In the period, passenger Hanoi’s total retail sales of goods and consumer services transport increased significantly, reaching 135.2 million arrivals, up 13.3 per cent year-on-year, while revenue hit 7.2 trillion VND, up 17.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the volume of goods transported reached 526.4 million tonnes, up 15.7 per cent, resulting in 30 trillion VND, up 17.1 per cent over the same period last year. In addition, revenue from transportation support activities reached 29.1 trillion VND, a year-on-year rise of 7.6 per cent.

Shoppers at Walmart supermarket. (Source: VNA)

Notably, tourism plays a leading and important role in the capital's economic sector. Tourists to Hanoi in the first 4 months of this year reached 2,147,000 people, an increase of 46.5 per cent over the same period last year. Among them, international visitors reached nearly 1,576,000, an increase of 59.8 per cent over the same period last year. Domestic tourists reached 571,000 people, an increase of 19.1 per cent over the same period last year.

Hanoi is directing the Department of Tourism and Culture and Localities to improve service quality to attract guests, especially by diversifying entertainment activities and visiting landscapes and historical relics. , craft villages, and cuisine.

The city encourages craft villages to produce products as souvenirs; Specialized farming areas produce clean quality OCOP products. The city invested in facilities and recognized many spots to become tourist areas and destinations.

In Hanoi City, there are currently 3,760 tourist accommodation establishments with 71,200 rooms; Of which, 607 hotels are rated from 1-5 stars with 26,600 rooms, accounting for 37 per cent of the total number of rooms and 16 per cent of the total number of tourist accommodation establishments.

From the beginning of the year until now, the average room occupancy rate of 1-5 star hotels has reached 62.5 per cent, an increase of 5.9 per cent over the same period last year. Standard tourism services in Hanoi currently include 34 food service establishments, 39 shopping service establishments, 7 entertainment establishments, and 2 service establishments. Health care has been recognized to meet tourist service standards.

During January-April, tourism played a leading role in the capital's economic sector. In the period, the city welcomed 1.5 million foreign tourist arrivals, up 59.8 per cent year-on-year.

In April, the revenue of the retail sales of goods and consumer services is estimated to reach 66.6 trillion VND, up 1.8 per cent month-on-month and 8.1 per cent year-on-year.

Commodities with impressive growth in retail revenue included gemstones and precious metals (40.1 per cent), food (11.3 per cent), and vehicles excluding cars (11 per cent).