This year, visitors to the festival had a chance to join four new pilot tours to explore different corners of the city, including one connecting the city and neighbouring Tay Ninh province.

Phan Dong Nhut from the city's Department of Tourism said that during the District 1- Hoc Mon - Cu Chi - Tay Ninh tour, visitors can experience diverse cultural and historical relic sites of the city and Tay Ninh.

Huynh The Vinh, Director of Green Summer International Travel Company Limited, said that the tourism route to the west of the city with connection to Tay Ninh province is a promising tour, optimising Tay Ninh’s popular destinations.

He underlined the need for HCM City and Tay Ninh to further enhance the quality of tourism products and services, and design suitable routines to exploit the potential of the destinations, helping promote the growth of other sectors.

Duong Anh Duc, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said that the city will continue to coordinate with other localities to effectively boost tourism development with more joint tourism products and programmes, while working together in preserving and promoting the cultural and historical values of the nation and calling for more investment in the tourism, transportation, trade-service sectors.

In the first quarter of this year, HCM City welcomed 7.5 million domestic visitors and 1.04 million foreign tourists, earning over 36.11 trillion VND (1.54 billion USD), a surge of 77.2% year on year./.VNA