Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – As Vietnam’s largest economic, cultural and tourism hub and a major gateway for international visitors, Ho Chi Minh City is stepping up measures to strengthen tourism security and ensure a safe, friendly and attractive environment for tourists.
The rapid growth of tourism, together with the expansion of travel businesses and new tourism services, have created fresh challenges for state management, particularly in maintaining security and public order.
Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, said ensuring security, safety and order for tourists, businesses and tourism activities is essential to enhancing management efficiency and building the city’s image as a safe, friendly, attractive and responsible destination.
The requirement has become more pressing as the city expanded its administrative boundaries through the merger with former Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces and adopted the two-tier local administration model. Close coordination and timely information sharing between the tourism sector and police are therefore increasingly important.
Ho Chi Minh City is home to 1,906 travel businesses, 77 travel agencies and 20 representative offices of foreign tourism enterprises, along with 4,805 accommodation establishments offering more than 106,000 rooms. The city also has over 9,000 licensed tour guides and 39 recognised tourism sites and destinations.
Between 2021 and 2025, the city served about 155.2 million tourist arrivals, including more than 20.8 million international visitors and 134.3 million domestic tourists.
During the period, local police detected and handled 8,436 cases involving foreigners violating immigration regulations, collecting nearly 56 billion VND (2.1 million USD) for the state budget.
However, the emergence of increasingly sophisticated online scams, along with touting, overcharging, service disputes and theft, requires tourism security measures to be continuously reviewed and improved.
Nguyen Tam Ha, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Promotion Centre, said the rapid increase in international arrivals, the expansion of digital platforms and the growth of new services require stronger management and tourist support.
She stressed that tourism promotion should go beyond showcasing attractions to position the city as a safe, friendly and reliable destination.
The centre has integrated information about tourist information and support stations, provided guidance on scam prevention and property protection for visitors, and introduced QR codes at tourist sites to facilitate access to information and emergency reporting, Ha added.
Meanwhile, police are promoting legal guidance as an early prevention measure, administrative reform and digital transformation while strengthening inspections and management to prevent and combat crimes involving foreigners, according to Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Thanh, deputy head of the immigration unit under the municipal Department of Public Security.
To improve management, the immigration unit proposed closer coordination between police and the tourism sector in legal dissemination, information sharing and specialised inspections of accommodation and travel service providers serving large numbers of foreigners. It also called for stronger guidance and training for businesses, particularly short-term rental apartments, homestay facilities and serviced apartments, in temporary residence declarations and foreigner management.
The municipal Department of Public Security and Department of Tourism have signed a new coordination agreement for 2026–2031 on ensuring security and improving tourism management. The agreement aims to translate the resolution of the 3rd plenum of the 14th Party Central Committee on building a disciplined, safe, civilised, harmonious and developed society, and the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 24/CT-TTg, dated May 28, 2026, on strengthening national security protection and ensuring social order and safety in tourism activities into practical measures, helping turn Ho Chi Minh City into one of the region’s leading safe, civilised and attractive destinations./.
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