Over 8,000 amateur local and foreign runners gathered in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for the fifth edition of HCMC Marathon, one of Vietnam’s biggest marathon events. Formerly known as HCMC Run, HCMC Marathon is an annual event jointly organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Athletics Federation and Pulse Active – a locally based advertising solutions company – in association with the municipal Department of Culture and Sports. The multiple-distance HCMC Marathon 2018 was joined by more than 8,000 local and international runners who took part in separate runs ranging from five kilometers to 42.195 kilometers in length across the streets of District 7. Over 800 foreigners signed up for the half-marathon and marathon distances with a registration fee of up to VND1.7 million (US$75) per person. Vietnamese nationals were entitled to a slightly lower fee, at VND800,000 ($35) to VND1.36 million ($60) per registration for the marathon distance. Despite the relatively high prices for a race compared to other marathon events held in Vietnam, HCMC Marathon remains highly popular with local and international runners, with registration having to close early due to overwhelming numbers of contestants, according to Dong Ngoc Bich Ngan, the organizer’s marketing executive. “Eight thousand contestants is really the limit for us to ensure smooth running of the event. Anything higher than that will likely result in things getting out of control,” Ngan explained. For many participants, the highlight of the run was crossing the Phu My Bridge, a two-kilometer cable-stayed bridge that connects District… [Read full story]
NDO – Ho Chi Minh City welcomed more than 412,000 foreign tourists in the first month of 2015, an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year. The city’s tourism sector earned a total revenue of nearly VND7.8 trillion (US$365.5 million) in January, a year-on-year rise of 7%. In 2014, the number of international visitors to Ho Chi Minh City reached nearly 4.4 million, accounting for 53% of the whole country; whilst its revenue from tourism was estimated at VND86 trillion (US$4.03 billion), accounting for 34% of the country. Geared towards promoting sustainable tourism development, Ho Chi Minh…... [read more]
Opening ceremony of the festival. (Photo: VNA)A festival themed “Ho Chi Minh City’s development and integration” opened at District 1’s 23/9 Park on September 10. Delivering an opening speech, Hua Ngoc Thuan, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the event aims to promote the hub’s charming features and progress as well as foster cultural exchanges with international friends. Local authorities will provide the best conditions for foreign communities to live and thrive in the city, stated Thuan. The four-day festival features exhibitions on diplomacy, traditional costumes and foreign dishes. Sixteen countries are introducing their cultural identities at the…... [read more]
Nhan Dan - Ho Chi Minh City came out on top at the 2013 National Youth Taekwondo Championships, which wrapped up on April 4 in the southern province of Hau Giang. The Ho Chi Minh City team took first place in the demonstration events with eight gold medals, followed by Binh Thuan taking home seven golds and An Giang earning five. In the men's combat events, Ho Chi Minh City ranked first, followed by Bac Lieu and Binh Duong, and also dominated the women's combat category, while Hanoi came in second trailed by Son La in third. The championships opened…... [read more]
Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, informed the overseas Vietnamese about the city’s socio-economic achievements and hailed their contributions to the southern hub by doing business, transferring technologies and making recommendations to Ho Chi Minh City. He called on the overseas Vietnamese to continue upholding their patriotism, working as a bridge between Vietnam and other countries worldwide and joining hands to develop Ho Chi Minh City into a modern and civilized city. On behalf of the participants, Tran Hoang Minh, a Vietnamese expatriate from the US, thanked the local authorities for favorable conditions that they have created for overseas…... [read more]
During the event,Ho Chi Minh City’s travel companies were introduced to the centrallocality’s favourable conditions in infrastructure and technology toserve the MICE, a specific form of business tourism that relates to theactivities of groups of businesspersons travelling for business purposesand represents a multi-million- dollar segment of tourism worldwide.Da Nang is home to an international airport witheight domestic routes and 20 international ones, an internationalseaport which welcomes 700,000 arrivals each year, and 337 accommodationfacilities, including 10 five-star and nine four-star hotels andresorts. The department’s deputy head Tran ChiCuong said that Da Nang has focused on developing its infrastructure andimproving the quality…... [read more]