Travel firms give in, slashing summer tour fees to lure more travelers | Look At Vietnam

Travel firms give in, slashing summer tour fees to lure more travelers

May 25, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Travel firms, suffering from constant anxiety due to the
sharp fall of the number of travelers registering domestic tours, have kicked
off a noisy sale promotion campaign summer 2012.

Travel firms have no other choice than slashing tour fees sharply to attract
more clients. Some firms have even offered the price discounts of up to 30-40
percent, which has surprised travelers.
Quynh Hoa, an office worker in Hanoi, said that at first, her company planned to
organize a tour to Malaysia for its staff. However, after hearing about the tour
fee reductions, the leaders of the company have been asked to reconsider the
decision. It is very likely that a domestic destination would be chosen instead
of an outbound tour.
Bien A travel firm has launched an attractive program for the tours from HCM
City to VUng Tau. Those who book tours now would enjoy the immediate 530,000
dong tour fee reduction, which means that they would have to pay 950,000 dong
instead of 1480,000 dong.
Hanoi Redtours has kicked off the summer travel season with three tours to the
central region’s sea, offering the tour fee reductions of up to 3 million dong
per traveler. Those, who book the Da Nang – Quang Nam tours would pay 5.5
million dong instead of 7.5 million dong. Meanwhile, a sharper reduction of 3
million dong to 6.7 million dong has been offered for the tours to Quy Nhon –
Binh Dinh, Nha Trang – Phu Yen.
Hanoitourist is running a sale promotion program, offering the sharp tour fee
reduction of 2 million dong for those, who book the tours to Nha Trang – Doc Let
and Nha Trang – Da Lat, one of the most favorite destinations for the travelers
who love sea bathing.
Especially, Vietrantour has slashed the tour fee by 40 percent applied to 20
domestic tours. The tour Hanoi – Can Tho – Bac Lieu – Soc Trang – Ca Mau now can
be booked at 6,890,000 dong. The travelers who want to go to Saigon and Vung Tau
in the south would have to pay 7,290,000 dong, while the tour to Sapa – He Kou
costs 4,290,000 dong only.
Also, Vietrantour is now offering the 20 percent tour fee reduction (to
2,499,000 dong) for the tour Hanoi- Ha Long Bay, under which travelers can spend
night on five star cruise ship.
Analysts have noted that the domestic tour fees all have decreased by nearly 50
percent in comparison with the tour fees set up for the May holiday.
Explaining the sharp falls of fees for the tours in summer, Vietrantour’s
Director said that travel firms have been backed up by the national flag air
carrier Vietnam Airlines which has accepted to slash the airfare by 40 percent
applied to the groups of 10 or more travelers. This is the biggest sale
promotion campaign which would last throughout the summer.
Other travel firms have also confirmed that the tour fees have been slashed only
with the cooperation of air carriers. Hanoitourist has said the travel firm is
joining forces with Vietjet Air, a private airline, to slash the fees of some
tours in summer.
However, representatives of travel firms have affirmed that the tour fee
reductions would be applied to domestic tours, while outbound tours still have
not enjoyed benefits from the program. It is because the main goal of the
campaign is to stimulate the demand for domestic tours.
Nguyen Thi Khanh. Deputy Chair of the HCM City Tourist Association, said travel
firms are meeting some problems with the program. The problem is that travelers
in groups do not have the habit of booking tours soon.
Bao Han