The tourism industry in Ho Chi Minh City is on track to accelerate and recognize the effectiveness of tourism development cooperation programs.

Vietnam’s tourism industry in general and Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism in particular has made breakthroughs, and positive changes, and recovered quickly after the pandemic. Each locality has found a suitable direction, creating an overall picture of the tourism industry which has been developing strongly and accelerating in the recovery period.

According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department, after heavy losses due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the tourism industry has made breakthroughs and positive changes. With a central position in terms of the economy, culture, society, education, and tourism of the whole country, Ho Chi Minh City has actively implemented innovative solutions to speed up, with the desire to revive and develop a stable tourism industry. That is not only for the development of local tourism but also to attract, connect, cooperate and set other local tourism across the country.

Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City has expanded the signing of tourism development cooperation agreements with 49 localities/6 economic clusters of the whole country and has received encouraging results in 2022 with more than 30 million international and Vietnam local visitors, which increased by 167.4% over the same period in 2021.

Through preliminary results of cooperation in tourism development between Ho Chi Minh City with 8 Northwestern provinces will expand from 2021 to 2025 to develop tourism in the new period and is an effective model to form online and inter-regional tourism products. Thereby it contributes to preserving and promoting historical and cultural values, tourism resources, and promoting the potential and strengths of each locality. Accordingly, the total number of visitors to the Northwest region and Ho Chi Minh City in 2022 reached more than 45 million arrivals, which is 3 times higher than the same period in 2021 (of which more than 100,000 tourists from Ho Chi Minh City market came to visit the provinces in the North West expansion group); total revenue is estimated at 153,000 billion VND.

The effectiveness of the tourism development cooperation program not only brings positive results to Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism industry but also contributes to creating connections for localities that have activities associated with Ho Chi Minh City.

The positioning of Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism on the world map is also increasingly confirmed with many prestigious awards consecutively awarded in 2022 such as: “Leading travel destination for trade in Asia”, “Top MICE Travel Destination in Asia” and “Leading Tourism Authority in Asia” of the World Tourism Organization (WTA); It is also one of two Asian cities in the top 15 most visited destinations in the world by the end of 2022.

Stimulate tourism development

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa – Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, with its strengths in geographical location, nature, and people, the city’s tourism industry has been asserting its role as one of the leading tourist centers of the country. The city’s tourism industry is diversifying solutions to stimulate the tourist season at the end of 2022 and welcome the new year 2023 with many interesting experiences for visitors. The highlights include the program “each district has a unique tourism product”, along with a series of unique tourism events such as the New Year’s welcome ceremony, Ao Dai Festival, Tourism Festival, and International Tourism Fair in Ho Chi Minh City…

Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has announced new videos aired on the international television channel CNN, with two topics: “Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City” and “Ho Chi Minh City – Vibrant City.” The videos focus on introducing the city’s tourism through a variety of perspectives, from colorful events, festivals, unique cuisines… to novel tourism products, in order to inspire visitors.

Responding to the chain of activities aimed at stimulating tourism demand, most tourism businesses, accommodations, brands, malls, and restaurants… in the area have launched hundreds of promotions and services serving residents and visitors. Meanwhile, some districts continue to announce their typical products to contribute to the richness of the city’s tourism products.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and the units announced the Voting Program “Ho Chi Minh City – 100 interesting things” to propagate, promote and introduce the destination of Ho Chi Minh City as an open, young, lively, exciting, forward-looking city. The Voting Program has 10 criteria focusing on areas such as Cuisine, culture, architecture, places to visit, shopping, social… Specifically, including voting items such as 10 interesting visit programs in Ho Chi Minh City; 10 interesting attractions (museums; architectural works; historical, cultural, and artistic relics; attractions, entertainment;…); 10 interesting entertainment places (art shows, night clubs,…); 10 interesting shopping places (traditional markets, supermarkets, shopping stores,…); 10 interesting tourist accommodation establishments; 10 interesting restaurants; 10 interesting coffee shops; 10 interesting tourism, cultural and sports events; 10 interesting check-in places and 10 interesting delicacies.

Source: Cong Thuong