The Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Council approved a proposal on September 11 to establish a municipal Department of Tourism to manage and develop the city’s booming tourism sector.

In recent years, the city’s tourism sector has grown rapidly, attracting approximately 60 percent of international tourists and generating 47 percent of the country’s total tourism revenue.

More specifically, the city’s tourism services have exploded, with tourist accommodation increasing 2.5-fold, and the number of travel agencies and licenced tour guides doubling and quadrupling, respectively. As a result, there is an urgent need for the entire sector to be managed effectively.

The new department is expected to have a four-member executive board and six offices.

According to Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, Chairwoman of the People’s Council, the establishment of the department is an important move, since the sector’s growth is currently monitored only by a Deputy Head of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The council also passed a resolution on policies to support non-State officials working for the Fatherland Front and local organisations with a total of 370 billion VND per year.

The city council was presented with a report on the progress of the Ho Chi Minh Monument project, which is expected to finish in March next year.-VNA