Ho Chi Minh City welcomed more than 742,100 foreign tourists in March, up 10 percent against March 2018, the municipal Tourism Department announced on April 1.

In the first quarter of this year, the city served some 2.25 million international visitors, earning 1.71 billion USD in revenue, equal to 27 percent and 26.6 percent of the yearly targets, respectively. The Tourism Department plans to continue coordinating with districts to encourage food service facilities to join a standardised service system and will work with the Health Department to ensure healthcare services for tourists. It also plans to organise a dialogue on the hotel business in the digital era so as to improve the quality of services and attract more visitors to the city. Ho Chi Minh City welcomed more than 7 million foreign tourists last year. It aims to expand tourism growth of between 15-20 percent and serve about 8-8.5 million foreign holiday makers in 2019.-VNA