HCMC to launch tourism campaign internationally

Under the plan, the city’s tourism sector will organize promotional programs in Germany and Australia in May and June, in the US and ASEAN countries in October, and participate in the World Travel Market London (WTM London) in November.

From the beginning of the year, the HCMC Department of Tourism organized a ceremony welcoming the first visitors to the city in Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 1, 2024. The 2024 Tet Festival honoring Vietnamese cultural identities on Tet holidays and introducing beautiful images of a peaceful spring in the southern metropolis to visitors opened at Le Van Tam Park in District 1 on January 18-21.

In addition, the 10th HCMC Ao Dai Festival will return to the city on March 7-17 with a wide range of cultural activities at the President Ho Chi Minh Statue Park on Nguyen Hue Street in District 1 and tourist attractions in the city.

The 20th edition of the HCMC Tourism Festival is scheduled to take place at the September 23 Park in District 1 on April 4-7. The four-day event will attract more than 200 display booths of travel enterprises introducing tourism products and offering promotional programs to visitors.

The travel fair is an opportunity for visitors to purchase high-quality and affordably priced tours in the upcoming national holidays of the 49th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30) and International Labor Day (May 1) as well as the summer travel season.

The second HCMC River Festival promoting the land, people, and cultural identities of Vietnam in general and HCMC particularly will officially open at Saigon and Hiep Phuoc ports and several tourist spots in the city on May 31- June 8.

Besides, the 18th International Travel Expo HCMC - ITE HCMC (ITE - HCMC) 2024 will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7 on September 5-7.

The annual event aims to strengthen cooperation and solidarity among the five Mekong River's downstream countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The city’s tourism industry will organize the 4th HCMC Tourism Week in Thu Duc City and districts on December 1-8, and the 2024 Techcombank International Marathon on December 8-12.

According to Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Tourism, Le Truong Hien Hoa, in 2024, the city's tourism industry will continue to enhance cooperation with diplomatic missions abroad, international organizations such as EuroCham, the Tourism Promotion Organization for Global Cities and the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations (AFECA) to promote tourism in the southern economic hub in particular and Vietnam in general, to the world.

Additionally, the department also collaborates with domestic and international airlines to invite travel agencies, MICE tourism companies, press delegations, and key opinion leaders (KOLs) in key and potential markets to participate in destination surveys in HCMC and other localities.

The city will pay attention to strengthening tourism commercials on international news channels, including CNN, Discovery, BBC News, PR Newswire, VNPR, and Heritage magazine.

In 2024, the global economy is forecasted to continuously decline due to financial crises and armed conflicts, leading to a decrease in the demand for international tourism and a significant impact on the country's tourism industry and HCMC. However, he added that the city’s tourism sector expects to effectively implement the HCMC Tourism Development Strategy until 2030 to sustainably develop the southern metropolis’ tourism.