Hanoi selected top five Asian tourist cities for second time

A leading US magazine has again selected Hanoi as one of the top five leading Asian cities for tourism for 2005.

Travel and Leisure magazine made the selection, heeding millions of readers on the basis of the city's landscapes, culture, people and food. The other four cities are Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hong Kong and Kyoto.

The capital city of Vietnam ranked fifth this year, compared with fourth in 2004.

In the first nine months, Hanoi received 4 million visitors, a 26% increase over the same period last year, including 800,000 foreigners, up 20.3% year-on-year.

China remained the biggest market for Hanoi's tourism, followed by Japan, Korea, France, and the US.

The total number of domestic tourists to the city is estimated at 3.2 million, up 28% year on year.

The tourism sector grossed a turnover of VND7.8 trillion, including VND3.1 trillion from hotel services. The occupancy rate at the city's hotels has been averaging 85-90%