HCM City seeks to boost tourism growth after COVID-19

Ho Chi Minh City authorities have applied a number of measures to boost its tourism growth after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the diversification of products and services by developing those with high potential such as farm and MICE.

Being aware of tourists’ rising demand for eco-tourism activities, they have launched a number of sites of this kind, including Suoi Tien Farm in Thu Duc city, which provides visitors with unique experience of southern fruit farms and various entertainment services.

The 5-hectare farm is located in Suoi Tien Cultural Tourism Site and comprises more than 150 modern entertainment facilities. Tourists can directly engage in farming activities, harvesting and enjoying fruits right at the farm.

Meanwhile, they are focusing on boosting MICE tourism development by coordinating with ministries and sectors at home, Vietnamese representative offices abroad and international partners to lure more tourists to the city.

In July, the city welcomed 460 Indian tourists who took a MICE tour to the city.

The visitors are leaders, staff, customers and partners of VOLVO – EICHER, a company specialising in truck and bus manufacturing of India. They stayed in the city from July 15-18 and took a number of tourism, shopping and entertainment activities.

From July 18 to 22, Saigontourist Travel Service Company (Saigontourist) served a group of Australian nationals in the form of river tourism, the first of its kind in two years.

The country's economic hub houses many businesses with demand for MICE tourism as they seek to combine business and pleasure to thank employees, customers and partners after the difficult pandemic period.

Vietravel Company said since the start of this year, it has served 300 MICE groups with over 20,000 people.

Saigontourist Company has organised MICE tours for 14,000 people.

“MICE businesses have boomed. After the Lunar New Year holiday in February, Saigontourist has organised big tours for businesses to hold review meetings and ceremonies for awarding employees. In March, we had a record of 750 groups on the Da Nang-Hoi An tour,” said Hoang Thuy Linh, deputy director of marketing and IT at Saigontourist.

Data from the HCM City Statistics Office shows that foreign tourists to the city in the first half of 2022 reached 477,982 arrivals, an increase of 100% over the same period last year. In the period, about 11 million domestic visitors came to the city, up 43.1% year on year.

HCM City Department of Tourism announced that total tourism revenue in the first half of 2022 was 49.7 billion VND (nearly 2.2 billion USD), up 29.9% compared to the same period last year, reaching 73.5% of the year’s target./.