Speaking at a company meeting in HCM City yesterday, Tho said Saigontourist expected to serve 2.15 million domestic and foreign tourists and earn revenues of VND9 trillion (US$487.3 million) this year.
To achieve the targets, his company would work with airlines, television channels, and others to strengthen marketing at home and abroad, he said.
It would join hands with hotels and other travel operators to offer a wider range of tours and work to improve the quality of tourism products and train human resources to better serve clients, he said.
Saigontourist planned to increase spending in other countries, especially in the US and Japan, to promote its brand and speed up construction and upgrade of its numerous hotels in HCM City and other major destinations to increase the number of luxury rooms to 2,500 by 2013.
Despite the economic difficulties, Saigontourist achieved a turnover of VND8.2 trillion ($443.9 million) last year, an increase of 6.9 per cent over 2008, Tho told the year-end meeting.
It served 2.03 million guests, he said. Due to the global economic downturn, Viet Nam saw only 3.77 million foreign arrivals last year, a 11 per cent fall, while the number coming to HCM City was around 2.52 million, down 7 per cent.
Saigontourist's gross profit was VND2.6 trillion and it paid more than VND930 billion to the State budget, he added.