Increasing the attractiveness of tourist destinations in Ho Chi Minh City

In 2024, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry aims to welcome about 6 million international visitors and about 38 million domestic visitors. Total tourism revenue is expected to be more than VND 190,000 billion. To achieve this goal, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism is implementing a series of investment solutions to improve the quality of destinations in the area.

27 recognized tourist attractions

At the conference summarizing 5 years of implementing the recognition of tourist destinations in Ho Chi Minh City, on December 28, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that up to now, a total of 27 tourist destinations have been recognized as meeting the standards to welcome visitors. Among them, many destinations are familiar to tourists such as: Cu Chi Tunnels Historical Site, Independence Palace Historical Site, Ho Chi Minh City Post Office , Dam Sen Cultural Park, Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, Ben Thanh Market, etc.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Dong Quan, Head of the Travel Management Department - Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, commented that the recognition of tourist destinations contributes to creating motivation for these places to innovate, build unique tourism products, and improve service quality. However, some tourist destinations still face difficulties in attracting visitors despite having infrastructure, landscapes, or attractive historical and cultural factors.

According to Mr. Vo Viet Hoa, Director of International Tourism Division - Saigontourist Travel Service Company, during the implementation of recognizing tourist destinations in the city, the tourism industry has actively promoted linkage activities, focusing on many contents on state management, tourism products, promotion, human resources and investment.

"Saigontourist Travel currently exploits most of the recognized tourist destinations, with diverse sources of visitors from local tourists, domestic tourists and international tourists. To create more attractiveness for these destinations, it is necessary to link and cooperate between destination management units and travel businesses to create large-scale products; exploit different products such as cultural tourism with architectural relics; eco-tourism, community tourism, resorts with tourist areas" - Mr. Hoa said.

Tăng sức hút cho các điểm du lịch ở TP HCM- Ảnh 1. — City Post Office - one of the familiar destinations of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: LAM GIANG

Applying technology, creating a separate app for tourism

Ms. Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang - Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, Deputy General Director of Vietravel Tourism Company - commented that the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry needs to research and create a separate application (app) for these tourist destinations. For example, the app named "HCMC" for travel agencies to search will be on the app to have all information about the destination, provide full information, then expand to currency exchange points, buy sightseeing tickets...

Applying technology to tourism is also a solution proposed by many businesses to increase the attractiveness of destinations and create convenience for tourists. Mr. Tran Quang Duy, Director of Chim Canh Tu Travel Company, suggested that tourism businesses need to develop applications and smart tourism technology solutions to save costs (human resources to explain and advise customers on products). These solutions also bring many new experiences to tourists and are an effective tool to support connections.

"Recognized tourist destinations need to cooperate with travel agencies to build various tourism products. To do so, agencies need to apply technology such as using e-tickets to make it easier for businesses to build tours and sell individual tickets to increase opportunities for tourists to easily access. Avoid the situation of tourists queuing up to buy tickets to Thong Nhat Hall, the Zoo, tourist areas, and entertainment areas in the city during holidays and Tet" - Mr. Hoa suggested.

In addition to the 27 recognized tourist destinations, some businesses proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism recognize the national relic site of the People's Council - People's Committee headquarters as a tourist destination, expanding the target audience, especially international tourists. Each destination must proactively exploit its resources to become tourism products and services on the basis of linking and cooperating with domestic and foreign travel agencies and tourism companies.

Pilot study of night-time reception

Sharing at the conference, leaders of some museums in Ho Chi Minh City proposed that there should soon be a pilot mechanism to exploit products to welcome visitors at night. For example, the Southern Women's Museum has a space to display Ao Dai, perform art at night... but it is still difficult due to limited budget, needing the companionship of tourism businesses.

Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, commented that the opinion of museums on the need to research products to serve visitors at night is necessary because the city is known as the "city that never sleeps" but in reality, markets and museums are rarely open at night. This is a major limitation in developing the night-time economy. "The problem is that most museums use the state budget, so when activities arise at night, it will be difficult and complicated in terms of accounting and budget spending. Therefore, relevant agencies need to sit down and come up with a pilot plan," Ms. Hieu said.