Hanoi keen to welcome more tourists to historical sites

Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoi , with its abundance of beautiful landscapes, has
attached great importance to developing both its historical and cultural
tourist industry, according to a municipal official.

On the sidelines of the 7th annual conference of the Council for Promotion
of Tourism in Asia (CPTA) taking place in Hanoi between Oct. 5-10,
Deputy Director of the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cao
Thi Ngoc Lan said Hanoi is home to more than 4,000 historical sites, of
which 1,400 are certificated.
The capital city is also increasing its focus on developing other types of
tourism such as MICE tourism, trade street tourism and festival tourism.

In August 2008, Hanoi 's area tripled from 920 sq.m to 3,200 sq.m with a
total population of nearly 7 million people, becoming one of the 17 largest
capitals in the world. This expansion has created opportunities for the
capital city's tourism sector to develop more types of tourism, including
eco-tourism, relaxation breaks and trade village tourism.

Also at the conference, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People's Committee
Ngo Thi Thanh Hang affirmed that the tourism industry should become an
important economic sector, adding that it is one of the city's top
priorities.

Hanoi's tourism development plan is suitable for CPTA's objective of
launching a marketing campaign entitled "Welcome to Asia" and other related
marketing activities that will further the prosperity and development of
CPTA member cities' tourism networks, she said.

Since 2001, Hanoi has enjoyed an annual growth in tourism of 10
percent and the number of international visitors to the city accounted for
30 percent of the country's total foreign arrivals.

In the first nine months of this year, Hanoi has welcomed nearly 1
million foreign tourists and 5 million locals, representing respective
increases of 5 percent and 15 percent over the same period last
year