Addressing a meeting with enterprises and organisations operating in tourism on October 23, Thao reported that the city is implementing a tourism development plan to 2020 with a vision towards 2030, aiming to turn tourism into a key economic sector with high professionalism, synchronous and modern infrastructure, and high-quality, diverse and competitive products.

Efforts will be doubled to make Ha Noi - a city boasting its more than 1000-year history - a safe, friendly and attractive destination to visitors, he stressed.

Ha Noi receives tourists from 160 countries and territories worldwide, especially those from markets with high affordability such as Western Europe, Northeast Asia, Australia and North America, among others.

The city now has nearly 3,100 accommodation establishments with around 38,000 rooms.

In the first nine months of this year, it greeted over 15 million arrivals, up 8 percent against the same period last year, raking in 39 trillion VND (1.75 billion USD). Of the figure, nearly 2.3 million were foreign holiday-makers, representing a year-on-year increase of 14 percent.

However, the city has yet to make the most of its potential and advantages to develop its tourism industry, the chairman noted.

Luu Duc Ke, Director of Hanoitourist, suggested setting up a municipal-level agency in charge of the field, which will operate as a Steering Committee for the city’s tourism development.

The committee will work with travel agencies and tourism experts to design policies and priorities for tourism development, he said.

Businesses also hoped the municipal authorities to re-define the Ha Noi tourism’s key markets, thus outlining appropriate orientations for the sector.