HCM City (VNA) – The HoChi Minh City People’s Council and the Radio Voice of Ho Chi Minh City People(VOH) held a dialogue with the municipal authorities on July 28 to discuss measuresto further develop its tourism.

Deputy Director of the municipalDepartment of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said the city welcomed nearly 4.4million foreign visitors in  the first sevenmonths of this year. HCM City has various kinds of tourism products such asshopping, MICE, cuisine and river cruise tours, she said.

Dang Thi Thy Thanh, DeputyGeneral Director of Ben Thanh Tourist Company, said several river cruise tourshave yet to meet demand due to environment pollution and lax management intourist destinations.

The construction on many wharvesare unfinished so that the number of tourists accessing river cruise toursremains limited, Thanh added.

Ha Thanh Son, deputy head of thewaterway transport management division under the municipal TransportDepartment, said apart from 11 completed wharves, the city has called forprivate investment in building 10 domestic wharves in districts 2,4, BinhThanh, and Cu Chi and Can Gio suburban districts.

To welcome foreign holidaymakers,Nha Rong – Khanh Hoi port in district 4 and Mui Den Do international port indistrict 7 will be convenient facilities to develop cruise tours.

Saigon Peninsula GroupCorporation is conducting procedures to build a 600-m wharf that couldaccommodate two vessels with a capacity of 60,000 GT, equivalent to 2,500passengers per vessel. It is expected to be completed by 2020.

Hoa said the municipal TourismDepartment will complete a tourism development strategy until 2030, improveworkforce training and raise public awareness of tourism marketing, thus makingHo Chi Minh City a safe, friendly and attractive destination in the eyes ofdomestic and foreign visitors.-VNA