The publicity campaign on Hanoi conducted by the US Cable News Network (CNN) under an MoU with the city has helped attract international holiday-makers to the Vietnamese capital, according to Hanoi’s Department of Tourism.

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In September, CNN broadcasted two 30-second advertising clips titled “Hanoi-Cradle of Heritage” and “Hanoi-Heart of Vietnam”, along with twelve 60-second episodes, including “The Keepers”, “5 Reasons to Love Vietnam”, “60-Second Vacation”, “Iconic Hanoi” and “Sporting Moments Vietnam”.

From the start of the 2019 contract (June 3) to the end of September, CNN had fulfilled 65.3 percent of its minimum broadcast commitment in 2019. Meanwhile, with 748 airing times of the 60-second clips, it had surpassed the minimum commitment in the contract by 200 percent.

The clips were broadcasted in the four regions of Asia Pacific, Europe – Middle East, North America, and South Asia.

Short videos on Hanoi were also broadcast on various categories of CNN website such as world, business, tourism and style, as well as on CNN mobile apps.

Besides, the CNN also posted articles promoting Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general on its tourism website.

Notably, CNN officially opened a special digital page “Hanoi: three generations” on October 1, which introduce “Cha ca La Vong” (La Vong fried fish) – one of the typical dishes of Hanoi that has been handed down and developed over generations.

In addition, CNN has continued to publish promotional articles about Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general on its travel site CNN Travel, Vietnam Destination besides other sites regulated in the contract.

In September and October, Hanoi’s tourism has come into spotlight several times. The city was nominated for the World’s Leading City Destination at the 2019 World Travel Awards (WTA).

CNN voted Hanoi as one of the 10 places with best coffee in the world, while Bigseventravel included the city among the seven best places in Asia for solo travellers.

The city is ranked 15th among the top 20 Asia Pacific destinations, according to Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index. 

Hanoi welcomed more than 4.7 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent.

The capital city hosted a total 21.5 million visitors in the period, up 9.5 percent against the same period last year and 74.46 percent of this year’s plan. There were more than 16.8 million domestic holidaymakers, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.

Tourism revenue of the city reached 74.7 trillion VND (3.2 billion USD) in the nine months, up 30.9 percent and nearing 72 percent of the yearly plan.