Affirming the position of a top destination

This year's World Tourism Day (September 27) has special significance for Hanoi, as the capital's tourism industry has recorded many outstanding achievements, showing a strong breakthrough in scale, quality and influence.

With impressive growth rate, diverse tourism products and sustainable development orientation, Hanoi is increasingly affirming its position as a major tourist center of the country and a leading destination in the region.

The walking space around Hoan Kiem Lake and its vicinity has become a “must-see” tourist destination for visitors to the capital. Photo: Quang Thai

Keep up with world trends

This year's World Tourism Day, September 27, with the theme "Tourism and Sustainable Transformation" held in Melaka (Malaysia), highlighted the potential of tourism as a driver for positive change. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres affirmed that tourism is not only an economic sector, but also a catalyst for social progress. To promote these benefits, the tourism industry needs to be a pioneer in the transformation process towards sustainability, inclusiveness and resilience. This is a timely and necessary call to reshape tourism not only as a growth engine but also as a foundation for equitable development, cultural and heritage preservation, ecosystem and environmental protection and community resilience.

Hanoi, as the largest tourist center in the country, has taken the lead in the recovery process, taking sustainable development as the foundation. Since 2022, the capital's tourism has made a strong breakthrough, quickly recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the leading destination in the country in terms of the number of visitors and revenue. Not only has it grown impressively in scale, in recent years Hanoi has been continuously honored at many prestigious international tourism awards, affirming the international community's recognition of the strong development of the capital's tourism. Notably, the title "Asia's Leading City Tourism Destination" was awarded by the World Travel Awards (WTA) in 2022, 2023, 2024. In 2025, Time Out magazine (UK) ranked Hanoi in the list of the world's top 20 cultural destinations, ranking 9th globally and leading in Asia. Notably, last September, Hanoi continued to receive the "Sustainable Tourism" award from the Tourism Promotion Organization for Global Cities (TPO)...

Ms. Dang Huong Giang, Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism, said that thanks to the close direction of the City, always aiming for sustainable development, taking cultural identity and people as the foundation, Hanoi tourism has developed rapidly and contributed positively to the whole country. “Over the past years, the City has implemented a series of initiatives such as encouraging accommodation establishments and restaurants to limit single-use plastic products; developing eco-tourism models, community experiences; installing signs and sorting bins at relics; organizing community programs such as “Green Sunday” to raise awareness of environmental protection. The highlight in Hanoi's sustainable development journey is the diversity of initiatives, from policies, infrastructure to community activities” - Ms. Dang Huong Giang emphasized.

Hanoi – the meeting place of major events

In the bright picture of tourism in the whole country, Hanoi has made a strong breakthrough, taking the lead in creating new products and models. Vice President of Hanoi Tourism Association Nguyen Tien Dat commented that, in addition to promoting cultural identity, the capital is also a pioneer in applying technology and digitalization in management and product development, thereby creating its own identity and forming many typical tourism models. The highlight is a series of unique night tours, bringing new experiences to visitors such as "Sacred Night" at Hoa Lo Prison, "The Quintessence of Confucianism" at Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, "Decoding Thang Long Imperial Citadel", "Ngoc Son - Mysterious Night" ...

Hanoi is also quick to grasp the green tourism trend, exploiting the advantages of the system of parks, lakes, and rivers to form creative spaces, becoming attractive destinations. Areas such as West Lake, Hoan Kiem Lake walking street, tourism along the Red River... are constantly upgrading infrastructure and services, becoming typical products. Close and environmentally friendly experiences such as bicycle tours, electric buses around the Old Quarter, double-decker buses, Cat Linh - Ha Dong train tours combined with heritage tours... have attracted a large number of tourists, especially young people. Recently, Vietnam Railways Corporation cooperated with other units to launch the "Hanoi 5-door" tour, connecting the Thang Long heritage (Hanoi) with the Kinh Bac region (Bac Ninh). With many unique cultural experiences, this product quickly became a sought-after itinerary for tourists.

The most prominent mark of Hanoi tourism in 2025 is that the capital will become the center for organizing cultural and tourism activities to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day September 2. In more than a month, Hanoi has successfully organized many "national concerts" with a scale of tens of thousands of people; launched 80 new tourism products in the inner and outer city; inaugurated the Vietnam Exhibition Center (VEC) in Dong Anh - the largest project in Southeast Asia, ranked in the top 10 exhibition complexes in the world. In particular, the National Achievement Exhibition held here (from August 28 to September 15) attracted about 10 million visitors, setting an unprecedented record.

Assessing the resilience of the capital's tourism, President of the UNESCO Travel Club Truong Quoc Hung said that Hanoi always plays a leading role, positioning its brand as a destination for heritage, culture and major events. President of the Vietnam Green Tourism Association Phung Quang Thang also commented that Hanoi's tourism products are increasingly diverse, harmoniously combining the preservation of identity and creativity with the breath of the times, with special attention paid to green and environmentally friendly factors.

It can be seen that the breakthrough of Hanoi tourism in 2025 is not only reflected in the number of visitors and revenue, but also in the strategic vision. The city is determined to develop sustainably, preserve heritage and maintain identity. Projects to restore architecture, renovate the old quarter, and preserve craft villages are being implemented synchronously; accommodation establishments are encouraged to apply energy-saving standards and limit plastic waste. Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang affirmed that in the coming time, the capital will continue to develop tourism in a green and sustainable direction, while strengthening the training of high-quality human resources to make Hanoi a "Safe - Friendly - Quality - Attractive" destination.

Source: Hanoi Moi Newspaper

Source: http://sodulich.hanoi.gov.vn/khang-dinh-vi-the-diem-den-hang-dau.html