HCM CITY – Tourist attractions in HCM City such as Thống Nhất Hall, Book Street, Suối Tiên Park were bustling with a large number of visitors on the first day of New Year 2025.

Numerous tourists visit the Independence Palace in District 1 on the first day of New Year 2025. VNA/VNS Photos

Foreign tourists visit the Independence Palace on Wednesday.

Visitors to Suối Tiên Park. Most visitors traveled to the park by metro.

The crocodile kingdom area is crowded with tourists experiencing crocodile fishing games.

Around 750,000 people visited tourist attractions, entertainment sites and shopping areas in HCM City during the New Year holiday (December 31-January 1), according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

Of them, overnight visitors reached around 135,000, resulting in a hotel room occupancy rate of 83 per cent. Meanwhile foreign tourists hit 41,215. The holiday saw a tourism revenue of over VNĐ2 trillion (US$78.5 million).

Book street in HCM City attracts a large number of visitors on the first day of the New Year. Photo baotintuc.vn

Experiencing Lunar New Year traditions at the book street. Photo baotintuc.vn

Local people take metro to travel to tourist destinations on the New Year holiday.

Local people do morning exercises on the first day of 2025.

Local hotels also introduced a wide range of promotional packages, vouchers, gifts, discounts and room rate reductions.

Many promotional programmes were offered at major shopping malls in the city.

First tourists to HCM City in 2025 welcomed at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport

According to Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyễn Thị Ánh Hoa, one of the impressive highlights of the New Year 2025 holiday is a series of activities to promote tourism images at the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, with a welcome message in 27 languages, and a QR code to access the city's tourism information system.

The city aims for 8.5 million international tourists and 45 million domestic visitors, and VNĐ260 trillion ($10.2 billion) in tourism revenue in 2025. – VNS