The three-day event at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre (799 Nguyen Van Linh Street, District 7) has 315 booths set up by Vietnamese and foreign travel industry companies.

Visitors can check out tourism products and services in HCMC, Vietnam and other participating countries, get promotion tours and gifts, and enjoy entertainment shows.

"Since its debut in 2005 the event has annually attracted hundreds of foreign exhibitors and thousands of international visitors. It is a good opportunity to popularize Vietnam and its culture internationally," Tran Vinh Tuyen, city People's Committee Vice Chairman, said at the opening ceremony on Thursday.

There will be a seminar on the inbound travel market, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) tourism, and health and green tourism.

The event has a dedicated area for tourism startups to help them seek investors and partners.

The organizers, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the HCMC government, expect this year to get more than 35,000 visitors, 25 percent higher than a year ago.

Saigon received more than 4.2 million foreign tourists in the first half of this year, 10 percent up year-on-year, underlining its reputation as an increasingly popular global destination.

HCMC and Hanoi were among the world’s 100 most visited travel destinations in 2018, a recent report by Euromonitor International said.