Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung and Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai yesterday chaired a working session on the development of culture, sports and tourism in the city.
Director Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that this year the city announced nearly 60 tourism programs with 20 new tourism products to meet tourists’ requirements.
Some new tourism programs have created an impression and attracted the attention of tourists such as a program to visit the National Architectural and Artistic Relics of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council and the municipal People's Committee Headquarters, Thieng Lieng community-based ecotourism, night tours, MICE tourism (tourism combined with seminars and conferences), medical tourism, golf tourism.
From these efforts, in the first 3 months of 2024, Ho Chi Minh City welcomed about 1.38 million international visitors, an increase of 32.4 percent over the same period in 2023. The southern largest city welcomed over 8 million domestic visitors, a year-on-year increase of 6.6 percent reaching 21.2 percent compared to the 2024 plan. Total tourism revenue in the first 3 months of 2024 was estimated at VND 44,710 billion (US$ 1,790,607,118), an increase of 23.8 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
Highly evaluating the city's tourism products as quite rich and diverse, Director Nguyen Trung Khanh of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration noted that Ho Chi Minh City can exploit eco-tourism and resorts in Can Gio outlying district and Thu Duc City.
Moreover, the city should invest in building large-scale complexes to welcome MICE delegations as well as organize fairs to reduce airfares to attract domestic tourists, avoiding the drain of foreign currency as international air companies have been offering many incentives and more Vietnamese people travel abroad.
With the desire to contribute to supporting Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry to advertise and promote more effectively, Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa proposed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism soon issue guidelines for classifying tourism resources. She also suggested localities use the tourism development support fund to promote tourist activities.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports also proposed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism support the Cu Chi Tunnels file to be included in the UNESCO list of cultural heritage sites of the world and the pilot establishment of the Center for Cultural Industry Development.
Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai commented that the NA-approved Resolution 98/2023/QH15 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Ho Chi Minh City has paved the way for the city’s implementation of plans in the field of culture and sports. The city also has the idea of planning the Binh Quoi - Thanh Da area to become a cultural service center. The city has planned to turn the Cu Chi Tunnels Historical Relic area into a peace tourism destination.
Chairman Phan Van Mai emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City is ready to host international cultural, sports and tourism events well to attract more tourists.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that Ho Chi Minh City has new and creative ways to host tourism and cultural events. Ho Chi Minh City is also determined to implement the Politburo’s Resolution 08/NQ-TW on developing tourism to become a key economic sector, creating many tourism and cultural products.
Minister Nguyen Van Hung proposed Ho Chi Minh City quickly develop a creative city project to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
