Cheap Trip?

Tourists from Ho Chi Minh City are flocking to the US as the dollar loses value against the dong, but inflation has dealt a heavy blow to local tours.
HCMC travel companies say locals now prefer US tours over European vacations due to the dollar’s fall against the dong.
The same tour agents have also bemoaned the fact that inflation has hampered their inbound and domestic tour profits.
Hoan My Tourism Company said its bookings to the US had doubled in number this month and that all US tours in April were now fully booked.
Ngoc, who has just booked a week-long tour to the US, said that she had to pay VND1 million (US$63) less for her $2,500 tour than she would have last year.
She said that she would not only save on the cost of the tour, but she also looked forward to spending less on US goods and services while she traveled.
Carnival Tourism Company deputy director Tran Thuy Dung said that the number of clients booking tours to Europe was much smaller than it had been over the past several years as the euro rises against the dong.
Domestic tours suffer
Many tour operators in the city said that it had been difficult to persuade familiar customers – companies in industrial parks and export processing zones – to purchase domestic tours for their workers despite the upcoming travel season.
In Vietnam, it is customary for companies to take their employees on group summer holidays, usually from April through July.
But many companies said they were now struggling to meet increasing production costs and were earning lower-than-normal profits as their exports battled the fall of the dollar.
The city’s largest tour operator, Saigontourist, said that it had planned tour programs for several companies last month, but many have since canceled.
The travel firm also said that domestic tour prices for the Reunification Day – May Day double holiday on April 30 and May 1 would increase 20 percent this year over last year to meet higher transportation costs.
Tourism companies focusing on inbound tours are complaining that their overseas partners had not accepted increased tour prices.
Asian Trails Company director Bui Viet Thuy Tien said that many foreign partners had not agreed to adjusted tour prices.
Hotel prices in Vietnam have increased at least 20 percent year-onyear while transportation charges have also jumped, Tien said.
According to government sources, inflation reached 15.7 percent in February, the highest increase since 1995.