ITE HCMC 2017, themed ‘Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia’, continues to be one of the most important and established international travel events in Vietnam and the region, further promoting Vietnam’s tourism and enhancing the development of the tourism industry regionally and globally. The International Travel Expo, Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC) 2017, returns for the 13th time as the largest and most established annual international travel trade event in the Mekong sub-region. ITE HCMC 2017 continues to grow from strength to strength on the scale of the expo and the quality of participants, delivering the hospitality of Vietnam’s destinations and Ho Chi Minh City.
Tourism-Insider has visited this successful and perfectly organized trade fair and had the opportunity to talk with the three organizers about the trade fair, the city and the tourism in Vietnam

Mr Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism
Question:. What are the main objectives of ITE HCMC? What is the importance of the fair to Vietnam’s tourism industry in general and HCMC in particular?
Answer: With ITE HCMC, we are able to promote the culture, history, traditions and beautiful destinations of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City. Together with the “Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia” theme, ITE HCMC also promotes the tourism industry of the 5 Mekong sub-region countries.
The event is not just an international travel event for the trade visitors, it also has a Travel Fun Fair Day for the public to get to know the tourism attractions better.

Question: What do you think about the development of MICE tourism in HCMC?
Answer: MICE Visitors are the ones who are willing to spend

on luxury services so we can get high expense from them. For MICE development in Ho Chi Minh City, we know that we have to focus on building more exhibition centers, increase hotel capacities and world-class services.
In order to cater for large groups and VIP tours including MICE, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism will plan out strategies to improve the human capital and increase the professionalism of the tour guides of the city. We will organise talent search programs not only in Ho Chi Ming City but also in other cities and provinces in the Southern Vietnam, and providing the both national and international training for the talents.

Question: What kind of experience that visitors can expect from HCMC’s culinary culture?
Answer:Not only is HCMC the economic center of Vietnam, the city is also the culinary destination for both international and local cuisines. Ho Chi Minh City has attracted a diverse group of newcomers and people from different regions locally and internationally who have brought their own cultures and culinary experience to the city. HCMC has thus become a destination where you can enjoy different original cuisines from all parts of the countries such as Pho and Bun Bo Hue.
In addition, HCMC culinary is also under the influence of the Chinese, French and Indian, all making HCMC be the culinary highlight of South East Asia. One of the notable fusions of this influence is the Banh Mi in Vietnam which was originated from the French Baguette. Lastly, HCMC is a must-visit destination in the world’s culinary map since different international and local culinary businesses have brought their specialities to the city. Not only the locals but the visitors will have ample opportunies to enjoy the original Vietnamese and fusion dishes that will leave a footprint on your taste buds.

Mr Le Truong Hien Hoa Director of Ho Chi Minh City Promotion Center of Tourism
Question: What are the activities of the HCMC’s tourism that are associated with museums, historical relics, architecture, and the art?
Answer:Each museum, architectural construction and historical relics has its own unique features, attracting different crowds of visitors. It is thus difficult to create one specific program to cater for all and still be able to attract frequent visitors on a regular basis. However, there are various City Tours Programs that combine different sightseeings and tourist attractions of the city including Ben Thanh market, Ngoc Hoang temple, Notre Dame Basilica, Central Post Office, Independence Palace and War Remnants Museum.

In addition, HCMC has various bus routes that travel through the city’s signature sightseeings and tourist attractions including the Museum of Vietnamese History and the War Remnants Museum. From the bus stops, visitors can get easy access to other museums via other connected buses. Besides, the city also encourages the investment and research on the tourism solutions to build additional bus routes and electric buses to the city’s attractions to cater for the increased demand and number of visitors.

Question: What are the signature and competitive tourism products of Ho Chi Minh City? And what are the solutions to enhance the strong development of the city’s tourism products in the near future?
Answer:The competitive and signature tourism products of the city are MICE tourism, street tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, and shopping tourism.
In order to further enhance and develop tourism products, Ho Chi Minh City will rebuild its tourism development strategies including building more recreational streets such as Nguyen Hue Walking street, Bui Vien Walking Street or Books Street, holding cultural and arts events to make the traveling experience more memorable – we are aiming to hold one event every month, such as Nguyen Hue Flower Street event in every January, Ao Dai festival in every March, and Travel International Expo in every September.
At that same time, we also try to extend visitors’ stay in the city. We have combined the different tourism products to create a more holistic tourism experience chain including cultural – historical tourism, events – recreational tourism, and agricultural tourism, in order to an attract more international visitors to the city.
In addition, we also focus on the infrastructure of the city including improving the traffic situation to help visitors feel more comfortable during their stay in the city. We have carried out the mega-projects including the Metro Highway, Thu Thiem Tunnel, Thu Thiem Bridge, and Ring Road Viet Nam.

