HCM City Ready to Welcome Tourists

Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has officially launched the campaign "Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City" to attract domestic and foreign tourists to this city. This is considered a restart of the city tourism after two years of closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said: “The Ho Chi Minh Tourism Department received a lot of useful information to better understand tastes at this campaign. With the support of ambassadors and diplomatic missions, we expect that the image of Ho Chi Minh City will be promoted more widely so that many tourists know and choose Ho Chi Minh City as an attractive tourist destination."

Highly appreciating the initiative of Ho Chi Minh City with the issuance of the plan to restart tourism under new normal conditions, as well as the initiative to implement the campaign "Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City", Deputy Director of the General Department of Tourism Pham Van Thuy emphasized the importance of ensuring a safe destination and quality service for visitors.

“After two years of suspending operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry of Ho Chi Minh City needs to check the destinations, entertainment and tourist attractions, scenic spots to propose to the People's Committee and People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City the problems that need to be removed to create attractive destinations on the basis of renewing the existing tourism products. It is also necessary to build a very typical culinary-cultural product of the South with the brand name of Ho Chi Minh City,” recommended Mr. Pham Van Thuy.

Deputy Director of the General Department of Tourism Pham Van Thuy also urged that special attention should be paid to tourism resources. After two years of being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of tourism workers had to stop and change jobs. Ho Chi Minh City needs to have preferential policies for experienced tourism workers to return to the tourism industry. It also needs to train and re-train workers; develop an intensive and high-quality training plan to match the brand name of Ho Chi Minh City Tourism.

Ho Chi Minh City recently welcomed a delegation of 130 tourists from the United States. Regarding this event, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Anh Duc commented, "This is a signal that the international tourism market has started to have positive movement again, showing that Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular has become a destination of interest to international tourists. This shows that the efforts of Ho Chi Minh City over the past time have now begun to bear fruit.”

Mr. Duong Anh Duc asked the Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City to work closely with other relevant authorities to actively implement the assigned tasks to attract visitors to the city. Airlines, Tan Son Nhat airport, Saigon port, Saigon railway station and other related units are requested to coordinate and support the tourism industry to organize promotional activities, promote the city's tourism brand and increase the interesting experience of tourists in Ho Chi Minh City. Tourism businesses need to continue to be proactive and creative in restoring and reorganizing activities, contributing to the rapid recovery of the city's spearhead economic sector with specific and attractive programs for tourists.

By Giang Tu, Vietnam Business Forum