In recent years, Hanoi has consistently garnered high praise from international travel media organizations, standing among the most attractive destinations globally. In 2022, Hanoi had the honor of being voted the “World’s Leading Destination 2022” by the World Travel Awards (WTA). The city’s tourism activities were also recognized as one of the top 10 notable events in the capital in 2022.
With a rich history, deep cultural traditions, an abundance of captivating cultural heritage, and beautiful natural landscapes, coupled with a population known for hospitality, elegance, and civilization, Hanoi is acclaimed as having the most unique cultural resources in the country, standing out in the region and worldwide. The city’s cultural resources shine prominently across four aspects: historical and heritage sites, cultural festivals, culinary culture, and folk art.
International tourists explore Hanoi.
The supporting infrastructure and technical facilities for cultural tourism have been gradually developed cohesively, maintaining high quality and professionalism. As of March 2023, Hanoi boasts 3,725 tourism accommodations with over 70,000 rooms, including 591 hotels rated from 1 to 5 stars, providing over 24,000 rooms, constituting 15.9% of the total tourism accommodations. There are 1,236 travel companies registered to operate in the area. The city has also invested in essential tourism-serving social infrastructure, including crucial transport routes, and has integrated information technology into tourism development, such as establishing a free Wi-Fi system in tourism areas and attractions. Consequently, Hanoi possesses all the necessary conditions to develop professional, modern, and globally branded cultural tourism activities in the region and beyond.
Executing the City Party Committee’s Program 06-CTr/TU on “Cultural Development, Enhancing Human Resource Quality, Cultivating Elegant and Civilized Hanoians in the 2021-2025 Period,” Hanoi places special emphasis on the development of cultural tourism. It considers cultural tourism as the foundation and platform for the development of various other tourism forms. The city has proactively issued plans, projects, and specific initiatives to construct and refine cultural tourism products and craft villages, ensuring complete, unique, attractive, and highly professional products geared toward sustainable and environmentally responsible tourism development.
Numerous experiential cultural tourism products, and technology-applied cultural products, based on the exploitation of the capital’s traditional values, have been implemented. Examples include night tourism products with the theme “Sacred Night” at the Hoa Lo Prison Relic Site, night tours “Decoding the Thang Long Imperial Citadel” at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, cultural tourism products combined with health care in the Soc Temple area, walking tour “French Architecture in the Heart of Hanoi,” literary tourism “Chu Tam Chu Tai” at the Vietnam Museum of Literature, or traditional folk music performances such as Ca Tru, Xam, and Chau Van singing at pedestrian spaces around Hoan Kiem Lake, Trinh Cong Son Pedestrian Street, and the Son Tay ancient citadel.
To enhance quality and establish appealing, branded tourist destinations, the People’s Committee of Hanoi issued Decision No. 3928/QD-UBND on August 13, 2021, regarding the pilot implementation of the set of criteria for evaluating high-quality tourist sites and areas in Hanoi during the 2021-2025 period.