Although completing the majority of its economic targets for 2018, Ho Chi Minh City is still burdened with heavy pressure from its budget collection, said Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee at a meeting on November 1.
In recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has introduced numerous products to tap into the potential of the city’s waterway tourism.
As much as 16 percent of the natural area of Ho Chi Minh City is made up of rivers and canals, which creates a great resource for the city’s tourism development through the forming of diverse waterway tourism products, according to experts.
Da Nang city has made a “spectacular” leap forward in tourism development over the past decade, said Chairman of Da Nang Tourism Association Huynh Tan Vinh.
Waterway tourism in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to receive about 450,000 tourists in 2018 and the figure is projected to increase by 15 percent in the following years.
Waterway tourism businesses in Ho Chi Minh City still face many difficulties when it comes to attracting more tourists, heard a conference on the city’s waterway tourism development held on July 5.
Leaders of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho had a working session on June 12 with representatives of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to discuss plans and measures to promote tourism development in the city and in the whole region.
The current weak infrastructure system is hindering the development of domestic waterway tourism in Ho Chi Minh City.
A number of tourism events were held in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017, drawing crowds of visitors both at home and abroad.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to build Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh into a national tourist site by 2030.
Ho Chi Minh City will see a sharp increase in MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) tourists in 2018, according to the local Department of Tourism.
The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho welcomed 7.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017, 34 percent beyond the yearly plan and up 40 percent from 2016.
The HCM City People’s Committee has issued a plan to develop river tourism for the 2017-2020 period.
Claudia Liliana Zambrano Naranjo, Chargé d’Affaires of Colombia to Vietnam, has expressed her wish for cooperation in waterway tourism between Colombia and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism sector needs to make sweeping changes in developing high-tech agritourism, which is expected to earn the city millions of USD, heard a conference held in the southern hub on October 5.
Domestic and foreign tourists to Ho Chi Minh City will have exciting experience discovering the beauty of local scenery as tour operator Saigontourist launched seven new waterway tours on September 28.
The Mekong Delta, the largest granary of Vietnam, must work for smart and sustainable agriculture with high added values, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the end of the Conference on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta held in Can Tho on September 27.
The central province of Thua Thien – Hue plans to develop tourism into a spearhead economic sector, towards becoming a leading destination in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
