Many localities and travel companies strive to boost advertisements to attract tourists during public holidays (April 30 and May 1). Although prices jump high this year, the demand remains burgeoning. The number of travellers booking tourism companies is forecast to rise 10 percent.
Mr Luong Duy Ngan, Director of New Star Tour Company, said tour prices increased by 10 percent this year because of higher input costs. The hardest difficulty for short-day self-organised tours is to hire cars. Car rents are forecast to increase 40-60 percent because of extremely high demand. Apart from car rents, hotel room rates also rise on this occasion.
Despite rising costs, the travel demand remains very high, according to tour operators. A giant volume of tourists will flock to central Danang City to watch international firework festival on April 29 evening. Right after the Hung King’s anniversary which falls on April 1, travellers congregate places of interest like Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Da Lat, Phan Thiet, Con Dao and Mekong Delta during Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day. Outbound tours are mainly destined to Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and other Asian countries like Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and China because they fit their time fund (4-6 days). With high-income earners, they prefer far-lying destinations like South Korea, Japan, Europe, America, Australia, and South Africa. This year, tour operators provide a wide range of tour durations like short term (4-5 days), medium term (7-8 days), and long term (10 - 12 days).
According to Mr Nguyen Minh Man, PR Manager of Vietravel Tourism Company, Vietravel launched nearly 100 inbound and outbound tours for this occasion. At present, many outbound tours have been fully booked. The company is creating new tours to meet the demand. To date, some 18,000 customers booked tours and the company expects serve 25,000 customers during this occasion. The company has more than 20 programmes for traditional markets of China and Hong Kong with different destinations like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Hong Kong and Disneyland. Tours to Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan run out the most quickly, Mr Man said. Tour operators also introduce tours to Europe, Australia, America, Egypt and South Africa. Saigontourist also launches 250 inbound and outbound tours. It expects to see a rise of 20 percent in customers during this occasion from a year earlier. Thailand and China attract most Vietnamese travellers. Other tour operators like Golden Tour, Fiditour, Newstartour, ThangVietravel and Rainbow also launch attractive programmes, aiming to lure 70 percent of visitors.
To avoid being charged higher prices, travellers should book their tours soon, according to Mr Nguyen Minh Man. Some companies also launch promotion programmes, helping customers to save costs. However, customers should care more about the quality rather than prices, he recommended.
Customers should also purchase air tickets on their own at the soonest in order to avoid being missed. Travel insurance should also be taken into account, he added.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
