Ensure security to maintain the destination's image
On the afternoon of August 7, the Department of Tourism and Ho Chi Minh City Police organized a conference to summarize 5 years of implementing the coordination regulations to ensure security and order, and improve the quality of tourism management in the city in the period 2021 - 2025.
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that in recent years, the city's tourism industry has gradually recovered, developed and continued to affirm its role as an important economic sector. Notably, the number of tourists annually does not increase sharply, but total tourism revenue maintains a fairly high growth rate.
In the first 7 months of 2026 alone, the city welcomed more than 7.1 million international visitors and 31.7 million domestic visitors. Total tourism revenue is estimated at about 237,000 billion VND, an increase of more than 55% compared to the same period, reaching 72% of the annual plan.
This is a positive sign showing that the quality of tourist spending is being significantly improved. Tourists not only come to the city more but also stay longer, use more services and are willing to pay for quality, unique products and valuable experiences.
That result reflects the common efforts of the political system, the business community and the city's people. However, this is also a very large requirement and challenge for state management. A sustainable destination not only needs attractive products and good services but must maintain a secure, safe, civilized and professional environment.
Every incident related to security and order, safety for tourists; every act of soliciting, cheating, defrauding, unfair competition or violating the law can directly affect the image of the destination and the trust of tourists" - Mr. Hoa emphasized.
In the context of the city expanding its administrative boundaries and operating under the 2-level local government model, the tourism development space is increasingly open, and the types of activities are increasingly diverse. This requires the work of ensuring security and order and managing tourism activities to be strengthened synchronously, proactively and more closely.
Over 5 years of implementing the regulations, the coordination between the two units has achieved many positive results. In addition, it is necessary to frankly recognize the difficulties and limitations.
Mr. Hoa said that the coordination mechanism needs to be further reviewed and improved so that information sharing, case handling, and coordination between localities and forces are carried out more regularly, quickly and effectively.
What about the situation of soliciting and "overcharging" tourists?
Senior Lieutenant Colonel Trinh Tuan Phuong - Deputy Head of the Foreign Security Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police said that tourism is a key economic sector of Ho Chi Minh City, contributing greatly to GDP and promoting the country's image.
The rapid growth rate of tourism along with the implementation of the 2-level government model and administrative boundary consolidation has directly impacted state management and ensuring security and order in this field. This is also an area easily exploited by hostile forces and bad actors, making the crime situation complicated and arising many new challenges.
In the work of ensuring security and order, Ho Chi Minh City Police promptly detected and handled 8,436 cases of foreigners violating regulations on entry and exit, collecting and remitting to the state budget more than 55.9 billion VND.
Some shortcomings and limitations include that some businesses and accommodation establishments have not strictly complied with regulations on guarantees and residence registration for foreigners; the situation of Vietnamese tourists staying abroad still occurs; the situation of street vendors, soliciting, and "overcharging" tourists has not been thoroughly resolved...
Also at the conference, the Ho Chi Minh City Police and the Department of Tourism signed a coordination regulation to ensure security and order, and improve the quality of tourism management in Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2026 - 2031.
