HCMC welcomes 2.85 million int'l arrivals

HCMC's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism welcomed 250,000 international arrivals in Nov 2010, increasing by 38% over the same period last year, bringing to 2,85 million visitors in 11 months of 2010.
This month, most of tourists traveled to HCMC by airway, up to 200,000 arrivals. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Vietnam Airlines will coordinate to welcome the 3rd million visitor at Tan Son Nhat Airport in the middle of next month.
According to the HCMC's Department, the tourism sector will advertise 27 events to promote HCMC's tourism image in the coming year. Five events are planed to promote in oversea including ASEAN Tourism Forum in Cambodia, MATKA Trade Fair in Finland, AIME Conference Tourism Fair in Australia, and road show program in North Europe and Cambodia. The remainings will be promoted within country.
Mr. La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the tourism sector wants to carry out more promotional programs in oversea but it depends on the budget of tourism promotion of the city. And next year, the budget of tourism promotion will be proposed at VND 15 billion, increasing by VND 8 billion of this year. However, the tourism sector still needs more budget to promote city's tourism in domestic and oversea.
In 2011, the tourism sector hopes to welcome 3,5 million int'l tourists with VND 49,000 billion in turnover.
Translated by Thanh Pham (TITC)