HCM CITY — Travel experts have urged HCM City to classify its tourism activities into specific groups with development potential, such as shopping tourism, community tourism and river tourism.

Other tourism activities include MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions), eco-tourism, health, shopping and cuisine. 

As the country’s economic hub, HCM City has many shopping centres and foreign and domestic companies, which is a huge advantage to develop shopping tourism, said Nguyễn Quốc Kỳ, general director of Vietravel.

Speaking at a conference on State management missions on tourism held on Thursday, he said if city authorities have specific plans and work with enterprises, the city could become a bustling shopping destination for tourists.

The city’s tourism sector should also focus on nighttime tourism products and services, he said.

“Most tourism services operate from 7am to 5pm, but the tourism sector could gain huge revenue from products and services from 6pm to 2am,” he said.

A wide range of nighttime activities, from entertainment shows to leisure activities and shopping, should also be organised and managed well, he added.

Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, deputy chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, asked the Department of Tourism to work with enterprises and major commercial and shopping centres to develop shopping tourism products.  

To fulfill the target of 7.5 million international tourists this year, Tuyến said that tourism activities must be more diverse. The city plans to draw up a master development plan for the tourism sector from now until 2030.

At the meeting, Tuyến asked the Department of Tourism and related agencies to improve safety and security for tourists.

Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting HCM City hit a record high of 6.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent, while 24.9 million domestic tourists visited last year, up 14.6 per cent year-on-year.

Tourism revenue for the city totalled VNĐ116 trillion (US$5.1 billion). —VNS