HCM City (VNA) – A number of tourismevents were held in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017, drawing crowds of visitors bothat home and abroad.

The city organised 32 street music shows at weekendfrom May to mid-December last year, attracting nearly 5 million tourists.

The fourth Ao Dai (traditional long dress)festival 2017 attracted over 50,000 visitors. 

Director of the municipal Department of TourismBui Ta Hoang Vu said the southern hub will develop the festival into a culturaltourism festival, making it a unique tourism product of the city.

Meanwhile, the southern fruit festival, whichlasted for three months, drew over 1.6 million tourists and sold over 400tonnes of fruits.

A highlight of the event was a floating marketwhere more than 40 boats sold 150 kinds of fruits such as guava, rambutan,durian, strawberry, custard apple, grapefruit and palm fruit, among others, at20-30 percent off market prices. 

Various activities were held as part of thefestival, including a contest on southern delicious and safe fruits, the Asiafood festival and folk games. 

Apart from organising annual tourism events, thecity also promoted sightseeing places such as the Independence Palace, the WarRemnants Museum, the Cu Chi Tunnel Historical Complex, and the BitexcoFinancial Tower.

In 2017, HCM City welcomed over 6.38 millioninternational vacationers and raked in over 115.9 trillion VND in revenue.

In 2018, the city aims to greet 7.5 million foreignholidaymakers and gross 138 trillion VND in revenue.

To realise the goal, the city will developmeeting, incentive, conference and event (MICE) tourism, culinary tourism,medical tourism, and waterway tourism, Vu said.

He added that the city’s tourism sector willcontinue tapping North Asian market potential by simplifying administrativeprocedures and looking toward visa exemption for travellers from the market.

The southernmetropolis will also seek tourism promotion opportunities via big internationaltrade fairs in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, he noted.-VNA