Ho Chi Minh City to host tourism festival in online form

Taking place within the context that the city's tourism industry is implementing phase two of the process of restoring tourism activities in conditions for safe adaptation to COVID-19, the 17th Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival in 2021 will take place in online form, for the first time.

Activities at Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2020.
Activities at Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2020.

The event will be held at the same time on several channels, including: website of Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism website (www.visithcmc.vn), Shopee e-commerce platform and Traveloka online travel agency.

From December 4 to December 25, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism in collaboration with the municipal Tourism Association will organise the 17th Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival in 2021 with the theme "Safe destination - living journey”. This information was given at a press conference held by the municipal Department of Tourism and the municipal Tourism Association on the morning of November 25.

This year's festival includes a series of activities, such as the launching ceremony of the campaign to propose a plan to restore Ho Chi Minh City's tourism and a creative start-up contest with the theme "Joining hands to restore tourism"; online seminars on solutions to promote the application of information technology in tourism; an online meeting and exchange programme with travel bloggers Ngo Tran Hai An, Khoai Lang Thang and Nhi Dang; seminars on the topic of tourism promotion and development in Ho Chi Minh City with cultural diplomats of consulates of other countries and foreign press agencies and reporters in Vietnam.

The fair space is held on a 2D and 3D application online platform with the scale of up to 100 virtual booths of reputable tourism businesses and the tourism industry of the provinces and cities, divided into 2 groups: the group for businesses dealing in tourism, transportation, services, souvenir products; and the group for local tourism management and promotional agencies, representative offices, and international tourism organisations.

The booths are encouraged by the organising board to apply technology and artificial intelligence in the design and layout of the booths to increase the effectiveness of product introduction, destinations as well as interactive activities for visitors to preserve and ensure the purpose of visiting, learning and shopping for tourists.

At the Festival, provinces, cities and businesses will introduce new destinations, typical tourism products of many localities across the country and new technology applications in the tourism industry. At the online fair, visitors can not only visit but also shop online for businesses' products.

The tourism festival aims to support businesses to reorganize their activities, get ready for the full reopening of tourism activities in 2022 according to the schedule, and welcome international visitors when approved by the Government.