HCMC tourism to be promoted in Shanghai
12:18 04/03/2009

      Representatives from the Tourism Department, travel companies and hotels in Ho Chi Minh City will attend an international tourism fair in China’s Shanghai city next week to seek chance to boost the city tourism.

The Vietnamese delegates will join the China International Travel Mart 2006 at Shanghai New International Expo Center from November 16 – 19.

The city’s Tourism Department expected to promote sea tourism and ecological tourism tours between HCMC and the Mekong Delta, Nguyen Thi Hong Thu, chief of the department’s Tourism Promotion Division said.

The delegates would also introduce shopping tours in HCMC and several festivals such as the Lunar New Year or Tet festival, she added.

China is now ranked sixth in the top ten markets for tourists to the city. During the first nine months of the year around 415,000 Chinese tourists visited the country but only some 46,000 of them made it as far south as HCMC.

HCMC welcomes Chinese tourists with passports but not ‘laissez-passers’ like many northern provinces. The number of Chinese visitors to HCMC has so far this year increased by an average of 38% per month.

“Therefore, we must focus on promoting the city’s tourism image to further increase our market share,” Hong said.

The China National Tourism Administration, Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and General Administration of Civil Aviation of China are the organizers of the China International Travel Mart 2006.

The organizers expect exhibitors to rent some 2,300 standard booths at the annual event, which will comprise two ‘closed’ trade days and two public ‘open’ days.

Source: Saigon Times Daily

Source : thanhniennews.com