City tourism festival wraps up in success

      Huge crowds of festival-goers flocked to Dam Sen Park in HCMC’s District 11 over the weekend, flooding the annual tourism event where different festive activities were staged during three days, said local tourism authorities.
La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told the Daily that apart from 10,000 invitation letters, Dam Sen Park also sold 100,000 tickets during the three days from April 3 to 5, which mainly targeted local tourists.
Speaking on the sidelines of the closing ceremony, Khanh said the number of visitors was the same as last year, which was seen a success as the fifth tourism festival took place at a time of economic downturn which is challenging for the local tourism sector.
He reiterated that the tourism festival was organized to tap travel demands among locals as a way to compensate for the inbound segment which saw a decline in arrivals in the first three months this year.
At the festival this year, most exhibitors offered discounts for domestic tours as well as gave advise to their potential customers, in stead of merely introducing destinations by photos as seen in the previous festivals.
“We have gained initial success in turning such a festival into a marketplace where tour operators can introduce their products and festival-goers can select suitable tours with competitive prices,” Khanh said.
The organizer received a better-than-expected response from the corporate sector with some 150 booths manned by companies from 14 central and southern provinces. They include tour operators, tourism schools, hotels and restaurants among others.
As most companies have to tighten their purse string at a time of economic difficulty, the organizer had to spend more on the festival.
“We had to spend more budget than last year,” he said, adding the department alone spent some VND800 million for the festival, VND300 million higher than last year. In total, inclusive of expenditures of all participants, the budget amounted to some VND4 billion in the festival this year.
Khanh said some tour operators suggested the tourism department organize another tourism festival toward the year’s end so as to wake up the travel demand among locals. He said the suggestion would be considered, and that Tao Dan Park in the downtown District 3 would probably be a location for the suggested tourism festival.