Sports attract tourists to Hanoi
The beauty of the quarters, and the ancient architecture associated with the romantic, poetic streets, help Hanoi to be in the list of increasingly popular destinations in the world. Catching the trend of the world, in recent years, Hanoi has been a venue for sports events to exploit its inherent beauty.
The Hanoi Open Dragon Boat Festival is held every year on the West Lake.
Hanoi Sports which is known for traditional tournaments attracting foreigners to participate in such as Hanoi Moi Open Running Tournament – For Peace, Olympic Running Tournament, etc. In recent years, the walking space around Hoan Kiem Lake on weekends is also often a place of international activities including sports events attracting many individuals and international organizations to participate.
Recently, in the West Lake area, there has been a running tournament named “Discovering West Lake” for children and many other social activities, attracting a large number of foreigners and visitors. Currently, Hanoi has a golf tour combining tourism for foreign visitors. Although there are no official statistics on the number of golfers combined with tourism in Hanoi, visitors from Korea, Japan, etc. are quite crowded.
In particular, the annual Hanoi Open Dragon Boat Festival on the West Lake in the first days of the year has attracted thousands of tourists and audience to watch and cheer as a testament. In 2019, in addition to the participation of 25 domestic delegations, the tournament also has been participated by 4 international teams including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, etc. In addition to the meaning of restoring and preserving traditional sports of the people, Hanoi Open Dragon Boat Festival also contributes to promoting the city’s culture and history, creating a highlight to attract tourists to Hanoi Capital.
Together, in 2019, the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon has attracted more than 7,000 athletes to attend the tournament. Of these 7,000 athletes, more than 1,500 foreigners are competing with local athletes at distances of 5km, 10km, 21km and 42km. Since 2019, the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon, with the international name of VPBank Hanoi Marathon, has officially become the international marathon of Hanoi City. Attending the tournament, the athletes experienced the route running through beautiful routes associated with the beautiful landscapes and architecture of the capital such as Hoan Kiem Lake, West Lake, Long Bien Bridge, Flag Tower of Hanoi, Temple of Literature, Tran Quoc Pagoda, etc.”
Hanoi International Heritage Marathon attracts many foreign players.
Hanoi has long wanted to build a professional marathon racing track, not only to promote the sports movement, improve the health of the Capital’s people, these international tournaments are also an innovative way to promote a civilized, peaceful, green and beautiful Hanoi to the world. By 2020, the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon will aim to attract about 10,000 participants, of which the number of foreign athletes is expected to increase by 3,000, doubling in 2019.
Not only a member of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon 2019 is also a running race recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and AIMS that meet the Boston Marathon registration criteria. This certification means that the athlete can use competition results at the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon –as the member of AIMS since September this year – to register for the Boston Marathon held in April 2020. This further confirms the professionalism of the tournament and the potential to become a major international running race as the capital aims.
Not only VPBank Hanoi Marathon, in 2020 Hanoi has another great race, which is Techcombank Hanoi Marathon. It is expected that the first tournament to be held in this capital will take place on March 29, 2020. With its professionalism, this will be the third official large scale marathon in Hanoi, after VPBank Hanoi Marathon and Longbien Marathon.
Like VPBank Hanoi Marathon, Techcombank Hanoi Marathon aims to introduce domestic and international sports fans a capital of Hanoi – the symbol of culture, sport and tourism in Vietnam. At the tournament, the athletes will spread the inspiration to live positively, the spirit of “surpassing every day” on the beautiful running routes of the Capital of thousand years of civilization.
F1 Vietnam Grand Prix 2020 – opportunity to promote Hanoi’s heritage
The afternoon of November 7, 2018, marked an international event when Hanoi officially announced the organization of the F1 race in April 2020. This will be a street race in My Dinh – one of the central areas of Hanoi capital. And with the F1’s 2020 season, all attention will certainly be on Vietnam, where the first F1 race takes place.
An estimated 50,000 international visitors come to Hanoi to enjoy the F1 race.
It can be said that with a big event like F1 race, its spread will be extremely strong. Not just an international sporting event, in 3 days in Vietnam, F1 Hanoi – Vietnam is also a true festival with a series of entertainment activities before and after the event. It is expected that, in the three main racing days, there will be about 350,000 people will attend, including racing fans, as well as domestic and foreign visitors. In particular, an estimated 50,000 international visitors go to Hanoi to enjoy the fascinating racing matches. Not to mention, the racing teams will own strong teams of service personnel, up to thousands of people during the period from March 29 to April 5. Through this event, it will be a great opportunity for Hanoi to introduce the world to the capital of Vietnam with many UNESCO-recognized heritage sites.
Along with that, with the consent of the Prime Minister, Hanoi – Vietnam officially hosted the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), the 11th Southeast Asian Games for People with Disabilities (Para Games 11) in 2021 – a biennial sports event with the participation of the best athletes from 11 countries in Southeast Asia. The hosting of two major international sporting events contributes to the introduction and promotion of the image of the Capital and the country; affirms the capacity, qualifications and create favorable conditions for Hanoi – Vietnam to continue hosting international political, diplomatic, cultural, sports and tourism events in the future.
Through these tournaments, it will gradually overcome the framework of a sports activity to become an international cultural and sporting event, an activity to promote the country, people of Vietnam in general and Hanoi. In particular, introduce the quintessence of culture, tourism and cuisine of the Capital to the world. Through sports competitions in the capital, it will allow athletes and visitors to experience the special feeling of striding along the roads connecting Hanoi’s heritage.
Nguyen An