After nearly 5 years of association, what has Ho Chi Minh City tourism gained?

After nearly 5 years of working with 6 key regions across the country, Ho Chi Minh City tourism has recorded a series of achievements from new products, increased number of visitors, and the spread of the common brand "Southern Vibrancy", but has also revealed many challenges that need to be solved.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, since 2020, the city has proactively signed cooperation agreements on tourism development with 6 regions including: the extended Northwest, Northeast, North Central, Central Key Economic Region , Southeast and the Mekong Delta.

After the 2021 - 2025 period, the linkage activities have formed a stable coordination mechanism with the regional linkage council, working group and annual implementation plan.

Conference to contribute ideas to the draft summary of tourism development linkage in Ho Chi Minh City and regions for the period 2021 - 2025

The most obvious highlight is the connection between Ho Chi Minh City and 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, as determined in the resolution of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term. The common tourism brand identity with the slogan "Vivid South" has created a strong effect, becoming a consistent image at promotional events at home and abroad.

Many new products, impressive international customers

In each linked region, many new tourism products have been built and put into operation. In the Northwest region, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities organized a Culture - Tourism Week in Luang Prabang (Laos), while promoting the development of community tourism, tourism on the Da River and Hoa Binh Lake. Nearly 6,000 trainees were trained, improving their vocational skills, contributing to improving the quality of local human resources.

In the Northeast, promotional programs related to Cao Bang Geopark, Thai Nguyen tourist season or Ba Be fragrant green pumpkin experience have created more attraction for tourists. New tours such as "Discovering the Northeast - the beauty of the mountainous region", "Ho Chi Minh City - Cao Bang - Ha Giang" help effectively connect the southern market with the northern highlands.

Ho Chi Minh City visitors experience garden tourism

PHOTO: LE NAM

For the North Central region, many fairs and cultural and tourism festivals in Thien Cam, Cua Lo, and Sam Son have become typical products, while affirming close coordination in promotion. The joint publications "One journey - Four localities - Many experiences" also contribute to positioning the region as an attractive and unique destination.

In the Central region, the connection between Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the Central key economic region has opened up a new development step for night tourism products, waterway tourism and especially railway tour programs such as "Hue - Da Nang Heritage Journey", "5-star Saigon - Hanoi Train". In the period of 2021 - 2025 alone, this area welcomed about 5 million visitors, with revenue reaching more than 24,500 billion VND.

Southeast and Mekong Delta: strong connectivity

In the Southeast, Ho Chi Minh City has coordinated with other provinces to build a series of closed tours to Ho Tram, Con Dao, and Ba Den Mountain; survey a river tourism route from Bach Dang Wharf to Nhon Trach; and develop sustainable tourism with Intrepid Group with trekking and cycling products. The entire region has put into operation 19 waterway tourism routes and surveyed 22 new routes.

With the Mekong Delta, the connection is expanded on all three main routes: "Alluvial roads", "Beautiful mountains and rivers" and "Colors of the border region".

In parallel, there are events such as the Tourism Digital Transformation Festival, the Innovative Startup Competition, and the attractive destination selection program, aiming to attract businesses and improve tourist experiences. In particular, investment promotion activities have attracted dozens of projects, of which Vinh Long alone has 15 projects with a total capital of more than VND 5,500 billion, and Ben Tre has announced 23 key projects.

More than 70 tour programs have been introduced to the market by businesses in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta provinces.

PHOTO: LE NAM

Overall, after nearly 5 years, regional tourism linkage has brought many achievements: Rich products, increased number of visitors, clear revenue, more professional promotion, application of modern technology such as 3D/360 smart tourism maps.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, to make the next phase more effective, it is necessary to build a permanent coordination mechanism, clearly define the role of the local authorities, synchronously deploy products - promotion - training - investment, while promoting digital technology and attracting the participation of businesses and the community.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gan-5-nam-lien-ket-du-lich-tphcm-thu-duoc-gi-185250905150322002.htm