The number of domestic arrivals is
expected to rise by a more modest 15 percent to 29 million, said Bui Ta Hoang
Vu, Director of the city’s Department of Tourism.
The tourism sector would focus on
efforts to develop cultural and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and
Exhibitions) tourism, he told a press meeting on December 28.
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Foreign visitors at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City
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It plans to diversify its products
and organize a series of tourism events through the year to attract visitors,
he said.
It will devise marketing strategies
and organize promotional activities broad to attract potential international
tourists.
The marketing and promotional
activities will focus on markets such as Thailand,
India, the Republic of Korea,
Japan and the US,
which have recorded strong growth this year.
It will also address lingering
problems that drive foreign tourists away, such as overcharging, street vendors
and taxi drivers’ poor attitude.
The department will work with the
city's Tourism Association to welcome the first international and domestic
tourists of 2018 at Tan
Son Nhat
International Airport
on January 1.
This year the city saw more than 6.3
million international arrivals, 1 million higher than last year.
China was the biggest source of visitors,
followed by the Republic of Korea, Japan,
the US, Taiwan and Russia.
The number of domestic tourists
visiting the city numbered nearly 25 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.6
percent.
Tourism revenues are estimated at
nearly 116 trillion VND (5.1 billion USD).
The Ho Chi Minh City Tourism
Association on December 29 kicked off the domestic tourism stimulus program for
2018.
It has signed agreements with
Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, and Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock
Company to offer domestic tour packages by air and rail with discounts of up to
70 percent and 50 percent respectively.
Next year tour packages offered
under the program will focus on three central provinces, namely Nghe An, Ha
Tinh and Quang Binh, said Tran Hung Viet, chairman of the association.
More than 353,800 air tickets were
sold this year under the program, 160 percent higher than last year.
A total of 38,140 train tickets were
also sold compared to 13,000 in 2016.
Most of the package tours were from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu
Quoc Island
and Hanoi, Da Nang,
Hue, and Quy
Nhon cities.
Source: VNA