Accommodation facilities in Hanoi have been asked to prepare to welcome more tourists this year.

Foreign visitors at the Tenple of Literature, a popular destination in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

In 2020, Hanoi will host an array of international political, sporting and tourism events, including the first F1 Vietnam Grand Prix slated for early April, ASEAN meetings during Vietnam’s chairmanship, celebrations of the city’s 1010th anniversary, and other big anniversaries.

These events provide a great chance to promote images of Vietnam and Hanoi.

At a meeting on February 13, Director of the municipal Tourism Department Tran Duc Hai asked accommodation establishments to prepare infrastructure and services and set reasonable room prices, especially during the F1 week, noting that they should prioritise long-term interests as visitors may return to Hanoi for future events.

Although the acute respiratory disease caused by COVID-19 remains complex at present, the local tourism sector is still making thorough preparations to welcome tourists when the epidemic ends, he noted.

Representatives of four- and five-star hotels in Hanoi such as the Movenpick, Grand Vista, Sheraton, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Muong Thanh and Bao Son said they have sterilized their establishments, distributed face masks and provided hand sanitizer for tourists. Some have also installed thermal scanners for guests.

There are 3,499 tourist accommodation facilities with 60,782 rooms in Hanoi. Among them, 66 hotels with 9,953 rooms have three to five star ratings, and eight condotels with 1,534 rooms have four or five star ratings.

Aside from accommodation facilities, the Tourism Department also demanded travel, transportation, shopping and food service providers to improve their services to cater for visitors to the city.