Tourism firms and hotels from nearly 40 cities and provinces, and airlines will participate in a tourism festival in HCMC to roll out attractive summer tour programs for the year.

Truong Ly Hoang Phi (R), director of the HCMC Business Startup Support Center, talks about the upcoming tourism festival 

The festival will be organized by the HCMC Department of Tourism from March 23 to March 26 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1. 

The forthcoming event will feature 180 booths of 39 cities and provinces, and 30 tour operators and hotels, as well as air carriers, up 50 booths over last year.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Tourism, said tourism firms would introduce more demand stimulus packages while the city would launch weekend travel programs.

In particular, tour operators will offer discounts of 5-10% on summer tours or up to 50% on certain tours to be sold directly at the festival. 

The city will sell weekend tours to Can Gio and Cu Chi districts and new transportation services between Tan Son Nhat airport and the city center.

Truong Ly Hoang Phi, director of the HCMC Business Startup Support Center, said that for the first time, business startups run by young entrepreneurs will be attending the event by introducing business models based on new technology and innovation to bring convenience to tourists and help improve corporate governance and interactions between enterprises and customers.

Business startups will also have a discussion with experienced travel companies to mobilize resources for development. 

“It is expected that at least seven software applications that help travelers easily find vehicles and directions will be introduced,” Phi noted.

The annual festival saw total tour sales revenues amounting to VND40 billion last year. 

Khanh predicted sales could increase further this year as more tourism enterprises are participating and more promotions are being rolled out.

SGT