After the first HCMC River Festival promoting the land, people, and cultural identities of Vietnam in general and HCMC particularly in August, the 3rd HCMC Tourism Week 2023 presents a wide range of 45 cultural, art, sports, and tourism activities to diversify products, improve the traveler experience, and encourage visitors to spend more and stay longer.
According to the HCMC Tourism Department, the festival has attracted hundreds of millions of followers on social networks and mass media. The city’s hotel occupancy rate has reached 80 percent while the participating businesses have seen a sharp increase in revenues, such as Chim Canh Cut (Penguin) Travel Company which provided tours to around 6,000 visitors and achieved a revenue of nearly VND1.6 billion (US$65,630).
The 3rd HCMC Tourism Week themed “Green on every journey” also calls tourism community and visitors to participate in environmental protection activities, such as saving electricity and water, using waste and recycled materials and natural products, implementing environmental sanitation, planting trees, reducing plastic use and more.
The tourism week has been accompanied by the Miss Earth 2023 beauty contest to promote HCMC’s tourism and affirm the city’s goals and commitment to developing green and sustainable tourism.
In addition, the 6th Techcombank International Marathon 2023 on December 10, as part of the ongoing third HCMC Tourism Week, attracted 15,000 participants from 91 different nationalities and 33 provinces and cities nationwide promoting the beauty of a dynamic southern metropolis that is the country’s financial center.
More than 100 promotional programs and 20 tourist products have been offered to visitors during the event, such as short waterway tours on Nhieu Loc-Thu Nghe canal to explore the beauty of the Saigon River, sightseeing tours associated with eco-friendly shopping launched by Biet Dong Saigon (Saigon Rangers) –Gia Dinh Museum and Core Vision Technology Joint Stock Company, and 20 percent-discounted vouchers applied to coco organic sugar released by the Vietnipa Company at the Do Phu café –Dai Han Com tam (Vietnamese Broken Rice with Grilled Pork) restaurant at 113 on Dang Dung Street in Tan Dinh Ward of District 1.
On this occasion, the HCMC Department of Tourism hosted a ceremony to announce HCMC’s 100 Excitements. Accordingly, Biet Dong Saigon (Saigon Rangers) –Gia Dinh Museum is among Top 10 tourist attractions, top 10 sightseeing tours, and top 10 coffee shops in the city.
A bustling atmosphere has filled the streets in the city with a variety of cultural, art, sports, and tourism activities that have been held in the last days of the year. The 3rd Tourism Festival has contributed to spreading green tourism, stimulating tourism demand and service economic growth of HCMC, Director of the Tourism Department of the city Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said.
