New tours, such as Sai Gon River tour, are chosen by many tourists. (Photo: VNA)The city earned 125.5 trillion VND (5.16 billion USD) in revenue from tourismfrom January through September, an increase of 35.8% over the same period lastyear.
The number of passengers travelling to and from the city by air and trainincreased 37% and 53%, respectively. The volume of public passenger transportincreased by 22.8% to around 300 million passengers.
The tourism industry's revenue is a very important contributor to the city'seconomy. Therefore, this year, the city set a target for the industry's revenueto reach 160 trillion VND, 10-15% higher than 2019, said Le Truong Hien Hoa, deputydirector of city's Department of Tourism.
The above stats show that the city has been able to attract tourists andgradually recover its tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, the city welcomed over 8.6 million international visitors and 32.8million domestic tourists with total revenue of over 140 trillion VND.
To attract more tourists, the city's tourism industry immediately launched theprogramme "Welcome to HCM City” and “Each district has at least one attractivetourism destination”.
The city's tourism authority has cooperated with relevant agencies to surveyand create many new tours and routes to upgrade and bring new experiences totourists.
Local tourist sites such as Ben Thanh Market, Sai Gon Central Post Office, andthe War Remnants Museum have been favoured among the visitors.
Currently, domestic and foreign tourists coming to HCM City can select newtours, such as a helicopter tour over HCM City, and the Sai Gon River tour towatch the sunset and see the beauty of the city at night.
Many foreign tourists are interested in discovering the beauty of the Sai Gon River.To facilitate the travel of passengers, the city authority has deployed threetram lines that connect quickly from the Bach Dang wharf to tourist landmarksin the city.
By 2025, it aims to develop at least 10 waterway tours and programmes linkingseaports and river routes.
The city is striving to welcome about 500,000 visitors a year to the waterwaytourism programmes in the 2023-24 period, and increase this number by 10% inthe following years.
In addition, suburban districts, such as Can Gio and Cu Chi, are also promoting the development ofagri-l and eco-tourism in.
Moreover, the city is now focusing on developing more types of entertainment tourism,cuisine and services at night to create many new and unique tourism products tomeet the increasing needs of tourists.
Also, it continues to focus on the development of healthcare and wellness, andwaterway tourism offerings, which have great development potential and bring inmuch revenue for the city.
The municipal Department of Tourism has worked with 50 units, includinghospitals, healthcare facilities, spas, travel companies and accommodationfacilities to create 30 unique service packages that combine healthcare withvisiting famous destinations to meet the needs of tourists.
In addition, with Vietnam’s new visa policy since August, the number of foreigntourists is expected to continue to increase, especially in the last months ofthe year - the peak period of tourism./.
VNA
