Hanoi welcomes its first international tourists in 2016
As part of the “Memories of Hanoi” programme, on the morning of January 1, at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, the Hanoi Department of Tourism and Vietnam Airlines jointly organized a welcome ceremony for the first international tourists setting foot in the capital city in 2016.
The first international tourists to Hanoi in 2016
Mr Lê Hồng Sơn, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee and Mr Đỗ Đình Hồng, Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism attended the reception ceremony.
The first international tourists to set foot in Hanoi were Mr Buisson Bernard and his wife Florence Bernard, French citizens. They flew with Vietnam Airlines on business class and landed in Hanoi at 6h05 January 1 at Noi Bai International Airport. They were also entitled to visa exemption as encouraged by the Government since July 2015. The couple were going on a 14-day journey across Vietnam organized by Phượng Hoàng travel agency.
As a capital city with a thousand year old history, rich resources and good quality service system, Hanoi has long been one of the nicest and safest destinations for tourists. Between 2011 and 2015, Hanoi was named by Smart Travel as one of the 10 most attractive tourist destinations in Asia; it also ranks 8 out of 10 emerging tourism markets as voted by the well-known website TripAdvisor.
In 2015, Hanoi was ranked by TripAdvisor as the fourth most attractive destination in the world. In 2015, Hanoi received nearly 3.3 million international visitors, an increase of 8% against 2014; it also served 16.4 million domestic arrivals, an increase of 6% against 2014. The total amount of revenue from tourism is more than 50 thousand billion dongs, marking a 10% increase against the same period in the previous year.
With the reception of the first international tourists to Hanoi, the city wishes to present itself as a friendly and hospitable destination for tourists all over the world. The tourism sector of Hanoi pledges to do its best to serve the visitors.
Vũ Hoa (HNMO)