Question: What are the strengths of HCMC’s tourism industry?
Answer: As the most important economic, cultural and educational center of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City attracts different cultures and expatriates for traveling, educational and career purposes. Located in the prime position, Ho Chi Minh City is the strategic traffic hub in Vietnam and South East Asia with the convenient traffic system and a potential to develop river tourism.
Ho Chi Minh City enjoys a rich diversity of tourism resources, including a variety of cultural and historical relics, French Colonial architectures, ancient pagodas and temples, and churches. The city also has the potential in its eco-tourism including Can Gio Biosphere Reserve Zone and Thu Duc Stork Garden, and its traditional handicraft villages.
Ho Chi Minh City has rich culinary culture and a fusion of different cuisines from the three regions of Vietnam and from the Western and Eastern cultures. With relatively good and maintained tourism infrastructure, HCMC is where many well-known international hospitality groups such as Accor and Marriott have come to expand their businesses.
In addition, the public transportation of the city has been improving drastically, and the urban railway is under construction. These will further reduce the traffic problems and improve the development potential of MICE tourism in the city.

Mr. Jack Wei General Manager of Informa Global Exhibitions
Question: How many sellers do you have exhibiting in 2017?
Answer:At ITE HCMC this year, we’re proud to host over 300 exhibiting companies and brands, including airlines, hotels and resorts, tour companies and travel representatives from 25 countries such as Cambodia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, as well as more than 30 cities and provinces from Vietnam including An Giang, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong, Binh Thuan, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Dak Lak, Da Nang, Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Hau Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lam Dong, Long An, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Soc Trang, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien – Hue, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Vung Tau, and many more.

Question: How many buyers are you expecting?
Answer:We will be hosting 300 international buyers for this year’s event from 40 countries including Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Qatar, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, the UK, Ukraine and the U.S.

Question: What is different for this year as opposed to the previous years?
Answer: This year sees the strong continued participation of international promotion agencies such as the Indian Tourism; Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO); Korea Tourism Organization (KTO); Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao PDR; Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia; Penang Global Tourism (PGT); Taiwan Tourism; Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB); Tourism Authority of Thailand; Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO); Turkish Embassy Tourism and Information Office; and the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA).

ITE HCMC 2017 also sees the first time participation of Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organization (KTPO), the Medical Excellence Japan (Japan), and the Wuhan Tourism Development & Investment Group Swan International Travel Service (China).
Aligned with Vietnam’s economic plan to further develop the tourism sector of the country, ITE HCMC 2017 puts even more emphasis on the participation of local cities and provinces across the country. We are proud to see an increased number of cities and provinces in Vietnam to take part in the show, including An Giang, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong, Binh Thuan, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Dak Lak, Da Nang, Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Hau Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Kon Tum, Lam Dong, Long An, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Soc Trang, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien – Hue, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Vung Tau, and many more.

This year, ITE HCMC proudly presents new ITE Awards to recognise the outstanding exhibiting participants and partners for their exemplary and long term support and contributions, including three award categories – ITE Best Booth Design Award, ITE Exhibitor Recognition Award, and ITE Partner Recognition Award.
Led by international and local tourism experts, the different seminars customised for the hosted buyers and media will present the key insights on Developing MICE Tourism in Ho Chi Minh City and how to attract more Chinese and Malaysian tourists to Ho Chi Minh City.

Question: How do you feel about this year’s event and what it has achieved?
Answer:The 13th event marks not only a new milestone in the exhibition’s reach and impact on promoting the tourism of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam, but is also a testament to the work we as a global community are doing together. ITE HCMC continues to be the premier travel exhibition event, with each event seeing more attendees than ever before, and ITE HCMC 2017 is no exception. Running for the 13th time, ITE HCMC has attracted more exhibiting companies and brands, and organised more than 3,200 pre-scheduled business meetings for the buyers and sellers, creating more business value for companies in the industry. We are honoured to see how much the tourism has grown in the country and the region.
In August 2017, Vietnam welcomed more than 1 million international visitors, an increase of 35.1 per cent as compared to the same period in 2016. Running for the 13th time, ITE HCMC presents the vast opportunities for not only the inbound but the outbound businesses. We are excited to explore more business opportunities to further boost the tourism potential in the country and the Mekong sub-region.