HCMC – HCMC opened the 17th Tourism Festival last weekend in a bid to boost the recovery of the tourism industry in the southern economic hub and Vietnam as a whole.
The festival is being jointly organized by the HCMC Tourism Department and the Tourism Association of the city until December 25. It is taking place both in person and virtually on the festival’s website (https://ngayhoidulich.visithcmc.vn), the website of the city’s tourism sector (www.visithcmc.vn), e-commerce platform Shopee, and online travel agent Traveloka.
This year’s program is seeing the participation of nearly 40 provinces and cities from across the country and 80 businesses active in the tourism industry, offering hundreds of tourism products and services with discounts of up to 50%.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 17th Tourism Festival of HCMC, Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the HCMC Department of Tourism, said the festival is a demonstration of the local authorities and travel firms’ efforts to revive the tourism industry of the city and the whole country, especially when all economic, cultural, and social activities have to safely and flexibly adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For HCMC, the festival is also meant to help local travel firms get ready for complete resumption in 2022 once the Government permits it,” she added.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung expected that HCMC would maintain its position as the country’s tourism hub, enhance tourism connectivity with other cities and provinces, and become a more attractive destination for both domestic and international tourists.
According to Phan Thi Thang, vice chairwoman of HCMC, the recovery of the tourism industry will strongly facilitate the recovery of other sectors.
“The 17th HCMC Tourism Festival is a very meaningful event, meeting the travel demand of citizens during the year-end season while ensuring the safe and flexible adaptation to the Covid-19 pandemic. The festival also offers a chance to HCMC and other localities, as well as businesses, to introduce their new tourism products, promotes collaboration between HCMC and other provinces, reaffirms coordination between the authorities and the business community, and plays a key role in boosting the tourism recovery of HCMC and the entire country,” she said.
“I believe that being the country’s biggest economic hub and innovative center, HCMC will offer a wide variety of safe and vivid tours and products to attract more domestic and international tourists,” shared Nguyen Trung Khanh, chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
