Ho Chi Minh City received 60,000 visitors during the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival, according to the Saigon Tourist.

In the first days of the Year of the Rat, 24 affiliate companies of the Saigon Tourist alone welcomed 42,000 tourists to the city, of whom 70 percent were foreigners. The figure represented a 30 percent increase over the 2007 Tet holiday.

Among HCM City-based tourist companies, SaigonTravel welcomed the largest number of 17,800 visitors, including 10,800 foreigners. It was followed by Vietravel, with 7,500 holiday makers; and Ben Thanh Company, with 3,000.