From February 9 to 12, a group of 200 MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) visitors from Cryptriva Group (India) arrived in HCMC to visit the tourist attractions such as the Independence Palace, the Central Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon Opera House, and Ben Thanh Market. They also took night city tours on board open-top buses.
The first MICE visitors to HCMC this year also visited the Mekong Delta city of My Tho and the Cu Chi Tunnels and enjoyed Vietnamese and Indian dishes at famous restaurants in HCMC. According to baodautu.vn, the HCMC Department of Tourism aims to welcome 8.5 million international tourists this year, and MICE tourism is one of the key products that help boost the development of the tourism industry of the city.
In 2024, HCMC won international awards such as Asia’s Leading Business Travel Destination, Asia’s Leading Festival and Event Destination, Asia’s Best Incentive Destination, Asia’s Leading City Tourist Board, and Asia’s Leading MICE Tourism Destination (World MICE Awards) for four consecutive years.
Especially, HCMC was honored among the 25 Best Places to Go in 2025 by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
Thousands of young people in HCMC join the army
On February 13, over 4,000 young people in HCMC joined the army for this year’s military recruitment, and some 1,000 others in the city joined the police.
In District 7, Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, and representatives of the Ministry of National Defense, the HCMC High Command and districts presented flowers at the meeting to see off 857 new recruits of the army and the police from districts 1, 3, 4 and Nha Be.
In HCMC’s Thu Duc City, Nguyen Thanh Nghi, permanent deputy secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, presented flowers at the meeting to see off 568 new recruits of the army and the police from Thu Duc.
The new recruits would undergo training at the 9th Division, Air Force Division 370, Air Defense Division 375, Scout Battalion 47 (the 7th Military Region), Gia Dinh Regiment (the HCMC High Command), and the HCMC Police Department.
According to tuoitre.vn, 4,197 young people were selected for the military service and 987 others were selected for the public security service.
Sea lover cleans up rock beach
Every morning at 4-5 a.m., Chin Tuc from Binh Thanh Commune, Tuy Phong, Binh Thuan, spends two hours picking up trash at Ca Duoc Rock Beach. He has quietly cared for the beach for over a year, collecting bottles and fishing gear washed ashore.
Equipped with a headlamp, sack, and foam box, the 55-kilogram man drags over ten kilograms of trash daily. After collecting trash along the rocky shore, he moves to the beach, picking up bottles and fishing gear washed ashore by the waves. Then, he returns home, busy with his family’s livelihood.
“My back and hands ached at first, but I got used to it. Waves often bring in more waste overnight, but I keep going—because this place needs me, and I love it,” he told the Vietnamplus news site.
Ca Duoc Rock Beach, formed hundreds of years ago, stretches nearly 1.5 kilometers along the coastline in Binh Thanh Commune. Shaped by tides, ocean currents, and waves pushing stones ashore over time, it naturally evolved into the seven-colored rock beach.
Former warlord’s base recognized as special national relic
The Tu Luong Xam-Ngo Quyen’s Base in 938 relic complex in Hai An District, Haiphong City, has been recognized as a special national relic site.
The Tu Luong Xam-Ngo Quyen’s Base in 938 relic complex was the site where Ngo Quyen, the warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngo Dynasty (the first dynasty of the country), used as a base during the fight against the Southern Han Dynasty. Ngo Quyen defeated the Southern Han Dynasty’s invaders at the Bach Dang River battle, thus ended 1,000 years of the Han Dynasty’s invasion of the country.
This special national relic site is one of the 24 historical relic sites commemorating King Ngo Quyen in Hai An District. It has also preserved 125 artifacts and 25 royal ordination documents dating from 1522 to 1924 granted by the kings from several dynasties of the country. It is noteworthy that three wooden stakes, which were among those used to sink enemy boats at the Bach Dang River battle in 938, are kept at the site.
On January 17, the Prime Minister decided to recognize The Tu Luong Xam-Ngo Quyen’s Base in 938 relic complex as a special national relic site, thanhnien.vn reported.
