Visitors outside a cafe in HCM City in mid-April. HCM City saw strong growth in tourism revenue and retail sales last month year-on-year. – VNS Photo Việt Dũng

HCM CITY — HCM City saw positive growth across many areas in April, especially tourism revenue, thanks to recent celebrations, according to a meeting to assess the city’s socio-economic achievements on Thursday.

Lê Thị Huỳnh Mai, director of HCM City’s Department of Finance, said that the city’s retail sales and consumer service revenue in April increased by 20 per cent year-on-year.

Export turnover rose by over 9 per cent, the industrial production index rose by 7.9 per cent, and tourism revenue saw very high growth of 27.5 per cent.

Since the start of the year, HCM City has attracted about US$1.48 billion in foreign investment, an increase of 77.7 per cent, thanks to the city’s efforts in administrative reform, creating a clear legal corridor to attract investment, she said.

The city saw over 10,300 new businesses with total registered capital of over VNĐ229 trillion ($8.8 billion)

However, she noted that disbursement of public funding for investment projects has not met its target.

Dr. Trương Minh Huy Vũ, director of HCM City Institute for Development Studies, said that the city’s tourism revenue has seen solid growth, especially in April, thanks to the 50th anniversary of national reunification celebrations and the 2025 United Nations Day of Vesak (May 6 to 8).

He pointed out that public funding disbursement and the investment climate need more improvements.

On May 4, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU on private economic development as a lever to promote the city's economic development, so the city needs to be ready to welcome a new wave of investment, he added.

Võ Văn Hoan, deputy chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, said that for May and the following months, the city will focus on restructuring its administrative units across all levels, implement a two-tier local governance model, and make preparations for the city’s merger with Bình Dương and Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu.

To boost socio-economic development, HCM City will strengthen its efforts in resolving bottlenecks of investment projects; speed up key projects and public funding disbursement for infrastructure projects; and implement administrative reforms to enhance its economy’s competitiveness.

HCM City will continue to strive for its 2025 double-digit economic growth rate, he said.

The city attracted 1.95 million domestic and foreign visitors during the recent 50th anniversary celebrations, which were carried out on the largest scale ever seen.

Businesses also took advantage of the holiday to launch a wide variety of promotional programmes to stimulate demand. Recent scandals of counterfeit food items in the city have also brought many customers back to traditional retail chains.  VNS