The first half also saw more than 17.1 million domestic tourists visit the city, an annual increase of 4.4% and reaching 45.1% of this year’s target.

Tourism revenue surged by 14.6% year on year to more than VND92.6 trillion.

The sharp increase was attributed to the city’s efforts in deploying a number of outstanding tourism activities in the first half of the year, including the 20th Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival and the second Ho Chi Minh City River Festival.

Furthermore, a series of tourism promotion activities were also held abroad, such as fourth Exhibition of HCM City and Friendship Provinces and Cities in Savannakhet, a tourism promotion programme at the IMEX Frankfurt 2024 in Germany, and the HCM City Days launched in Osaka.

The city plans to organise a range of festivals and tourism promotion events which specifically seeks to boost tourism, including the International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City 2024 (ITE HCMC 2024) in September and the seventh Edition of the Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon in December.

Moreover, the southern metropolis has also devised plans relating to the application of the ASEAN Tourism Standards and continued to implement the Smart Tourism Development Project in the 2021 - 2025 period.

The southern metropolis has set a target of receiving six million international tourists and 38 million domestic tourists this year, with tourism revenue expected to reach VND190 trillion.