Indian tourists take a photo at a five-star hotel in downtown HCM City. VNS Photo Thu Hằng

HCM CITY — The tourism sector in HCM City has set a target of receiving six million international tourists and 38 million domestic tourists next year.

Tourism revenue is expected to total VNĐ190 trillion ($7.8 billion) in 2024, according to the city’s Department of Tourism.

To reach this target, the city will focus on efforts to develop travel products that embrace historical and cultural heritages, river-based tourism, eco-tourism and community-based tourism.

Thủ Đức City and 21 districts have launched dozens of tourism products under the city’s initiative “Each district has at least one product” that began last year. These products will receive further investment to make them attractive to foreign and domestic tourists.

Tourism linkages between HCM City with 46 other cities and provinces and six regions will be further strengthened to diversify tourism products and develop more inter-provincial and inter-regional tours.

Annual events such as the Áo Dài Festival, HCM City Travel Fair, River Festival and the International Travel Expo HCM City will continue to be held next year with an expansion in their scale and quality.

The Department of Tourism will create favorable conditions for travel firms and the travel community to grow and foster the application of information technology in tourism promotion and communication activities.

The city welcomed more than 4.1 million foreign tourist arrivals in the first ten months of this year or 82 per cent of this year’s target.

Tourism turnover was estimated at VNĐ160 trillion (US$6.6 billion) during the period, a year-on-year increase of 22 per cent.

The department said that the tourism industry has bounced back but has not returned to the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals to the city is expected to reach around five million by the end of this year, a rise of 44 per cent compared to last year.

The number of domestic tourist arrivals is expected to surge by 12 per cent compared to last year to reach around 35 million this year. —VNS