HCM City (VNA)ও – With diverse resources for tourism development, localities in the southern region are planning a wide range of cultural, sport and trade promotion activities associated with tourism in order to attract more visitors during the holiday season at the year-end and the Lunar New Year.

On December 4-10, the third Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Week was held with a host of tourism, sports and music activities, along with promotional programmes to stimulate shopping and travel demand across the southern economic hub. This year’s edition encouraged the growth of the tourism ecosystem, develop green and responsible tourism, create competitive advantages, and improve the quality of growth for the sector. In the southernmost part of the country, the first-ever shrimp festival and a forum on OCOP (one commune-one product) products in the Mekong Delta region were held in Ca Mau province. Tran Hieu Hung, Director of the prorvincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that in addition to seminars and trade promotion activities to enhance the value of the shrimp industry and OCOP products, there were cultural and artistic tourism promotion. Meanwhile, the first-ever Sa Dec Flower - Ornamental Festival 2023, themed "Love of Land - Love of Flowers", will take place in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap from December 30, 2023 to January 5, 2024. The event aims to honour the art of cultivating flowers and ornamental plants in Sa Dec city, highlighting the economic value of floral and ornamental products. It seeks to stimulate the growth of the flower and ornamental plant industry in combination with agricultural tourism. On this occasion, four new experiential tours will be launched, introducing agricultural experiences, traditional handicraft villages, and distinctive cultural heritage in several districts and cities in the province. The events promise to offer visitors a chance to explore the tranquil countryside, discover century-old traditional craft villages, or immerse themselves in cultural spaces that bear the imprint of time. Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Van Dung said that the committee has directed departments, sectors and localities to implement measures to speed up tourism recovery and development. The city strives to effectively promote over 40 newly completed tourism products from the "one district, one product" programme, while expanding the application of information technology in tourism to introduce the city's typical destinations. In the coming time, the city will continue to organise festivals and events that have attracted a large number of tourists in recent times such as the river festivals, international music festivals, and the Ao Dai (Vietnamese traditional gown) festival to create unique features to promote tourism, added Dung./.