HCMC to share tourism benefits

HO CHI MIN CITY, 19 July 2011-Vientnam’s commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City will strengthen ties with nearby provinces to build tourism products and encourage more international arrivals.

Last week, the municipal government vice chairwoman, Nguyen Thi Hong, said the strategy was to build the southern city into a major tourism hub that spread the benefits of tourism to nearby provinces to build length of stay and broaden the attractions base of the city’s tourism industry.

The plan is to survey and build routes that link the city with provinces in the South to offer more tour options for visitors.

“The city’s tourism has expanded in the last five years with average revenue up 26% a year and international arrivals up 15%. We need to add tours to neighbouring provinces to maintain momentum,” the vice chairwoman said.

Although the city is a big business hub and an international gateway for foreign visitors, it still lacks natural sites and beaches in easy reach of visitors.

To tackle the issue, HCMC will join forces with Lam Dong and Binh Thuan jointly promote and develop tourism.

According to the city’s department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the city’s tourism will review a five-year cooperation plan with the Mekong Delta region, to build a tourism triangle with, Binh Thuan and Lam Dong. Work on the project will start soon.

During the first half year, the city welcomed 1.65 million international visitors, up 10% over last year and generated VND23 trillion increasing 24% year-on-year.

Around 60% of visitors, representing 900,000 visits to  the city,  are leisure travellers, while another 300,000 are on business and 360,000 are visiting relatives.

The top 10 supply countries are the United States, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, France and Russia.

This year, the city targets 3.5 million international arrivals, up 12.90% from 3.1 million visits in 2010 and to generate VND49 trillion in tourism revenue increasing 19.51% from VND41 trillion.

Source - ttrweekly