HCMC travel firm offers free walking tours

Free walking tours around Ho Chi Minh City for domestic and international tourists will be organized daily by leading travel company BenThanh Tourist, starting next Monday.

The tours will start at 9:30 a.m. and finish at around 1 p.m. for people wishing to explore the southern metropolis.

Walkers will be picked up by a tour guide at the departure point at 3-5 Nguyen Hue, District 1, and begin the tour of famous attractions such as Nguyen Hue Walking Street, the HCMC People's Committee, the HCMC Theater, the City Post Office, and the Reunification Palace.

The tour ends with a lunch featuring local specialties at Ben Thanh Market. Tourists will have to pay for their lunches.

During the tour, visitors will be provided with information in English and Vietnamese by a tour guide.

Participants can register at BenThanh Tourist Center (3-5 Nguyen Hue, Ben Nghe ward, District 1) before 4 p.m. the day before departure, or contact the firm via email or the telephone.

Regarding night tourism in the city, Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, deputy director of HCMC's Department of Tourism, said at a dialogue between businesses and city authorities held on Wednesday that the department will support travel companies to coordinate with destinations and tourism service providers and organize thematic tours at night.

It will promote three night tourism programs: District 1 - Colors of the Night; War Zone Moon: Cu Chi Tunnels; and Nha Be: A Thousand and One Nights, Hieu said.

She reiterated that the city was currently prioritizing exploitation of the night economy model apart from taking measures to make it a "cradle of MICE tourism.”