Hanoi's tourism to choose its own identity

Hanoi’s authorities have proposed many solutions to build its own identity and increase the appeal of tourism in the city is rich in beautiful natural scenes, unique craft villages and historical relics, especially in the context that the city is gradually recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Assessing Hanoi's tourism potential, Dr. Nguyen Thu Thuy from the Faculty of Tourism under the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University- Hanoi, said with nearly 6,000 historical monuments and more than 1,700 intangible cultural heritages, Hanoi has the advantages to develop cultural tourism.

“Over the past time, some of Hanoi’s main cultural tourist destinations have been upgraded and included in heritage tours, with the Old Quarter - Hoan Kiem Lake, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, the Hoa Lo Prison relic, the ancient village in Duong Lam, Perfume Pagoda (Huong Pagoda), among others,” Thuy said.

However, Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang shared with The Hanoi Times that the current investment in the tourism sector has not been comprehensive.

Foreign tourists visit Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Photo: Pham Hung/ The Hanoi Times

“The infrastructure of the capital city and its vicinity is yet to meet the increasing development requirements. In addition, the tourism industry is still short of mechanisms and policies to encourage large investors and attract social capital in large tourism projects in the city,” Giang said.

She added that the department has issued a plan on building a set of criteria for evaluating high-quality tourist areas and attractions.

“Accordingly, the set of criteria was developed with six large groups for evaluation, including Tourism Resources, Products and Services, Destination Management, Infrastructure, Involvement of the local community, Tourist satisfaction with the destination,” Giang said.

She stressed that all these criteria have been designed to identify high-quality tourist destinations and areas. “This is the basis for Hanoi to assess the quality of tourist sites citywide and guide local authorities to improve the quality of such destinations,” the director added.

In order to attract businesses to invest in tourism projects, Hanoi is seeking ideas to upgrade the quality of tourism services at tourist sites and streamline public administrative formalities for 2022-2025.

The city will build a tourist information system; renovate the landscape and environment of tourist sites; upgrade public toilets; develop homestay; devise a quality control and evaluation system at tourist sites.

Hanoi Planning and Investment Department's Deputy Director Le Van Quan suggested that companies should focus on improving facilities, ensuring food safety and the environment, and preventing and controlling diseases. In particular, companies in the sector should focus on launching tourism products, improving public services, stepping up digital transformation, and promoting green transformation in tourism.

"Measures that encourage the improvement of the quality of tourism services, as well as the simplification of administrative procedures to recognize high-quality tourist sites in the city of Hanoi for the period 2022-2025 will be carried out with strict control, ensuring legality to achieve high quality and efficiency,"  Quan said.