Specifically, from October 25 to 27, the city Department of Tourism coordinated with the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore to organize a program to promote tourism of Vietnam and HCM City at the ITB Asia International Travel Fair.
Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Tourism, said that Singapore is one of the important tourist markets for tourism of the city, and Vietnam in general. Vietnam welcomed nearly 310,000 Singaporean visitors before the COVID-19 epidemic and 178,861 visitors in 2022.
In HCM City, the total number of Singaporean visitors reached nearly 290,000 in 2019 and 114,000 in 2022, accounting for about 3.3% of the total number of international visitors to the southern city. Singapore saw much growth potential and has always been in the top 10 markets sending tourists to Vietnam and HCM City in recent years.
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| Booths of HCM City tourism businesses at the ITB Asia International Tourism Fair, Singapore |
At the program, HCM City also designed a booth to introduce and promote destinations through tourist items such as USBs, wooden cards, cloth bags, conical hats, Ho Chi Minh City travel guides and Vietnamese coffee. Visitors also had chances to experience traditional handicraft activities such as making To he and folding coconut leaves.
For the Laos market, from October 22 to 29, Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the City Department of Tourism, led a delegation and had a promotion trip to a culture and tourism week in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Some main activities include cultural, artistic and circus performances of HCM City; organizing display space; introducing and promoting tourism, trade and agricultural products; showing videos promoting tourism - agriculture – commerce; and displaying typical OCOP products and traditional cuisine.
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| Pha That Luang Pagoda, the symbol printed on the currency and national emblem of Laos. (Photo: TSTtourist) |
In addition, the group also participated in a survey of tourism destinations, products and services from Tay Trang international border gate (Dien Bien province) to Luang Prabang province, connecting tourism from Ho Chi Minh City to Northwestern provinces of Vietnam and Laos.
According to the city Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City, tourism connection with Laos is mainly by air and road. Therefore, the exploitation and development of tourism to Laos is still limited, especially direct flights from HCM City to Laos.
Through this event, some businesses expect to open 3 more tourist routes such as: route from HCM City to Laos and Cambodia; inter-regional travel route by road from HCM City to the Northwestern provinces of Vietnam and Laos; and a connection route by high-speed train from Laos to the southern region of China./.