HCM CITY — With around one month to go before Tết (Lunar New Year), HCM City’s tourism market is gathering momentum, as visitor numbers climb steadily and businesses step up the promotion of culture- and cuisine-based products to draw travellers and further popularise Việt Nam’s image.

A notable new attraction is the Phở Museum in Bến Thành Ward, which officially opened in mid-January. As the country’s first museum dedicated to culinary heritage, it is designed to preserve, develop and spread the values of Vietnamese cuisine to both domestic and international visitors. Spanning roughly 800 sq.m across three experiential floors, the museum offers a closed-loop tour lasting about 60–75 minutes.

According to Trần Văn Bắc, founder of the Phở Museum, the space was created to recount the more than century-long journey of phở (rice noodle soup), from humble street stalls to dining tables worldwide. The museum is expected to contribute to promoting Việt Nam’s culinary heritage in tandem with the development of cultural tourism, an area currently receiving strong policy attention.

Elsewhere, the Bát Tràng Ceramics Space in Diên Hồng ward has introduced a tea ceremony area alongside exhibitions showcasing new ceramic collections for Tết. The venue also features hands-on experiences and gift-shopping activities, helping to highlight and promote traditional handicraft values.

Meanwhile, a range of travel firms, including Vietluxtour JSC, are rolling out Tết-specific tourism products. In January, Vietluxtour is set to welcome six tour groups joining its “Tết in the Southwestern Region for Foreign Visitors” programme, developed exclusively for the 2026 Lunar New Year season.

In collaboration with the People’s Committee of Tân Định ward, the company has also launched the signature product “Cultural Experience – Tân Định Imprints”, which has received positive market feedback. Alongside this, Vietluxtour is offering a diverse portfolio of intra-provincial, inter-provincial and outbound tours for both domestic and international travellers during the Tết holiday.

Lê Trương Hiền Hòa, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, said improving and safeguarding the quality of tourism products and services is among the sector’s key objectives for 2026. To this end, the department is advancing new product development while intensifying communications and promotion in priority markets.

For cultural and culinary tourism in particular, since the administrative consolidation on July 1, 2025, the department has worked closely with businesses and localities to create new products based on ecosystems of potential resources that can be developed into tourism destinations. Notably, in-depth surveys have been conducted to design 20 additional themed culinary tourism programmes, which combine gastronomic discovery with stories of the city’s culture, history and people.

Highlighted products include HCM City experience tours on double-decker buses paired with dinner cruises on Indochina boats, as well as themed programmes such as “Irresistible Flavours of Vũng Tàu”, “Unique Culinary Experiences in Bình Dương” and “Returning to the Taste of Home”, among others. — VNA/VNS