Formerly known as the city of Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam. Located on the Saigon River, Ho Chi Min City has a population of approximately 9 million people. From the late 19th century until 1954, the city was the capital of French Indochina, which is what Vietnam and its neighboring Southeast Asian countries were called when the region was a French colony. After the communist government took control of the country in 1975, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Min City in honor of the former Vietnamese Prime Minister and revolutionary Ho Chi Minh.
Flights to Ho Chi Minh City arrive at Tân Son Nhat International Airport. It is the largest airport in the country serving more than 38 million passengers per year.
Business travelers from around the world book first-class flights to Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to being the country’s largest urban region, Ho Chi Minh City is also the country’s financial and business center. Ho Chi Minh City’s economy is made up of a diverse set of industries including mining, seafood processing, agriculture, finance and banking, technology, and heavy industry.
Ho Chi Minh City is also an important Vietnamese and Southeast Asian port due to its location on the Saigon River and its proximity to the South China Sea. The city is one of the largest container ports in the world, with ships sailing to and from its ports carrying goods from China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
One of Ho Chi Minh City’s newest industries is software and technology research and development. The city and its surrounding area are home to two large high-tech business parks. The Quang Trung Software Park is located about nine miles from Ho Chi Minh City’s central business district. The software park is home to several established and start-up software companies as well as to the Saigon Institute of Technology.
Ho Chi Minh City’s Hi-Tech Park is also located relatively close to the main part of the city. The business park is home to the offices of several multinational high-tech companies including the U.S.-based Intel Corporation; the Nidec Corporation, a Japanese developer of the motors that power computer hard drives; and the Italian company Datalogic S.P.A., which develops bar code readers and other types of data scanning technology. Because of these companies, the city sees a lot of business-class and first-class flights to Ho Chi Minh City. Among popular routes are flights from Los Angeles (LAX) to Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco (SFO) to Ho Chi Minh City.
Tourism is also a major contributor to Ho Chi Minh’s economic climate. Leisure travelers book flights to Ho Chi Minh City from around the globe to see the city’s historic sites, some of which date back to the French Colonial period. These include the city’s Municipal Theater, formerly called the Opera de Saigon, which was built by the French in 1897. The Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, formerly named the Church of Saigon, is a large red brick church that was built by French Colonists between 1863 and 1880. The 190-foot-tall cathedral was built in the style of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and has twin bell towers.
Visitors also book flights to Ho Chi Minh City to visit its many excellent museums. These include the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and the Museum of Vietnamese History, which house exhibits interpreting the history of the city and country; the War Remnants Museum which offers exhibits relating to the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War; and the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, which is the second-largest art museum in the country after the National Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi.
Other popular attractions for visitors to Ho Chi Minh City include the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, which was built by French colonists in the late 1860s; the Suoi Tien Amusement Park, a large amusement park known for its beautiful landscaping; and the historic Cu Chi Tunnels, a series of interconnected underground passageways built by the Viet Cong military in the late 1960s during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were used for hiding weapons and supplies as well as for housing. Today, the Cu Chi Tunnels are open to the public as a museum.