HCM CITY— HCM City’s Department of Tourism last Saturday welcomed Chappe Bertrand from France, the 5 millionth international visitor to the city this year, at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The special guest received valuable gifts, including free upgrade to business class for his flight from Việt Nam back to France and a Gold Card from SASCO (Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company).

The receiving of the 5 millionth foreign visitor marked a milestone for the city’s tourism sector, said Bùi Tá Hoàng Vũ, director of the department.

The number of foreign tourists has seen an annual average growth rate of 8.2 per cent in recent years.

The number of foreign visitor arrivals to the city reached 5.2 million this year, up 10 per cent compared to last year, while domestic visitors totaled 21.8 million, 10 per cent higher than last year.

In December alone, the number of foreign visitors jumped to around 800,000.

The city’s tourism revenue was estimated at VNĐ103 trillion (US$4.53 billion) this year, a year-on-year increase of 9 per cent.

The city has targeted to receive 5.6 million international tourists next year.

To fulfill the target, the city will implement various tourism promotion programmes, including new river, cuisine and rural tourism products, big sales programmes, entertainment activities on Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street as well as Bùi Viện and Phạm Ngũ Lão streets in the city’s centre, he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Nguyễn Thị Thu, deputy chairwoman of the city’s People’s Committee, said that the city had made a huge effort to create favourable conditions for tourism promotion and development as well as diversify tourism products to lure tourists.

Tourism human resource development and domestic and international co-operation were also priorities for sustainable tourism development, Thu said. —VNS