Exciting destination, tourists enjoy experiencing
Bringing her family from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City for tourism for the first time, Ms. Thu Ha said that she was impressed with the bustling atmosphere at the attractions, many cultural activities and convenient service systems. Ms. Ha's family spends a lot of time exploring historical works, enjoying cuisine and experiencing river tourism.
Records of Lao Dong Newspaper in the area of the City Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, Ben Bach Dang park... in the first days of July show that the number of people and tourists is quite large. Many groups of tourists choose to combine visiting the city's iconic buildings with cultural and culinary experiences and riverside activities.
Mr. Pham Anh Vu - Deputy General Director of Viet Tourism Company - said that during the summer tourism peak, businesses are welcoming many tourist groups from localities to Ho Chi Minh City as well as international tourist groups. Mr. Vu said that Vietnam has an advantage when it is assessed as a stable economic and political destination, and at the same time, has a competitive price compared to many destinations in the region. In the context that some tourism markets in the region are showing signs of stagnation, this is an opportunity to attract more international tourists to Vietnam.
Taking quality as a driving force for growth
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, in the first 6 months of 2026, the city is estimated to welcome 6,396,102 international visitors, reaching 58.1% of the annual plan; 27,315,000 domestic visitors, reaching 54.6% of the annual plan; total revenue from tourism is estimated at 213,980 billion VND, completing 64.8% of the annual plan.
The above results show the effectiveness of the direction of shifting the visitor structure towards improving quality, increasing spending and extending length of stay. The tourism industry continues to play a role as one of the service industries with high growth rates, contributing to promoting trade, services, transportation, accommodation, cuisine and related economic sectors.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism - informed that from now until the end of the year, in addition to the goal of increasing the number of visitors, the industry especially emphasizes the requirement to improve service quality. This is both a challenge and a motivation for the tourism industry and the business community to continue to invest more strongly in service quality and product quality. From there, not only improve revenue from tourism but also contribute more effectively to Ho Chi Minh City's economic growth, and at the same time, encourage businesses to constantly innovate and develop high value-added tourism products.
The core expectation of the industry lies in the "quality" factor. Taking advantage of the new development space, Ho Chi Minh City will focus on extending the length of stay, increasing spending and deepening the tourist experience. The ultimate expectation is to shape a new tourism lifestyle for the megacity - where tourists not only visit, but stay longer, experience deeper and bring back complete memories of a city that is both rich in historical identity, modern and oriented towards the future.
In 2026, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry strives to welcome 11 million international visitors, 50 million domestic visitors, with total revenue of about 330,000 billion VND. Further, the Tourism Development Project to 2030, with orientation to 2045, aims to make tourism contribute more and more to GRDP and make Ho Chi Minh City a leading urban tourism center in Southeast Asia with an open - youthful - vibrant - exciting - looking towards the future image.
