is Hanoi getting ready to welcome visitors on this special occasion?

This autumn in Hanoi is very special as it marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the capital. We have reviewed existing tourism products and developed new tours, programs and policies. From now until the end of the year, we have planned a series of events and activities. Hanoi has recognized that this is an opportunity to showcase its capabilities through extraordinary events to commemorate the October 10 event.

We have sent the event program to travel agencies and hotels so that they can guide tourists not only to visit the relics but also to experience the exciting activities of the special occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the capital.

Culture and heritage are identified as strong points to promote tourism in Hanoi. Photo: Ngo Minh/The Hanoi Times

In particular, we have worked with businesses and destinations to build a package of 16 attractive night tourism products. In addition, there are experiential tourism products, MICE tourism, rural agritourism in various localities with potential and strengths in experience and relaxation such as Son Tay, Ba Vi, Thach That, Quoc Oai, Soc Son, My Duc, Ung Hoa.

Recently, we have also built a number of new tours, such as experiencing the Chuong conical hat craft village (Thanh Oai district) or Quang Phu Cau incense village (Ung Hoa district).

Given its wealth of traditional cultural qualities, what products will Hanoi focus on as typical?

At present, Hanoi has many offers on historical and cultural relics, both local and national. In addition, many cultural values have been incorporated into tourism products from intangible culture such as ca tru (ceremonial singing), handicraft villages, or traditional cuisine.

Therefore, we have identified heritage tourism and handicraft village tourism as our strengths. Take the example of Duong Lam ancient village, which has beautiful scenery and traditional old houses. Foreign tourists always like to explore and experience the deepest local culture, not just to check in and take pictures.

Meanwhile, Hanoi has more than a thousand handicraft villages, attracting a large number of visitors to experience directly and learn about the trades. They learn to make the products themselves and bring them back as souvenirs. I believe that every time they look at these products, they will remember Vietnam and Hanoi.

Thanks for your time.