It targets 2.3 million foreign and 3.5 million domestic arrivals, a 20 percent increase year-on-year.

Among the measures it has envisaged to achieve the goal are starting low-cost tours, tapping existing markets like ASEAN, China, and Russia and new ones like Spain, Germany, and the US.

The tourism industry will coordinate with Vietnam Airlines and the Tourism Association to organize Vietnam Day in San Francisco, the US, and road shows in Japan, Germany, and Russia.

It will attempt to improve the quality of existing tourism services and develop new ones like MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) tourism, eco-tourism, and shopping tourism.

The city tourist sector will organize many large festivals this year like the Flower Festival in Nguyen Hue Street and the Spring Flower Festival in Le Van Tam Park, the second Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival, the Southern Fruit Festival in the Suoi Tien Tourism Resort, and the International Tourism Exhibition 2006.