Saigon opens new tourist info centers after $1.4mln plan falls into the trash can

Ho Chi Minh City has opened two new tourist information centers in District 1 to help visitors find out where to go and what to do in the city.

The centers at Bach Dang Wharf on the Saigon River and December 23 Park are equipped with touch screen computers.

Staff are on hand to guide tourists from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.

Tourist tips, maps and etiquette codes for tourists are also available in English, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

Le Truong Hien Hoa, a senior tourism official, said two more centers will be built at the Reunification Palace in District 1 and at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

This appears to be the city's latest effort to revive a project started in 2008, when the city decided to spend VND32 billion ($1.4 million) on 100 tourist information stations.

What appeared to be a good idea at the time turned out to be a costly failure, with many of the stations turned into dumps by local people.

An abandoned travel information center in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen