On the sidelines of the 7th annual conference of the Council for Promotion of Tourism in Asia (CPTA) taking place in Hanoi between October 5-10, 2008, Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cao Thi Ngoc Lan said Hanoi is home to more than 4,000 historical sites, of which 1,400 are certificated.

The capital city is also increasing its focus on developing other types of tourism such as MICE tourism, trade street tourism and festival tourism.

In August 2008, Hanoi’s area tripled from 920 sq.km to 3,200 sq.km with a total population of nearly 7 million people, becoming one of the 17 largest capitals in the world. This expansion has created opportunities for the capital city’s tourism sector to develop more types of tourism, including eco-tourism, relaxation breaks and trade village tourism.

Also at the conference, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang affirmed that the tourism industry should become an important economic sector, adding that it is one of the city’s top priorities.

Hanoi’s tourism development plan is suitable for CPTA’s objective of launching a marketing campaign entitled “Welcome to Asia” and other related marketing activities that will further the prosperity and development of CPTA member cities’ tourism networks, she said.

Since 2001, Hanoi has enjoyed an annual growth in tourism of 10 percent and the number of international visitors to the city accounted for 30 percent of the country’s total foreign arrivals.

In the first nine months of this year, Hanoi has welcomed nearly 1 million foreign tourists and 5 million locals, representing respective increases of 5 percent and 15 percent over the same period last year.