Tourism agencies in HCM City and the northern province of Quang Ninh are working closely to develop tours between the two localities, with a promise to launch new tourism products, tourism officials have said.
HCM City is a potential domestic tourism market for residents of Quang Ninh, as an increasing number of local residents have more disposable income, Trinh Dang Thanh, deputy director of Quang Ninh province's Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said at a workshop held in HCM City on July 31.
In addition, many Vietnamese people living abroad have relatives in HCM City. When they visit, they often take domestic tours.
Domestic tourism would help curb the recent fall in international visitors to the country, Thanh added.
More than 60% of travel companies and providers of tourism-related services such as hotels, restaurants and resorts have committed to cut prices by 20-40% to encourage domestic tourism under the National Tourism Stimulus Programme.
Quang Ninh needs to focus its investment to attract more tourists from HCM City to local sites such as Quang Ninh Museum and hydroplane flight services, said Nguyen Thi Khanh, deputy chairwoman of HCM City's Tourism Association
Quang Ninh has more than seven million visitors every year, including five million domestic visitors, according to the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
However, the number of tourists from HCM City accounts for only 7% of the total number of domestic tourists to the province.
In June, HCM City and six northern provinces of Quang Ninh, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Lang Son and Hai Phong city signed a cooperative agreement for tourism development.
The agreement covered five main areas: tourism products, promotion campaigns, training of human resources, investment funds and tourism management.