Travel firms have reported an increase of 10% over the previous year, while they have stopped receiving bookings for some tours. The promotion program of slashing tour fees by 30-50% initiated by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has not been implemented yet.
Phu Quoc islandDespite the difficulties caused by the global economic recession, which has affected Vietnam’s tourism, the number of travelers on 2009 Tet will not decrease as was the previous concern. Some travel firms have even said that they have stopped receiving bookings for some tours because of the high number of travelers.
More travelers for both domestic and international tours
The prolonged Tet holiday this year has prompted people to travel on this occasion. Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Head of the Marketing Division under Saigontourist, said that the company’s travelers who have booked tours have increased by 7% over the 2008 Tet. In the first five days of the new Lunar New Year, the company will organize outbound tours for nearly 2,000 travelers, and domestic tours for 3,100 travelers.
As for Ben Thanh Tourist, To Thi Hanh, Deputy Director of Travel Centre, of the company said that the number of travelers is expected to rise by 10% over the same period of the last year, despite the price increase of 30-40% compared to ordinary days.
During the Tet days, Ben Thanh Tourist plans to organize domestic tours for 1,850 travelers, up by 20%, and 1,350 outbound tours, up by 10%.
Vietravel expects to receive 5,000 clients to make outbound tours and 4,000 to make domestic tours. The tours to South Korea, Japan, Australia, Phu Quoc Island, Nha Trang and Da Lat have been fully booked.
Like previous years, traditional domestic tours like Nha Trang, Da Lat and Phu Quoc island are always the top choice of young clients. Meanwhile, older travelers and Viet Kieu always prefer the tours with far destinations in the north and central region. As for outbound tourism, the hottest tours are the ones to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Australia and Cambodia.
Travelers like the tours to South East Asian countries because they want to enjoy the New Year, which also comes at the same time with Vietnam’s Tet
No tour fee decreases yet
Travel firms all have confirmed that they have not slashed tour fees yet, because the fees of relating services have not decreased yet
The travel firms also said that they cannot slash tour fees because the tour plans were fulfilled three months before, tours have been offered for several months, and contracts have been signed before with service providers. Prior to that, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that any clients, who books tours at this moment, will enjoy tour fee discounts.
Sources from HCM City’s travel firms said that the firms have sat together with 10 4-5-star hotels to discuss the service fee reductions. However, the tour fee reduction policies have only been applied to international travelers (four key markets including Australia, Japan, France and ASEAN countries), while have not been applied to domestic travelers yet.
The travel firms said that Vietnamese travelers will only receive tour fee reduction programs by the end of the first quarter at the latest.
(Source: NLD)
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