Preparing for the 2024 Ho Chi Minh City River Festival

The 2023 Ho Chi Minh City River Festival has attracted city residents through many community activities - Photo: QUANG DINH

On the afternoon of April 15, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism held a press conference to inform about tourism promotion events in Ho Chi Minh City in the second quarter of 2024.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that in the second quarter, the city will have a series of activities to anticipate trends and carefully prepare stimulus programs to increase revenue for the industry during the peak summer season.

In particular, with the goal of building a number of festival events into brand events of the city, the 2nd Ho Chi Minh City River Festival will be held from May 31 to June 9 on a larger scale and longer duration than the first time.

The event is held in early summer, suitable for family travel plans as well as the habits of some Asian markets.

This festival is held at Ben Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi area, Saigon Port and many river tourism spots in the area. The event is expected to have 22 tourism, cultural, entertainment, art, culinary, sports and shopping activities taking place throughout the area.

The highlight of this year's River Festival is the art program "Legendary Train" continuing the story "Storytelling River" in 2023.

In addition, the festival will also increase connectivity between industries in Ho Chi Minh City as well as with the Southeast region, in order to maximize the length of stay and spending of tourists, creating a series of large-scale and exciting activities for tourists.

Thereby bringing unique products not only in the field of tourism but also in culture, aiming to stimulate tourism more systematically.

Regarding the goals for this year’s festival, Ms. Hoa said that the department is still re-evaluating the specific targets. However, from the experience of organizing last year, the city’s tourism has been more proactive in communication work when promoting to some international markets such as Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia including Singapore, Thailand, etc.

Activities during the festival include shopping promotions for tourists and locals; River food competition, Southern fruit festival or fruit market on the wharf under the boat in District 8...

Last year, the first River Festival had a positive impact on tourism in the city. During the event, hotel room occupancy in the city increased by about 20%, restaurant services reached 100% capacity, and revenue increased by 23% compared to normal.

Along with that, waterway tours also attracted the attention of tourists when the number of visitors increased by 15% compared to normal, and inner-city routes increased by 50%.

In addition, Ho Chi Minh City also organized 3 tourism promotion programs abroad in the second quarter, including: The 4th Ho Chi Minh City and Friendship Provinces and Cities Exhibition in Savannakhet (Laos); Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism promotion program in Australia in May and Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism promotion program at IMEX Frankfurt Fair (Germany) in 2024, also in May 2024.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, in the first 3 months of 2024, the number of international visitors to the city is estimated at nearly 1.4 million, an increase of 32.4% over the same period in 2023, reaching 23% of the 2024 plan.

In March 2024 alone, international visitors reached nearly 481,000 arrivals, an increase of 30.3% over the same period in 2023.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chuan-bi-le-hoi-song-nuoc-tp-hcm-2024-20240415191408435.htm