The Hanoi Tourism Department is stepping up activities for the capital city to welcome more foreign visitors, whose number remained modest so far this year.

About 8.61 million tourists, including some 211,300 foreigners, visited Hanoi between January and June, nearly tripling the figure in the same period last year.

Hanoi is holding a myriad of events and tours to capitalise on the ongoing 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) to popularise images of the capital and Vietnam as a whole among international friends.

VOV.VN - A tourism festival themed ‘Hanoi – Come to Love’ will take place in the capital from May 13-15, introducing to visitors new, impressive tourism products, said organisers at a press briefing on May 6.

VOV.VN - The capital of Hanoi will host a tourism gift festival between April 29 and May 1 as part of efforts to revitalize local tourism services as the country strives to move past the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31).

More than ten days after the official reopening of Vietnam’s tourism sector, localities and businesses are putting all hands on deck to prepare for the summer travel season and revive the industry.

VOV.VN - Thousands of local residents flocked to pedestrian streets around Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi on March 25 to view a cluster of colourful low-flying hot air balloons.

VOV.VN - Local residents and tourists enjoyed the chance to participate in the capital’s first-ever hot-air balloon festival which opened on March 25 with the theme of “Get on Hanoi 2022”.

VOV.VN - The capital of Hanoi is set to stage a hot air balloon show from March 25 – 27 to kick-start its tourism year 2022.

The fourth wave of COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on tourism in Vietnam, including Hanoi, but it has also opened up opportunities to restructure this industry, change approaches to the market, and align products to travellers’ demand and the reality, according to insiders.