The tourism sector of Hanoi has completed its preparatory work to welcome delegations to the APEC summit due to take place in Hanoi in mid-November and serve tourists to the city during the time.

More than 10,000 delegates, including leaders from APEC member countries, businessmen, scholars and reporters, are expected to travel to Hanoi during the summit from November 12-19. This will be a good opportunity for the Vietnamese tourism industry in general and Hanoi’s tourism sector in particular to promote the tourism image of the country and the capital city.
During the summit, all three to five star hotels in the urban area are mobilised to serve the delegates. Apart from 25 hotels with 4,296 rooms selected by the government, 110 hotels are also introduced to the delegates. There will be a total of 8,000 hotel rooms to serve the delegates.
Eight five-star hotels selected in the government’s list include Hanoi Daewoo, Melia, Sheraton, Nikko, Sofitel Metropol, Hilton Opera, Horizon and Sofitel Plaza with over 2,000 rooms, including 33 rooms for heads of state and 195 rooms for ministers. Almost all these hotels are located in the city centre with beautiful scenery.
The hotels will have special programmes for gourments to introduce Vietnamese specialities to international officials. Nearly 400 restaurants in the city also take part in serving European and Asian dishes and delicacies of three regions of Vietnam.
The Sofitel Metropol and the Sofitel Plaza are honoured to represent Hanoi tourism sector to organise the Gala Dinner party hosted by President Nguyen Minh Triet to receive leaders from the 21 APEC member countries at the newly-built National Convention Centre.
The Hanoi Tourism Department has organised various courses to train about 2,000 staff members of 134 hotels to serve APEC’s guests under the instruction of Vietnamese and international leading experts.
Travel companies in Hanoi have designed a great deal of tours to serve tourists and the delegates. Tourists will be taken to the ceramics village of Bat Trang or join tours to enjoy well-known dishes such as Thanh Tri steamed rolled rice pancakes, Ho Tay shrimp cake, La Vong fried fish.
The delegates also can join tours to Yen Tu Mountain, the Perfume Pagoda, Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, Sa Pa, the ancient city of Hue, the ancient town of Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary.
The tourism department is setting up more than 30 tour information kiosks in public places and tourist destinations to help the delegates and tourists. The delegates will receive tourism publications when they attend the summit

By Ngoc Tu

(Source: Nhan Dan)