This is a result of a survey on more than 1,400 foreign tourists to the capital city, carried out by the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the goal of researching and perfecting statistical methods on the number of foreign tourists to Hanoi.
Under the survey, more than 93 percent of the total respondents saw the city as an attractive destination. Aspects of gastronomy, landscape, service, and people were cited as behind the attraction of the city.
Specifically, Hanoi's gastronomy received more than 82 percent of votes for being abundant, 57 to 71 percent of foreigners assessed the city's service is suitable, more than 25 percent saw attraction in cultural heritages, and landscapes received more than 17 percent of votes.
The survey showed that foreign tourists mainly came to Hanoi by air (accounting for 90.1 percent), with varying purposes such as tourism and recreation (67.2 percent), business (14.9 percent), and visiting relatives (3.7 percent).
Specifically, in the context of the world economic crisis in 2012, Hanoi still greeted a large number of foreign tourists, thanks to improved online promotion (making up 25.6 percent), guide books (more than 45 percent), travel agencies (16.9 percent), and word of mouth (12.3 percent).
2012 was the first year Hanoi exceeded the target of welcoming 2 million foreign tourists, accounting for one third of the total foreign tourists to Vietnam.