The hosting of the year’s events, in coincidence with the capital city’s millennium anniversary, is expected to help promote Hanoi and Vietnam in general, as an interesting travel destination amongst international tourists.

“National Tourism Year is a great opportunity to present the 1,000-year-old city’s immeasurable values, something that not many other cities around the world have,” said Mai Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“It will help local people and foreign friends to get a better understanding of Hanoi, an interesting and safe city with many historical traditions, a rich culture and numerous tourist spots,” Dung added.

Eight main events will take place during the National Tourism Year, including National Tourism Year’s launching ceremony. Many new tourist packages will be created to welcome in the capital city’s millennium including the debut of the movements called “Hanoian’s Welcome Their Guests” and “the Year of Green Tourism”. A competition called Hanoi’s Best Tour Guides will also be held. In addition there will be the Thang Long–Hanoi 2010 international tourism festival, the Hanoi Gastronomy Festival and the Vietnam Ao Dai Festival.

In preparation for the events, the Hanoi authorities has increased the investment to create a number of new quality tourism products, including various new city tours of historical sites, museums, craft villages and streets as well as cultural and culinary tours.

The city will work with other cities and countries around the world to organise more than 30 different tourism tours and packages coupled with cultural and sporting activities.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) also regards National Tourism Year 2010 as an excellent opportunity to promote Vietnam in overseas target markets. It has provided support to many enterprises on how to create new tours and has produced marketing publications on tourism in Hanoi

Apart from developing tourism promotions in other cities and provinces nationwide, the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has actively participating in many international tourism fairs and conferences to attract more international visitors to the city.

Among the activities they took part is a promotional campaign in Japan’s four main cities of Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Tokyo and a programme portraying Vietnam as a leading holiday destination in four cities in China.

The tourist event, the largest of its kind in Vietnam in 2010, will be held throughout the year, mainly in Hanoi, Director General of VNAT Nguyen Van Tuan told a press conference in Hanoi on September 25.

Themed “Thang Long-Hanoi, Thousand-year convergence”, the event once again emphasised that the capital city remains an attractive tourism destination in the region and the world, he added.

National Tourism Year 2010 in Hanoi is scheduled to include the launching of the “Hanoians welcoming visitors” and “Green tourism year” programmes, and the Thang Long-Hanoi international tourism and cuisine festivals.

Also, Hanoi will work together with other domestic and foreign cities and provinces to organise more than 30 cultural and recreational activities, such as a flower street festival, an exhibition on traditional and modern Bat Trang Pottery, a kite-flying festival, participation in the JATA Fair in Japan and the Travex Fair in Brunei, and Vietnam promotion as a tourist destination in China’s Beijing-Shanghai-Guangzhou area.

A ceremony to launch the National Tourism Year 2010 will be held on October 10 in Hanoi.

The festival, themed “village market’s beauty and aroma”, attracted 20 groups from Hanoi, Haiphong, Ninh Binh, Nghe An and a number of local tourism businesses in two days from July 28-29.

The event, located on Tay Son Road, featured a traditional Vietnamese village market where visitors can taste special foods and drinks by famous chefs from different areas across the country.

It aimed to promote cultural exchanges between localities.