Ho Chi Minh City hold seven new waterway tours.
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He stressed that with a canal system, Ho Chi Minh City boasts huge potentials to develop waterway tourism, thus it is necessary to develop tourism products based on available advantages. The new waterway tours are expected to help promote the city’s image as a friendly, attractive and safe destination, he added.
The tours include one to mangrove forest in the suburban Can Gio district, one to the Cu Chi tunnel and another exploring the lower course of Sai Gon river, all starting from Tan Cang tourism site.
Prices for the tours range from VND750,000 (US$33) to VND2.1 million (US$92.4), including light meal, lunch, local fruit, bottled water, tour guide, entrance fees and pick-up costs. Five high-speed canoes with the designed capacity of 25 passengers each will be used in the waterway tours.
Saigontourist director Tran Hung Viet said that waterway tourism is in the company’s development strategy. Along with new boats and canoes as well as new tours, the company has invested in a line-up of wharfs and stops like those in Tan Cang tourism site and Binh Quoi 2 tourism site.
In addition, tourist arrivals to Ho Chi Minh City reached some 2.8 million in the first half of 2017, a 14.7% increase year-on-year. Since the beginning of 2017, the city has organized monthly events to attract and retain visitors, including festivals of Ao dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress), southern land cuisine and southern fruits, among others.
A number of new tourism products have been introduced recently in the city, including medical tourism and craft trading streets. The city welcomed 5.2 million foreign tourists in 2016, making it the first ever locality to reach the milestone of 5 million overseas visitors nationwide.
