HCMC builds gateway status

April 2014: City authorities recently signed tourism co-operation agreements with 30 provinces in an effort to link tourism attractions in southern provinces and expand the city’s role as a tourism gateway.
The city’s People’s Committee deputy chairwoman, Nguyen Thi Hong, said that enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City had invested US$1.38 billion in 1,000 tourism projects in other localities around the country.
The city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism deputy director, La Quoc Khanh, added that Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, and Binh Thuan province attracted the most domestic and foreign tourists.
“About 90% of foreign tourists visiting Tien Giang province and half the tourists visiting Binh Thuan province were customers of travel companies based in HCMC.”
The city has just begun operating four river routes to provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces and Cambodia, he said, in a move to builld HCMC into a gateway destination.
Tourism co-operation has led to a diversification of tourism products, but it has failed to attract day-trippers or big-spenders, due to poor branding and a lack of information on activities and events, he added.
The Culture, Sports and Tourism Deputy Minister, Ho Anh Tuan, said co-operation on a regional and national scale involved establishing policies to support development and also introducing products as well as promotions, human resources and investment.
The number of foreign visitors to HCMC alone accounts for more than half the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam.
“The city had the potential to receive and also distribute tourists to other parts of the country,” the deputy minister said.
Last year, the city received more than 4.1 million foreign tourists, earning nearly US$3.9 billion.

Sourced: ttrweekly