The city is also looking into commodifying more historical sites for tourism development.
According to the Department of Culture and Sports, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is planning to allocate VND700 billion (US$30 million) to the preservation and renovation of cultural heritage sites in 2019 and 2020, VietnamNet reports.
"Many relics have been damaged seriously due to poor management and preservation efforts as well as limited funds for preservation," said Director of the HCMC Department of Culture and Sports Huynh Thanh Nhan during a conference on heritage tourism held on Thursday, November 22.
Dang Van Bai, deputy chairman of the Cultural Heritage Association of Vietnam, shared a similar comment, saying that poor urban planning and rapid urbanization have led to the disappearance and damage of many historical sites and buildings.
Besides raising concerns about heritage preservation, the news source shares, representatives from the HCMC Cultural Heritage Association and the Tourism Department have also called for more involvement in heritage preservation and more focus on heritage tourism from the tourism sector, as well as other private investors.
According to statistics from the HCMC Monuments Conservation Centre, 40 out of 172 heritage sites in town are being used by the tourist industry. Hence, some representatives believe that there is potential in developing a sustainable tourist industry in which tourism does not have to occur at the expense of the city's historical and cultural artifacts.
