A delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism is promoting local tourism at IMEX America 2023, the largest trade show in the U.S. for global meetings, events, and the travel industry, which is taking place at Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas through Thursday.

The tourism promotion activity is part of the municipal department’s efforts to entice U.S. travelers to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, director of the municipal department, said that the Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City pavilion at the trade show is providing information about travel incentives, featuring some programs to attract MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) to the city, apart from introducing typical tourist produces and services.

Earlier last week, the municipal department, in collaboration with Vietnamese airlines, travel firms, and hotels, held a tourism promotion program in San Francisco.

The program covered various activities such as a seminar on new tourism products and tourist sites, an event to introduce tourism projects, and business-to-business meetings.

Some 100 tour operators in California participated in the program.

Hoa said that these tourism promotion activities took place after Vietnam and the United States established a comprehensive strategic partnership last month.

Tourism is listed as one of 10 fields taken into account for a stronger partnership.

The number of U.S. travelers to Ho Chi Minh City is on the rise. Photo: N. Binh / Tuoi Tre

With Vietnam’s eased visa policy, Ho Chi Minh City expects to welcome overseas Vietnamese and U.S. visitors to the city to explore its unique cultural and historical features.

The city will be launching tourism promotion programs in the U.S. over the next three years to expand a sustainable tourist source market, said the representative of the municipal department.

As an economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City is likely to be selected as the first destination in Vietnam by foreigners as they can easily travel to other localities and other nations from the southern metropolis.

Many air carriers are tapping routes linking Vietnam and the U.S., contributing to meeting travel demands, and boosting trade activities between the two nations.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. was among Ho Chi Minh City’s 10 biggest tourist source markets.

In 2022, some 265,150 U.S. visitors entered Ho Chi Minh City.

Data from the General Statistics Office indicated that Vietnam welcomed nearly 8.9 million international travelers between January and September, a 4.7-fold year-on-year surge.

Of the total, U.S. arrivals in the Southeast Asian nation ranked third among the 10 largest source markets.

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