The quality of tourist products and services must be also enhanced to keep visitors staying longer in the city, helping it increase this year’s tourist revenue by 16.9 per cent against 2017 to VND135 trillion (US$5.95 billion).Tuyen suggested the tourist sector to focus on developing MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions), cruise, community-based, agricultural, ecological tourism, and art performances.
Ho Chi Minh City targets tourist revenue of US$5.95 billion in 2018
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The city can develop agricultural tourist products, connecting fruit and vegetable farms in the city’s suburban areas of Cu Chi, Can Gio and District 9 to make visitors staying longer and have more chance for shopping, Long suggested.
Statistics showed that the number of tourists to Ho Chi Minh City accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the country’s total visitors, however, their length’s stay in the city is short at some 2 days as they consider it only as a gateway to easily transport to other areas.
Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the city’s Department of Tourism, admitted that the city’s tourist events and products are not held regular and not attractive enough to lure visitors.
Besides, visiting sites and the museum system of the city have not been also upgraded to enable creating a new look for the destinations.
Vu said that the city’s tourist sector this year would take measures to boost growth in the number of tourists, their length of stay and their expenditure.
The tourist department will propose the city’s leaders to boost infrastructure construction and upgrade destinations to meet tourists’ demands, he said.
It will also enhance the cooperation with tourist companies and travel agencies to study and exploit the resources more effectively.
Tuyen said that the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee last year also signed an agreement with the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association to boost the tourism sector.
The agreement, valid for 2017-2020, would help enhance the role of the association and facilitate the operations of tourism businesses. The move is also part of the city’s efforts to develop tourism into an economic spearhead, he said.
“City authorities will have more opportunities to listen to businesses to create favorable conditions for them to develop,” he said.
The Department of Tourism works with related agencies to implement the terms of the agreement and regularly report on the work and results to the People’s Committee.
Vu expected that the agreement would give a boost to tourism businesses and improve tourists’ security.
The department and related agencies would coordinate with the association for tourism stimulation and promotion programs, develop tourism products, cooperate with other cities and provinces to diversify tourism products, and train human resources, Vu said.
