HCM City takes action to attract more tourists

Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism sector has taken several measures to prevent the industry from declining any further due to the impacts of the global economic downturn, said a city official. Deputy Director of the municipal Culture, Sports and Tourism Department La Quoc Khanh said that the department held a meeting between 40 hotels and 12 travel agents where they agreed to reduce the prices of tours by 30 percent within the year, while ensuring service quality.
The city’s tourism sector has also collaborated with the Agriculture and Rural Development Department to survey and include the names of several gardens in district 12 and Cu Chi district onto the list of ecological tours, he added.
Apart from tapping into its full potential, the city’s tourism businesses are cooperating with several famous foreign tourist operators offering a number of unique tours to tourists.
The Saigontourist Travel Company has got together with the international cruise operator Costa Allegra to welcome foreign tourists to the country and organise MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) tours as well as tours for the elderly.
In the meantime, Vietravel has arranged tours for domestic tourists overseas that coincide with sporting or cultural events such as the World Cup and the beauty contests.
The Hoan My Company now offers tours to Hollywood, Hawaii and Las Vegas while V.Y.C Travel has worked with its Lao and Cambodian counterparts to organise tours to former revolutionary bases along the three countries’ border in addition to tours of Vietnam’s islands.
Meanwhile, the Lua Viet Company has increased the number of adventure sports it offers such as mountain climbing, diving, parachute jumping and water-skiing.
The city welcomed around 2 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of the year, a year-on-year decline of 11 percent.
The sector is expected to entice foreign holiday makers from Europe, the US and Japan back to Vietnam as well as domestic tourists during the remaining months of the year.