Trade and tourism from Japan a boon for Hanoi

What preparations has Hanoi made for the upcoming conference promoting investment and tourism co-operation between Japan and Hanoi?

Nguyen Gia Phuong

The Hanoi conference promoting investment and tourism co-operation between Japan and Hanoi is one of the activities on the sidelines of the Japanese Cultural Exchange Festival to be held on the occasion of Vietnam and Japan celebrating 45 years of diplomatic relations. The conference aims to present Hanoi’s investment environment and opportunities, thereby attracting foreign investment capital flow from Japan to Hanoi, helping firms operating in the fields of investment and tourism to grasp information about Japanese markets, and directly meeting Japanese partners to expand co-operation in goods production.

The event also provides a platform for the capital city to court capable and experienced investors to take part in Hanoi-based projects, gearing toward urban infrastructure perfection, and propelling Hanoi’s socio-economic development.

To ensure the conference’s success, since late 2017 the Hanoi Investment, Trade, and Tourism Promotion Centre (HPA) has been soliciting comments from Japanese firms on the difficulties they have encountered as well as what support they would need when operating projects in Hanoi.

Also, we brought city-based tourism firms to partake in international tourism fairs in Japan to lure Japanese visitors to Vietnam and Hanoi in particular, and vice versa.

To promote the Japanese “Omotenashi” (hospitality and manners, the Japanese way), HPA has joined hands with Forval Vietnam Co., Ltd. and the Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee to host a seminar to present “Omotenashi” and Japanese experiences in the service industry to local firms The target is to raise firms’ awareness about improving service quality, helping enhance the operational efficiency of Hanoi’s service sector.

Besides, HPA has arranged many meetings between diverse business associations and Japanese investors coming to Hanoi in search of opportunities, as well as connecting authorised management agencies and Hanoi’s businesses.

Japan is already the second-largest investor in Vietnam’s capital, with many new projects in the pipeline, Photo: Le Toan

What effect will the conference have on development targets set by the Hanoi tourism sector for 2018 and the near future?

2017 was a bumper year for Hanoi’s tourism, as five million international visitors came to the city, including 290,000 Japanese visitors, a 22 per cent jump. This year, Hanoi is set to welcome more than 25.4 million local and foreign visitors, with foreign visitors making up 5.5 million of that number, generating VND75.7 trillion ($3.44 billion) in tourism revenue.

One of the top priorities for Hanoi’s tourism sector this year is technical and material base investment and developing new high-quality products to entice visitors. The city is working on the West Lake entertainment complex master plan, pushing up the pace of investment projects to build tourism spots and high end tourist accommodation in the city.

Investors are encouraged to invest in building stopover places, flower gardens, tourism spots, and presenting tourism offerings.

In the near future, Hanoi will focus on developing distinct high-quality tourism products that closely link to the city’s tourism brand to attract local and foreign visitors.

What co-operation in investment promotion has occurred so far between Hanoi and Japan?

To help businesses have better understanding about Japanese market demand, in recent years Hanoi’s government has instructed relevant agencies to actively engage in major promotion activities.

During the Vietnamese prime minister’s visit to Japan last June, Hanoi joined Vietnam’s investment promotion conference in Japan. The prime minister witnessed the handling of investment certificates and signing of memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Japanese partners, with total value surpassing $5 billion.

This event was accompanied by Vietnamese products week in Japan’s Aeon shopping malls, combined with activities to show Japanese visitors how Vietnamese fine handicrafts are made. Some projects have basically completed the legal setup stage, including Aeon Mall Ha Dong and the smart city complex along Hanoi’s Nhat Tan-Noi Bai road.

Hanoi has teamed up with Forval Vietnam Limited to create a Japan Desk, whose core functions are to present the city’s investment environment and investment partners, to provide information support, and to gather comments about difficulties faced by Japanese firms during project implementation in Hanoi. Many meetings, trade fairs, and networking programmes between Japanese and Hanoian firms have taken place, with a view to luring Japanese visitors to Vietnam and Hanoi, and opening opportunities to bring Vietnamese people to discover Japan.

What are Hanoi’s investment promotion orientations in the near future, particularly regarding Japanese partners?

To bolster professionalism, this year HPA will foster co-operation with the Hanoi departments of Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, and Tourism to boost investment, trade, and tourism promotion activities.

The signing of several MoUs between Japanese agencies and businesses and Hanoi’s counterparts is expected to take place during the upcoming conference. The co-operative deals will focus on fields prioritised by Hanoi for luring investment, such as high-tech agriculture, a website about safe agricultural produce, etiquette training for staff working in the trade and tourism fields, and co-operation in tourism and healthcare.

The MoUs will serve as a basis for the two sides to co-operate across target fields, presenting multiple co-operative opportunities for both sides.