HCM City begins travel stimulus programme

 

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism on June 9 kicked off its annual tourism stimulus programme that will run throughout the year as part of its attempt to revive the hard-hit tourism industry.

Nearly 260 tour packages are being offered with 280,000 discounted vouchers of 10-70 percent.

Tour packages featuring popular tourist attractions in HCM City have been designed with new services to attract locals.

A one-day tour to Thanh An island in the city’s Can Gio district, for example, is only 99,000 VND (4 USD) per person and a one-day HCM City tour 135,000 VND (6 USD) per person.

Twenty tourist and entertainment sites offer discounts of 20-50 percent on entrance tickets.

A total of 40 accommodation facilities in the city have reduced room rate by 22-68 percent besides free airport pickup and drop off services, and spa and laundry services.

Airlines, railway and road transport providers in the programme are also offering a variety of promotions and discounts.

The programme features attractive discounts on tour packages from HCM City to other cities and provinces.

Coordinated efforts of tourism authorities in HCM City and neighbouring provinces will help to create inter-regional tourism products and promotion activities, said Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the department.

This year, the programme will promote travel linkages between the city and localities. A large number of tourists are expected to travel to other localities from HCM City, Vu said. 

Miss Vietnam 2018 Tran Tieu Vy and model and travel blogger Tran Quang Dai are ambassadors for this year’s programme which has its website at www.kichcaudulichtphcm.vn

Last month, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to HCM City was zero, according to a report of the city’s Department of Tourism.

In the first five months of the year, the city welcomed more than 1.3 million international tourist arrivals, down 63 percent year-on-year.

Nguyen Trung Khanh, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said domestic travel is the priority at this time as all international flights are still closed.

The number of domestic tourists is expected to reach no more than 60-65 million this year or two-thirds of this year’s target, Khanh said at a meeting held on June 8 in HCM City.

If foreign tourists are allowed to enter the country next month, the number of foreign tourist arrivals might reach 6-8 million for the year.

The number might be an estimated 4-4.5 million if the tourism sector reopens to foreign tourists in the fourth quarter, he said./.