HCMC gearing up for year-end tourism season

Many travel firms and shopping centers in Ho Chi Minh City are gearing up for the year-end shopping and entertainment season.
International visitors learn about information of Vietnam tourism at the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair in 2023.

International visitors learn about information of Vietnam tourism at the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair in 2023.

Besides, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry is concentrating on renewing and promoting Vietnam's tourism to lure more high-spending tourist groups.

From now until the end of the year, the city’s tourism industry will focus on strengthening the tourism promotion and advertising activities of provinces and cities, especially some countries in the region and around the world.

Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said that the department continues to introduce the city's tourism products on many international channels, diversify propaganda of tourism and take advantage of social media and digital media to interact with more tourists.

In particular, the Municipal Department of Tourism is deploying a plan for 3D application in tourism information and promotion; promoting the image of tourist destinations in the city on LED screens at city gateways, Tan Son Nhat International Airport and overcrowded tourism spots; providing information portal 1022 to support visitors; improving the quality of information and contents on the HCMC Department of Tourism's information portal and so on.

Currently, the department focuses on the effective implementation of tourism activities and events in Ho Chi Minh City in the last months of the year, notably Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Week 2023, to create a positive and widespread effectiveness.

Moreover, the city's tourism industry will continue to organize Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism promotion activities and programs in Singapore and the United States and coordinate in tourism promotion via working delegations of Ho Chi Minh City leaders aboard.

Previously, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism sent an official letter to hospitals and medical facilities to require the collaboration in implementation of medical products and promotion programs for Vietnamese tourism in Thailand and Cambodia with the target of attracting tourists from the Cambodian market to Ho Chi Minh City medical tourism products.

The municipal Department of Tourism will collaborate with the HCMC Department of Health to build the plan for medical tourism development in the upcoming time.

In addition, the HCMC tourism sector is striving to refresh the products to attract high-spending customers to the city such as the Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival 2023 (HOZO 2023) combined with the Hot Air Balloon Festival 2023 by the end of the year which is expected to attract domestic and international visitors.

Recently, the HCMC Department of Tourism has collaborated with the municipal Department of Culture and Tourism to host an event allowing travel agents to survey Ho Chi Minh City metro line Opera House station and Saigon Opera House, tour to visit the national-level architectural and artistic relics at the headquarters of the People's Council and People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, city sightseeing tour from double-decker buses and so on.

Besides, HCMC is oriented to exploit the golf tourism product at two golf courses of Tan Son Nhat and Thu Duc.

Director of the HCMC Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa informed that from now until the end of the year, the tourism sector will focus on its strengths for the year-end tourism season and festivals welcoming the new year of 2024 and so on.

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the number of international arrivals to Ho Chi Minh in September reached 734,859 turns, increasing one percent over the same period last year.

In the first nine months, the city has welcomed around 3.56 million turns of travelers, increasing 69 percent over the same period, gaining 71.3 percent over the 2023 plan.

Domestic visitors to HCMC in the first nine months were estimated to reach 26.9 million turns, surging 24.9 percent over the same period and gaining 77 percent over the year plan of 2023.

Notably, the total revenue of the tourism sector in September was estimated to reach VND17,924 billion (US$738 million), up 0.3 percent over the same period.

In addition, the figures in the first nine months of the year were estimated to hit VND125,463 billion (nearly US$5.2 billion), up 35.88 percent over the same period and reaching 78.4 percent over the year plan of 2023.

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