Ho Chi Minh City aims to welcome 8.5 million foreign visitors in 2025

Statistics show the city received six million foreign arrivals in 2024, representing an increase of 20% year on year and fulfilling 100% of the annual plan. It also served approximately 38 million domestic holidaymakers, up 8.6% year on year. Its total tourism services brought in VND190,000 billion, up 18.8% year on year.

Building on the high growth, the southern metropolis has set a target of welcoming 8.5 million international visitors in 2025, a boost of over 40%.

The local tourism industry’s target is considered quite ambitious and challenging amid regional peers such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia all devising strategies aimed at attracting more international visitors, said Nguyen Cam Tu, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Promotion Center, at a year-end review meeting of the industry on December 30.

She revealed that the city has introduced a range of measures in a bid to achieve this goal by proactively coordinating efforts with relevant units to host annual events, improving the efficiency of state management agencies, creating the optimal conditions for businesses to develop, as well as continuing to position the city's tourism brand globally.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Trung Khanh, director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, described the tourism revenue of VND190,000 billion recorded in 2024 as an impressive figure, demonstrating the strong recovery made by the city’s tourism industry. 

He stressed that Ho Chi Minh City has emerged as an attractive destination for tourists, significantly contributing to Vietnam’s target of welcoming 17-18 million foreign visitors in 2024.

Despite facing numerous challenges in 2024, expert said the city's tourism industry is required to improve the overall quality of its tourism services and diversify tourism products to achieve its ambitious goal.