Developing tourism in Ho Chi Minh City after the merger: Many opportunities, need to know how to take advantage

After merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City is facing a great opportunity to restructure and develop the tourism industry in a comprehensive direction, expanding the experience space and enhancing competitiveness.

Tourists experience tourism services in Con Dao special zone.

Leverage for small and medium enterprises

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has not only changed its boundaries but also been assessed as having a “transformation” in its thinking and space for tourism development. Accordingly, the majority of tourism businesses believe that Ho Chi Minh City needs to strengthen connections and open more inter-regional tours to develop the tourism industry.

A representative of the Bac Trung Nam Ban Viet Tourism Company said that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City needs to increase the organization of domestic and international famtrip programs to create opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to learn practical experiences and access effective development models. In addition, tax support policies also need to be implemented for small and medium-sized enterprises to motivate them to develop. This is a very necessary solution to help tourism businesses overcome the challenge of input costs, especially in the current period of administrative restructuring.

From the perspective of the management agency, the representative of the Travel Management Department (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism) said that after the merger, the administrative boundaries are wider, so organizing famtrips is an important solution, not only helping to perfect the product, but also promoting the development of new tour routes. The city is actively cooperating with localities across the country, especially newly merged areas such as Vung Tau, Binh Duong ... to organize survey teams, connect businesses, and at the same time learn from international tourism models, in order to improve service quality and competitiveness. In particular, in the context of the 2-level government model being implemented from July 1, many businesses have quickly identified the potential in new areas such as: Con Dao, Can Gio ... or the outskirts of the city to develop specific products.

Mr. Ngo Tuan Tu, Director of Amadive Tourism Company, said that currently, Con Dao tourism products are quite unique and are attracting domestic and foreign tourists. However, this product is facing problems such as seasonal activities, high prices due to speculation on tickets and rooms, unqualified tour guides, monotonous tourism products, and lack of nighttime entertainment activities... "To develop sustainably, Con Dao tourism needs a clear strategy to diversify products, control prices and improve the quality of human resources", Mr. Tu emphasized.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Nga, Sales and Marketing Director of Lan Rung resort, said that the 4-star resort with more than 400 rooms of the enterprise is currently achieving high occupancy thanks to domestic and in-bound guests, but still needs more promotional activities, especially for guests in the international market.

“Currently, Phuoc Hai and Long Hai have beautiful beaches, rich ecosystems, cheap and delicious seafood, and are close to places like Minh Dam Mountain, Monkey Pagoda, etc., which are very suitable for developing resort tourism combined with culture and spirituality. However, in the long term, we need to promote traffic and transportation connections to destinations more quickly and conveniently to shorten travel time from the center of Ho Chi Minh City to the above beaches; promote connections from destinations to travel companies, and service establishments at destinations need to improve service quality to retain tourists longer...", Ms. Thuy Nga added.

Strategic tourism triangle

According to Ms. Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, Deputy General Director of Vietravel, the merger has created a tourism-linked region rich in resources with the interweaving of modern urban areas, industry, sea, forest and traditional culture. At that time, Ho Chi Minh City is no longer limited by administrative boundaries but now opens up great opportunities to design multi-destination combo tours in 2 - 4 days, suitable for MICE groups, business guests or short-term international guests.

Ho Chi Minh City develops many high-end resort tourism products to increase revenue.

According to Ms. Phuong Hoang, Ho Chi Minh City can promote the development of new tourism models, which are being proposed by many companies. These models include health care tourism near urban areas for business people, sea - mountain - forest resort routes connected by highways, eco-tourism experiences in Can Gio or Con Dao, combined with high-end resorts in Long Hai. Ho Chi Minh City has the advantage of short travel, synchronous infrastructure connections and high population density, which creates great opportunities to develop these tourism models.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is approaching the goal of becoming the leading large-scale "tourism transit station" in Vietnam. From Ho Chi Minh City, tourist routes will be connected, helping visitors have more rich experiences. This also contributes to repositioning Ho Chi Minh City tourism on the regional map, not only as a cultural - historical destination but also as a center for organizing events, exhibitions, resorts, healing and exploring nature.

Mr. Tu Quy Thanh, Director of Lien Bang Tourism Company, said that the merger is an event that “warms up the tourism market”. When localities no longer have administrative barriers, businesses can easily connect to expand products, connect destinations and share resources in logistics, human resources, marketing, etc., creating a great boost for the entire industry.

Sharing about the prospects after the merger, Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that Ho Chi Minh City is forming a "regional tourism super city" based on the strategic triangle structure: Smart city - island resort - creative industry. This is an opportunity to diversify products, extend the length of stay, increase average spending and reduce connection costs thanks to infrastructure such as highways, metro, ports and Long Thanh international airport.

According to Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, the role of Ho Chi Minh City will be to coordinate and organize major cultural events, promote the application of smart tourism, while Binh Duong develops industrial products, Ba Ria - Vung Tau exploits the strength of island resorts. This resonance will help Ho Chi Minh City tourism to be both rich and unique, enough to retain tourists longer and more attractive.

In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City will continue to promote stimulus programs, improve regional tourism products, develop high-quality human resources and improve the business and investment environment. In particular, famtrip activities, tourism fairs, international market promotion and business support will be the focus of the short and medium-term strategy.

Currently, the transformation of Ho Chi Minh City is not only about changing the administrative map but also a strategic turning point to shape a sustainable tourism development area, closely connecting urban and nature, tradition and modernity, people and businesses and the government. With high determination and the right direction, Ho Chi Minh City is opening a new era for the tourism industry and the potential smokeless economy in the near future.

Mr. Tran Phu Lu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Trade and Investment Promotion, said that the merger of administrative units from July 1, 2025 has opened up many new potentials for the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry, contributing to expanding development space, diversifying tourism products and strengthening regional connectivity. This is an important opportunity for Ho Chi Minh City to reorganize the tourism ecosystem in a synchronous, modern direction and in line with the orientation of long-term sustainable development. At the same time, investment in transport infrastructure and tourism support services will create more favorable conditions for attracting socialized resources and improving connectivity between destinations.

According to News and People Newspaper

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/phat-trien-du-lich-tp-ho-chi-minh-sau-sap-nhap-co-hoi-nhieu-can-biet-cach-tan-dung-20250724104516765.htm