HCM CITY — More than 4,400 meetings were conducted between buyers and sellers at the 13th International Travel Expo HCM City that wrapped up on September 9.

The three-day event attracted 30,000 visitors, including more than 14,000 trade visitors, according to the city’s Department of Tourism, the expo’s organiser.

Trần Thị Bảo Thu, marketing and communications manager at Fiditour, said the company received nearly 6,000 bookings for domestic and foreign tours, while tours to foreign countries accounted for 65 per cent of bookings.

“The company received more than 200 successful meetings with foreign partners, especially companies from Europe and Northern Asia that sought cooperation opportunities for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) tourism,” she said.

The Saigontourist Travel Service Company saw a year-on-year increase of 30 per cent in revenue at the expo, reaching a total of VNĐ7.4 billion (US$326,000), according to Đoàn Thị Thanh Tra, the company’s marketing and communications manager.

A representative of Vietravel said the company had worked with many international buyers who wanted to learn about Vietnamese travel markets.

Vietravel sold nearly 1,000 bookings on the first day of the event, with foreign tours accounting for 550 of the bookings.

Tours to Thailand at prices from VNĐ5.99 million ($264), South Korea from VNĐ9.59 million and Taiwan (China) from VNĐ8.99 million also sold well.

Phạm Thanh Quy from the city’s District 10 said she bought two vouchers worth VNĐ1.9 million ($83) each to stay one night at the Grand Hồ Tràm Strip in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. The price, which was much lower than the normal fees, also included a shuttle bus to the resort.

Bùi Tá Hoàng Vũ, director of the city’s Department of Tourism, said the city planned to develop MICE tourism as one of the city’s key tourism products, and would improve cooperation with countries in the Mekong region to diversify intra-regional tourism products.

The number of tourists from Thailand and Malaysia visiting Việt Nam has risen in the last few months, he said. — VNS