The tour is expected to offer a chance for Vietnamese and European travel agents to meet, introduce tourism products, and intensify tourism promotion, thus helping popularise the image of Vietnam in general and the capital city in particular.

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Tourists visit Temple of Literature - a tourist attraction in Hanoi

The delegation is scheduled to make a fact-finding tour to tourist attractions in Hanoi and surrounding areas before participating in a meeting between Vietnamese and European travel agents. The European firms will discuss tourism products and destinations of Hanoi and Vietnam Airlines on October 10.

Hanoi expects to welcome nearly 20 million tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, or a year-on-year rise of 9.2 percent. Of the total, foreign visitors are estimated at 4.3 million, up 20 percent year-on-year, and accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total number of foreign tourists to Vietnam.

This year, Hanoi aims to welcome more than 25.4 million tourists, including 5.5 million foreigners.

The city has also received high rankings and wide coverage by overseas travel firms and magazines. The online marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb named the Vietnamese capital city among the world’s top 10 intriguing travel destinations in 2018. Hanoi was also listed among the world’s top 13 destinations for international travellers in March based on a poll by readers of the US-based Business Insider magazine.

Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a good place for visitors to spend time roaming around, experiencing open-air eateries and hearing the noise of whizzing motorbikes, Business Insider said. Hoan Kiem Lake in the city’s centre provides a peaceful respite from the frenzy, as do numerous Buddhist temples and pagodas, it added.

Last month, the UK’s weekly magazine Hello named Hanoi among seven best backpacking destinations in Asia.

Source: VNA