A corner of HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s TourismDepartment is launching plans to attract more visitors from India, which isconsidered a market of great potential.
At the May meeting on socio-economic issues of the municipalPeople’s Committee on May 30, Director of the department Bui Ta Hoang Vu saidhis agency is working with several airlines to promote Vietnam to India. Henoted that while 1.6 million Indians travelled to Thailand in 2017, only170,000 visited Vietnam.
The low-cost airline Vietjet Air is scheduled to open directflights between HCM City and India this September.
The Tourism Department has developed products designed forthis market and held some tourism promotion activities in the country.
Vu added that the department has also asked localrestaurants to design dishes specifically for Indian guests.
It was reported at the meeting that an estimated 566,390foreign tourists arrived in the city in May, up 37 percent year on year. Revenuesfrom tourism came to around 9.3 trillion VND (over 406 million USD), up 3.03percent.
For the January-May period, the total number of foreignarrivals was 3.18 million, a 32 percent increase, while tourism revenues wereestimated at 51.65 trillion VND, up 14.8 percent.
A recent survey jointly conducted by the Tourism Departmentand the municipal Statistics Office showed tourists both domestic and foreignstay for an average 5 days in the city and spend around 145 USD a day, whichshowed a reduction in stay duration compared to a survey of the Vietnam NationalTourism Administration in 2013 but the spending stays the same.
Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phongstressed that tourism has been defined as a spearhead economic sector of thecity. He urged the sector to study ways to keep visitors stay longer.-VNA
