The number of HCM City ’s people travelling on the occasion of the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival recorded a rise of 30 percent over the previous Tet with more than 40,000 people choosing local tours lasting for 3-5 days.

Also on this occasion, 15,000 city dwellers travelled abroad, mainly to Australia, the US, Europe, the Republic of Korea (RoK), Thailand, Cambodia, and Taiwan and Hong Kong (China).

Travel agents also reported year-on-year increases of 20-30 percent in the number of travellers.

The city expects to welcome 288,000 international tourists in February, a year-on-year rise of 15 percent. The occupancy rate of three to five-star hotels reached 68 percent during Tet. The Saigon Travel Service Company (Saigontourist) said it received 7,500 foreign holiday makers to welcome Tet in the city.

The city has also upgraded its entertainment facilities which have attracted more than 2 million visitors./.