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Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said the city welcomed nearly 4.4 million foreign visitors in  the first seven months of this year. HCM City has various kinds of tourism products such as shopping, MICE, cuisine and river cruise tours, she said.

Dang Thi Thy Thanh, Deputy General Director of Ben Thanh Tourist Company, said several river cruise tours have yet to meet demand due to environment pollution and lax management in tourist destinations. 

The construction on many wharves are unfinished so that the number of tourists accessing river cruise tours remains limited, Thanh added.

Ha Thanh Son, deputy head of the waterway transport management division under the municipal Transport Department, said apart from 11 completed wharves, the city has called for private investment in building 10 domestic wharves in districts 2,4, Binh Thanh, and Cu Chi and Can Gio suburban districts. 

To welcome foreign holidaymakers, Nha Rong – Khanh Hoi port in district 4 and Mui Den Do international port in district 7 will be convenient facilities to develop cruise tours. 

Saigon Peninsula Group Corporation is conducting procedures to build a 600-m wharf that could accommodate two vessels with a capacity of 60,000 GT, equivalent to 2,500 passengers per vessel. It is expected to be completed by 2020. 

Hoa said the municipal Tourism Department will complete a tourism development strategy until 2030, improve workforce training and raise public awareness of tourism marketing, thus making Ho Chi Minh City a safe, friendly and attractive destination in the eyes of domestic and foreign visitors.