The visitors arrived in HCMC on the first day of 2020 aboard the flight JL079 operated by Japan Airlines and the flight VN2106 of Vietnam Airlines in cooperation with Air France.
All these first visitors were surprised at the reception of the city’s tourism sector.
American national Tyler Jorgenson, one of the first foots, shared that he decided to come to Vietnam for his love for the Southeast Asian country. He was certain that after the tour, he would introduce Ho Chi Minh City particularly and Vietnam generally to his relatives and friends who are reluctant where to visit.
Japanese visitor Kazuno Hiroyoshi said that he was so happy to receive greeting from tourism authorities though he has come to Vietnam many times.
Director of the Department of Tourism Bui Ta Hoang Vu said that the reception showed Vietnamese hospitality and impress both local and foreign tourists for tourism development in an effort to promote the country’s tourism.
As 2020 is a promising year when Ho Chi Minh City expects to receive 10 million foreign visitors and 35 million domestic tourists with the sector’s earning of VND165,000 billion (US$7 billion), said Mr. Vu.
In the reception, the first visitors were given gifts and round-trip tickets and they are entitled to buy specially cheap tours including free walking tour to discover ancient Saigon by visiting the Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh, Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, Saigon Opera House , Ho Chi Minh City Hall (or Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Head Office), Tan Dinh Church, Thong Nhat Palace, or culture tours to understand Chinese people in lantern district 5 .
According to the Department of Tourism’s statistic, the sector welcomed over 8.6 million international visitors in 2019 , up 13 percent compared to the same period last year ( with more than 7.5 million travelers) and 32.77 million local holiday-makers, up 13 percent compared to the same period last year ( with 29 million travelers). The earning in 2019 was VND 140.017 billion , a year on year rise of 10.15 percent.
