HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s tourism sector is expecting a sharp rise in holiday revenue as it rolls out a clearer growth strategy focused not just on visitor numbers but on the “depth of value”.

Đặng Hương Giang, director of the city’s Department of Tourism, said the strategy aims not only to attract more visitors during the holidays but also to extend their stays, increase spending and enhance overall visitor experience.

A scenario has been built based on the strong results from the first quarter of this year, with 8.82 million visitors and total revenue reaching nearly VNĐ37 trillion (over US$1.4 billion).

The national holidays to commemorate Hùng Kings (April 25-27), along with the national reunification celebration (April 30) and the Labour Day (May 1), have long been a "golden period" for the tourism industry.

For Hà Nội tourism sector, this is not only a peak time for welcoming visitors but also a test of its operational capacity, service organisation, and destination quality in the context of a volatile market.

According to the city official, annual holidays always promise a great opportunity for the tourism sector to accelerate its growth.

However, in the context of increasingly fierce competition between destinations, Hà Nội should not target only increasing the number of tourists, but also extending the length of visitors' stay and increasing their spending.

One of the biggest challenges for tourism industry is the travel costs, especially the high price of air tickets due to global fuel price rise.

According to a recent tourism analysis, airfare currently accounts for about 30-40 per cent of tour prices, directly impacting tourists' travel plans.

Quality over quantity

The sector is implementing a series of measures to strengthen management, enhance service quality, and tighten market oversight, according to Giang.

The department has issued official directives requesting tourism areas, attractions, accommodation establishments, restaurants and travel enterprises to proactively develop service plans, diversify tourism products and introduce additional experiential activities to meet the expected surge in demand during the peak holiday period.

The focus is placed on improving service quality, ensuring security and safety and fostering a friendly destination image for visitors to Hà Nội.

Tourism businesses are required to publicly list prices, strictly sell at posted rates, and are prohibited from practices such as customer solicitation or price gouging. Inspection and supervision activities have also been intensified, particularly at crowded tourist sites, to promptly detect and address violations, thereby protecting tourists’ rights and interests.

Accommodation facilities and restaurants are encouraged to upgrade their premises, create distinctive experiential highlights, and further enhance service quality to improve overall visitor satisfaction during the holiday peak.

The city has also launched around 80 new tourism products focusing on programmes such as Con Đường Đạo Học (The Scholarly Path) and the night tour themed Hào Khí Thánh Gióng (The Heroic Spirit of Saint Gióng).

A variety of cultural, festival and entertainment activities are also being organised at Văn Miếu-Quốc Tử Giám (The Temple of Literature), the Việt Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, as well as pedestrian streets and food spaces, helping to extend visitors’ length of stay and enhance overall travel experiences.

These products have a common goal of helping visitors experience the depth of local culture and history, while also attracting them to stay longer.

In the long term, Hà Nội is focusing on expanding tourism space to suburban areas such as Ba Vì, Sóc Sơn and Sơn Tây and developing ecological, resort and community-based tourism products to reduce pressure on the city centre.

The city is also promoting digital transformation and building a smart tourism ecosystem, gradually improving competitiveness and moving toward modern sustainable tourism development.

As the holiday season approaches, Hà Nội is making clear that its tourism growth will be measured not just in numbers, but in value. — VNS