The municipalDepartment of Tourism on January 1, in collaboration with the city’sTourism Association and Tan Son Nhat International Airport, held a welcomeceremony for the first visitors to HCM City in 2021.
Nine touristsdeparting from Hanoi and Con Dao on Vietnam Airlines flights VN7245, BL6025 and0V8080 arrived in HCM City on New Year’s Day.
Ten other passengers onVietjet Air VJ127 and Bamboo Airways QH203 flights came from Hanoi.
The first visitors toland in HCM City received round-trip domestic flight tickets and travelvouchers, along with multiple discounts from travel agencies and tourismservices in HCM City.
Director of the city’sDepartment of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said the welcome ceremony isone of the key activities promoting the annual campaign “Thanh pho Ho ChiMinh xin chao - Hello HCM City”.
“The tourism industryin HCM City looks forward to efficient control of the COVID-19 pandemicfrom authorities. 2021 is expected to be the year of recovery for the domesticmarket and reopening of the international market in the following years. Thefirst visitors this year mark the beginning of HCM City’s goal to reach 33million tourists in 2021,” she said.
Hoa added that in aneffort to develop HCM City to become a leading tourism city in Asia,the department has planned new tourism products and events to attract morevisitors.
Some notable eventsinclude the 8th HCM City Ao dai Festival and HCM City Tourism Day, alongwith tours at old Sai Gon’s relics.
Last year, thecity's tourism market suffered greatly from the COVID-19 pandemic. The totalnumber of international visitors to HCM City in 2020 was 1.3 million, down 84.8percent year on year, while the number of domestic travellers to HCM Citywas 15.8 million, a decrease of 48.4 percent year on year.
Total tourism revenuewas estimated at 84.5 trillion VND (3.66 billion USD), down 39.6 percentcompared to 2019./.