Capital city welcomes more than 1.3 million visitors
VGP – Ha Noi welcomed more than 1.3 million tourists in February, including around 362,000 foreigners, a year-on-year drop of 45.5%, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.
Ha Noi’s tourism revenue from the first month of this year reached VND5.58 trillion (US$241 million), down 32% against the same period last year.
To mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the hospitality sector, the city’s Department of Tourism has asked travel agents, hotel managers and tourist transportation firms to attach special attention to ensuring safety of tourists and keep track of the health and itineraries of visitors so prompt reports can be made for any suspected cases of the virus.
In addition Ha Noi’s tourist sites have been enhancing sanitation and providing free masks and hand sanitizer at entrances for both visitors and passers-by.
Staffs at tourist attractions are provided with knowledge and skills to protect themselves and support tourists against the Covid-19.
Moreover, the department will apply information technology in tourism management, build a set of criteria to evaluate quality of tourist attractions and destinations in the city, update information on the department’s website and add some more foreign language versions to lure more tourists to Ha Noi.
The measures are taken as the epidemic is dealing a blow to the local tourism industry.
In January, Ha Noi received more than 2.4 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%.
Last year, the city was ranked 12th among the 25 best global destinations, and one of the two cities in Viet Nam to enter the most prominent group in the world in terms of room reservation.
It was nominated by the World Travel Awards as one of the 17 candidates for a prize of the world’s leading city destination 2018./.
By Vien Nhu
