Hanoi promotes MICE tourism development

Hanoi has many potentials and strengths to develop MICE tourism .

At the 2024 MICE tourism business connection event called MICE EXPO 2024 held on September 27, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh shared about Hanoi's potentials and advantages in developing MICE tourism as well as orientations for developing MICE tourism in Hanoi in the coming time.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh, there are many different types of tourism to satisfy different human needs, notably MICE tourism, a type of tourism that combines meetings, conferences, seminars, awards, exhibitions, events with sightseeing activities.

"Developing MICE tourism brings many great benefits, from economic , cultural, social and environmental contributions; to positive impacts on foreign affairs activities; especially the large proportion of contributions to the tourism industry. MICE tourism is considered a type of tourism with a faster growth rate than other types of tourism", said Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism, Mr. Vu The Binh - Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association and Mr. Lee Jae Hoon, Chief Representative of Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Vietnam witnessed the signing ceremony of cooperation to develop MICE tourism at MICE EXPO 2024.

Hanoi has a beautiful and favorable location and terrain, is the capital, the leading political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological center of the country. Hanoi has advantages in infrastructure system serving tourism development.

Hanoi is the central city of the North, the traffic connecting Hanoi to other provinces and cities in the country is relatively convenient, including air, road, waterway and railway with modern works serving the travel needs of tourists such as Nhat Tan bridge, Vo Nguyen Giap avenue, T2 terminal of Noi Bai international airport, Thang Long avenue, Thanh Tri bridge, Vinh Tuy bridge,... Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway line, Nhon - Hanoi railway line are put into operation, not only meeting the travel needs of inner-city residents and tourists, helping to reduce pollution for the capital but also changing the urban appearance and creating a tourist highlight.

Along with that, the infrastructure system of Hanoi's tourism industry has been invested and improved in recent years. As of September 2024, Hanoi has 3,761 tourist accommodation establishments with 71,256 rooms, including hundreds of hotels and apartment complexes recognized as 1-5 stars.

The quality of Hanoi tourism human resources is relatively good compared to the whole country. About 80% of employees of international travel agencies and 3-5 star hotels have university degrees or higher and can speak foreign languages. Many hotels are large-scale, branded, and of international standards such as: JW Marriott Hotel, Lotte Center Hanoi, Grand Plaza Hanoi, InterContinental Hanoi Westlake, etc.

Hanoi's conference and seminar infrastructure system currently has a capacity of about 50,000 seats, capable of serving events of up to several thousand people/location, specifically: The National Convention Center has a large hall, with a capacity of about 3,800 - 4,000 seats; The International Conference and Seminar Center (1 Le Hong Phong, Hanoi) has a capacity of 3,500 seats; Star Galaxy Conference and Event Center (87 Lang Ha, Ba Dinh); Almaz International Conference Center (Vinhomes Riverside urban area, Long Bien); Baara Land Cultural and Entertainment Complex (Tuan Chau Tourist Area, Quoc Oai district, Hanoi)... Organizing conferences with meeting rooms equipped with modern and synchronous technical equipment and machinery combined with short-term tours helps conference and seminar attendees have time to relax, meeting the requirements of tourists combining work and relaxation.

In addition, the system of restaurants and culinary services in Hanoi has been developing strongly, with a high level of socialization, bringing the capital to a position in the world and regional culinary tourism system. In recent times, dining establishments in Hanoi have developed rapidly, richly and diversely, from traditional restaurants imbued with Vietnamese cultural and ethnic identity, international restaurant systems such as Thai restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Korean restaurants, European restaurants... to bars, cafes, fast food restaurants of large corporations in the world such as KFC, Lotte, Starbucks, Lotteria...,

At the same time, the City has expanded and developed many walking street spaces to introduce to tourists the culture and urban life of the people of the Capital.

Focus on digital transformation, applying technology to activities

According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh, in addition to developing the infrastructure system and technical facilities of the tourism industry, in recent years, the capital's tourism industry has focused on innovating, building and developing attractive and unique tours and tourism products. Notably, 16 night tourism products have been launched combined with cultural experiences; developing the Dao community tourism model in Ba Vi commune, Ba Vi district; gradually building an agricultural and rural tourism model in suburban districts; piloting river tourism products from Ben Chuong Duong Do to Bat Trang port, etc.

As a result, Hanoi has been continuously highly appreciated by prestigious organizations, experts, specialized pages and travel magazines for its tourism attractiveness. From 2022 to 2024, Hanoi has been honored by the World Travel Awards for 3 consecutive years in the category of "Asia's Leading City Destination"; honored for 2 consecutive years 2023-2024 in the category of Asia's Leading Short-Term City Destination. Notably, in 2024, Hanoi also won the award "Vietnam's Leading Cultural Destination".

Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Hong Minh

In 2024, Hanoi strives to welcome over 27 million visitors, an increase of 9.2% compared to 2023, including over 5.5 million international visitors (including 3.8 million international visitors staying overnight), an increase of 16.4% compared to 2023, and 21.5 million domestic visitors, an increase of 7.5% compared to 2023. Total revenue from tourists will reach over VND 109.41 trillion, an increase of 28.2% compared to 2023. The average room occupancy rate of accommodation establishments and hotels will reach 62% or more, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to 2023.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh said that with such potential and strengths, Hanoi has successfully hosted many important events of national, regional and world scale, notably the US-North Korea Summit, the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, the 6th Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit, the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the 31st SEA Games and the 11th ASEAN Para Games, etc.

These events not only contribute to promoting the image of the Capital City on the international stage as a center connecting global values, a place to exchange regional and international initiatives for peace, stability and development, but also affirm the capacity to organize international-scale events, an attractive and safe destination for tourists.

It can be said that MICE tourism products are considered the strength of the capital's tourism industry. Orienting and focusing on developing MICE tourism is the goal of Hanoi's tourism industry.

In the coming time, Hanoi will continue to promote the development of this type and focus on improving service quality, training human resources, supplementing high-quality facilities and infrastructure, especially focusing on digital transformation, applying technology to activities and promoting communication work to increasingly attract tourists in general and MICE tourists in particular to Hanoi.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/ha-noi-day-manh-phat-trien-du-lich-mice-2024092808041609.htm