The 19th Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival, held from April 6 to April 9, showcased new tourist destinations, tourism products and services, and promotion programmes for the city’s tourism sector. Four new pilot tours were introduced at the festival, including one that connects the city with Tay Ninh province, a promising tour that optimises Tay Ninh’s popular destinations. The director of a travel company said that HCM City and Tay Ninh need to enhance the quality of tourism products and services and design suitable routines to exploit the potential of the destinations, thereby promoting the growth of other sectors. Measures to boost tourism development include the coordination with other localities and promotion of joint tourism products and programmes, as well as preserving and promoting the cultural and historical values of the nation and calling for more investment in the tourism, transportation, and trade-service sectors. In Q1 2017, HCM City welcomed 7.5 million domestic visitors and 1.04 million foreign tourists and earned 36.11 trillion VND ($1.54 billion), which represents a surge of 77.2% YoY.