City welcomes first foreign visitors, aims high for 2011

City welcomes first foreign visitors, aims high for 2011

City welcomes first foreign visitors, aims high for 2011

By Dao Loan – The Saigon Times Daily

Artist Hai Phuong guides a young visitor how to play a folk music instrument at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC as the city’s tourism department organized a ceremony on Saturday at the airport to welcome the first guests of the New Year – Photo: Dao Loan

HCMC – The city’s tourism agencies and tour operators on the first day of the New Year 2011 organized ceremonies to welcome first foreign visitors to the country, pinning high hopes on the New Year for the tourism industry.

On Saturday morning, the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with relevant organizations welcomed the first guests from Taiwan to the city on board flights of Vietnam Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airlines.

The special guests were given flowers and New Year’s greeting cards from tourism and airline representatives along with an art performance by a traditional music band inside Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The city tourism sector is looking to a successful year in 2011, targeting to have 3.5 million international tourist arrivals compared to last year’s 3.1 million guests.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the city’s tourism department, told the Daily at the airport that the department is making efforts to build a better image for the city’s tourism by developing products, making a new logo and slogan for 2011.

“We are optimistic for the New Year and will launch new marketing activities for the city’s tourism. We’ve hired an Australian company to make a new logo and slogan for HCMC’s tourism,” Khanh said.

The tourism industry generated a revenue of VND41 trillion, or over US$2.1 billion, to HCMC last year. The department expected the revenue to increase to VND49 trillion this year.

In related news, Saigontourist Travel Service Co. has welcomed Australian tourists at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi as the company’s first guests of the New Year. The special guests were joining a trans-Viet trip for 14 days.

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