Tourist arrivals surge during 2019 New Year holidays

According to the municipal Tourism Department, the total figure of tourists to Hanoi exceeded 253,000, up 10.6 percent year-on-year. Of the number, there were more than 80,000 foreign visitors, up 16.3 percent over the previous year. The most-visited destinations in the city included Ngoc Son Temple, Huong (Perfume) Pagoda and Hoa Lo Prison. Additionally, a range of art programmes were held in the city at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and West Lake Amusement Park, among others. Meanwhile, nearly 45,000 tourists visited Hue imperial relic site in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue during the holidays, said Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre Phan Thanh Hai. This year, the centre aims to diversify and improve quality of tourism products. It is working to develop cultural heritage tourism and stage frequent cultural and art performances. Along with the tourism package themed "Hue-One Destination, Five World Heritages", the province will work to reopen the tour to Dai Noi (Royal Palace) at night, as well as build a brand for Hue cuisine and bolster tourism promotion to draw more visitors to Hue. In 2018, Hue imperial relic site welcomed more than 3.5 million visitors, raking in 381.7 billion VND (16.41 million USD) from entrance tickets, surpassing 19.28 percent of the target assigned by the State. Sa Pa district of the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai also witnessed an increase of tourist arrivals during the four-day holidays. The district received more than 56,000 visitors, a surge of 25 percent against the previous year.

(Source: VNA)