Hanoi stimulates tourism demand from West Europe

Developing unique tourism products

According to Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh, most tourists from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy consider Hanoi as a major destination for their visit to Vietnam. So, the visa exemption policy has provided local travel companies a good opportunity to boost local tourism.

Hanoi has potential for tourism but lacks attractive products. Tourists to Hanoi could only go to puppet theaters in addition to visiting some historical heritage sites. Therefore, Hanoi’s tourism sector should add more short-time art performances to its upcoming tourism promotion campaign to better satisfy tourists, according to several travel companies.

Also according to them, art performances should be held at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long and the Temple of Literature on a regular basis. “Hanoi should hold special free art performances to serve foreign tourists from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belarus but should ensure tourist safety and security,” said Vu The Binh.

“Hotels and restaurants in Hanoi should focus more on improvement of services, especially the introduction of Hanoi’s specialties to foreign tourist, contributing to promoting the Hanoian culinary culture to the world,” said Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Truong Minh Tien.

Attracting tourists via discounts

According to experts, local travel companies should offer foreign tourists discount tours to attract them to the city.

At a recent workshop to promote local tourism, many tourist bus transport companies committed to cut down travel prices by 20 percent while participating in the campaign. Meanwhile, hotel and restaurant operators also pledged to reduce costs by 10 percent.

However, airlines should also join efforts via offering some cuts in air tickets for tourists.

“Continual discounts should be adopted in this campaign, so localities and companies involved in it should make concrete discount commitments to ensure the success of the campaign,” said Vu The Binh.

Hanoi expects to welcome 3.3 million tourists this year. The target is not easy in the context of local and global slow economic growth. However, the city should take advantage of the visa exemption policy to boost tourism and reach its annual goals.

Thanh Tam