Ho Chi Minh City is diversifying tourism products and services to realise its goal of welcoming 8.5 million international tourists in 2019, a year-on-year rise of 14 percent.

According to the city’s waterway tourism development plan in 2017-2020, at least seven tour packages will be launched on the Saigon, Dong Nai, Nha Be, Soai Rap, and Long Tau rivers. The city also hosts a number of festivals to attract visitors such as the annual tourism festival in April, the southern food festival in May, and the international food festival in December, among others. A new feature of the local tourism is the launch of the dental tourism project with the ambition of surpassing countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.-VNA