Driving force for tourism development in Ho Chi Minh City in the new period

Ho Chi Minh City is gradually affirming its position and shaping a new development space after rearranging administrative boundaries. Tourism, which is one of the key economic sectors, is also recognized as one of the key development pillars.

Therefore, the city's tourism industry is urgently developing and implementing strategies, plans, policies and strategies for tourism development until 2030.

Core development pillars

According to Mr. Tran Van Tuan, Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City, in recent times, the city's tourism industry has affirmed its role and achieved high results, so it should be recognized as one of the key development pillars.

Specifically, the city's tourism industry has made positive contributions, especially the local tourism business community, not only creating more material values but also spiritual values for people and tourists coming to Ho Chi Minh City.

With its important role, the City Department of Tourism shows that it is both a conductor in the tourism industry and a bridge connecting tourism units, playing the role of advising and proposing tourism development policies.

“Ho Chi Minh City has made many efforts, focusing on perfecting policies to promote the development of cultural-historical tourism products, cuisine, shopping, ecological agriculture and waterways, MICE, healthcare... The city has built diverse mechanisms, policies and supports to encourage people and businesses to join hands, creating momentum to promote the development of the tourism industry,” Mr. Tran Van Tuan emphasized.

Statistics show that Ho Chi Minh City's total tourism revenue in July reached VND22,368 billion, up 45.6% over the same period and the accumulated revenue in the first 7 months of 2025 reached VND140,305 billion, up 29.9% over the same period and reaching 54% of the yearly plan. Of which, international visitors to Ho Chi Minh City in July reached 695,930 arrivals, up 75.3% over the same period and the accumulated revenue in the first 7 months of 2025 reached nearly 4.6 million arrivals, up 48%...

Tourists visit the Independence Palace, a famous national relic site in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Hong Dat/VNA)

Taking into account the reality of tourism products recently, in Ho Chi Minh City there are many routes connecting three areas that can be deployed immediately, especially the product group for short-term visitors. In particular, the product group connects from the city center to some beaches such as Ho Tram, Long Hai or to natural resorts such as Binh Chau, Con Dao...; from the city center to craft villages, fruit gardens, riverside ecological areas in Binh Duong in just one day.

Along with the opportunities, there are still many challenges. The biggest challenge is the management and synchronous planning in a larger space, which has certain differences in terrain, facilities, and local residents' customs.

Furthermore, the updating of administrative boundary information and standardization of human resources and service quality are not uniform among localities.

One of the inevitable challenges is the requirement to restructure products, markets, brand positioning and infrastructure connections from the central area to Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

To address these challenges, Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that the tourism industry plans to propose solutions to the City People's Council to have policies to support attracting delegations to the City to attend conferences, seminars combined with sightseeing tours (MICE); support loan interest rates for tourism projects; attract strategic investors in the tourism sector... and other support programs.

A cruise ship serving international tourists sightseeing on the Saigon River is anchored at Saigon Port, Khanh Hoi Ward. (Photo: Hong Dat/VNA)

“In parallel with the existing tourism program, thematic product routes have been researched and formed, including: Industrial tourism and experience of craft villages in Binh Duong, spiritual tourism combined with relaxation in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, medical tourism connecting high-quality hospital systems in Ho Chi Minh City with coastal resorts. Redesigning products according to short itineraries and diverse experiences helps expand the customer base, increasing the attractiveness of short-term tours and high-end products,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa added.

Product restructuring request

Possessing about 681 resources that can potentially become tourist destinations, along with its position as the largest economic and cultural center in the country, Ho Chi Minh City has many conditions to become a comprehensive destination serving many types of tourism such as resorts, nature exploration, culture, cuisine and shopping.

The city can welcome guests to attend seminars and conferences, then combine sightseeing and relaxation activities in the nearby sea and ecological areas.

International tourists strolling on Bui Vien Western Street, Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Hong Dat/VNA)

From the Association's perspective, Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, analyzed that the consolidation and expansion of the boundaries created a turning point for the city's tourism development, which could develop specific products with marine tourism resources, historical and cultural relic systems, craft villages, and golf course systems of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Binh Duong (old).

Ba Ria-Vung Tau (old) with the connection between areas in Ho Chi Minh City is a favorable condition to build tourism products with increased length of stay, potential to deploy MICE tourism, cruise ships with advantages in infrastructure, deep-water ports...

Mr. Vo Anh Tai, Deputy General Director of Saigon Tourist Corporation - a member of Saigontourist Group, said that we should focus on developing high-end tourism products; investing in road and sea transport infrastructure... connecting the region and Long Thanh airport.

In addition, there should be preferential policies and investments in building ports to welcome international visitors; supporting inbound companies when participating in promotional events, or representing state management agencies in participating in promotional fairs...

In the new development phase, some experts recommend that the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism industry needs a master plan and a development strategy to connect traffic development such as connecting the Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway and beltway 3 to reduce pressure on National Highway 51...

The city's tourism industry will strengthen product development, expand markets, and connect businesses domestically and internationally; promote digital transformation in management, operations, and smart and green tourism ecosystems; develop tourism while protecting, restoring, and regenerating the environment, and preserving cultural identity.

In particular, the field of training high-quality human resources for the tourism industry should have a comprehensive human resource development project, in which the city's tourism industry can place orders for tourism training schools, and vice versa, the tourism school network should cooperate to train human resources that meet international standards.

From there, the city's tourism industry can promote its advantages, making an important contribution to economic restructuring, creating jobs and improving people's quality of life./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/dong-luc-phat-trien-du-lich-thanh-pho-ho-chi-minh-giai-doan-moi-post1055439.vnp