Hanoi (VNA) – The HCM CityDepartment of Tourism, together with five suburban districts, has launchedseven agro-ecotourism programmes.
The authority is stepping up thedevelopment of those tourism products to capitalise on the city’s diversenatural landscapes in outlying districts, said Deputy Director of the municipalTourism Department Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa.
The programmes include trips exploringsalangane farming and a bat sanctuary, and kayaking through mangrove forests atthe Can Gio Biosphere Reserve, among others.
The city saw a 54.7-percent drop in thenumber of the tourists in the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the period, HCM City welcomed only 9.4million tourists, including 1.3 million foreigners and 8.1 million Vietnamesepeople, year-on-year decreases of 69.3 percent and 50.9 percent,respectively.
Total revenue from tourism products andservices surpassed 34 trillion VND (1.46 billion USD), down 49.6 percentagainst the same period last year./.