HCMC records strong tourism growth

The city’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism estimates 310,000 international tourists visited the commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City in January.

The tourism department said of the 310,000 international arrivals, 250,000 tourists arrived by air.

A main factor boosting  tourism in January was the Lunar New Year, which attracted 600,000 overseas Vietnamese who entered the country at the city’s international airport.

“During the Lunar New Year, amusement areas such as Suoi Tien Theme Park, Dam Sen Park and Cu Chi tunnels were the most popular,” the city tourism department said.

The department also said there were 800,000 arrivals from HCMC and neighbouring provinces through the airport on outbound travel arrangements that increased 20% against the same month last year.

There were approximately 400,000 outboud trips reported at the Moc Bai border gate to Cambodia.

In addition, the city tourism department said more than 1 million domestic tourist arrivals visited the southern hub in the first month of this year.

This year, the city’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism expects to receive around 3.8 million international tourists, an increase of 8% against 3.5 million recorded of 2011.

In 2011 arrivals stood at 3.5 million visits, of which 2.65 million travelled by air, up 6% over the same period last year. The United States, Japan and China were the suppliers.

The city’s revenue from tourism sector was estimated to reach VND49 trillion (US$2.33 billion) improving 19.5% year-on-year. Of that revenue, VND29 trillion came from restaurants and hotels, while VND12 trillion derived from travelling services.

In 2012, the city will focus on major services and products such as tourism resorts and MICE industry as well as shopping and culinary tourism.

It will target markets in Western Europe particularly the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Russia.

Meanwhile, it hopes to gain more travellers from Japan, South Korea, and China.

Source - ttrweekly