Holiday travel in May popular despite price hike
The rising cost of travel hasn't deterred people from making plans for the long weekend that accompanies Viet Nam Unification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1), even with prices jumping 20 to 50% over the holiday, according to domestic tourist agencies.
The agencies reported that the price of tours to regional countries such as China, Malaysia and Singapore have gone up dramatically around that period. Tours to Thailand for six days and five nights rose from US$347 to $408 per person. Tours to Singapore for four days and three nights increased by $70.
The prices weren't scaring away eager travellers, according to a representative from Viettravel who said their number of clients booking tours to foreign countries still increased by 15-20%.
The representative said that 6,000 tourists came to his company to book outbound tours and some were full by the end of last month.
This year, demand to visit China has increased the most.
Fiditour tourism company said that around 30% of the 70 foreign tours they offer are visits to China. Around 40% of their clients chose China as a destination for the long weekend.
Demand for tours to domestic destinations also increased over the holiday.
An official from TransViet tourist company in the capital city of Hanoi said that anyone looking to go to Sapa, Da Lat, Hoi An or Hue should make other plans because all hotels and planes were full.
Compared with the same period last year, Mai Lan from Viettravel said the number of tourists visiting domestic destinations increased by 20%, even with the price of domestic tours at this time increasing by VND100,000-300,000 because of higher hotel and fuel charges.
Nguyen Ngoc An from Fiditour agreed that the price of domestic tours in his company increased by 15% around this time, while the number of tourists also went up by 20%.
Building up to the holiday, many people have bad trouble buying train and bus tickets to go to cities such as Hue, HCM City, Lao Cai and Nha Trang although the long weekend is still two weeks away.
Phung Thi Ly Ha, deputy head of Ha Noi Station, said that recently, many tourism companies have asked for tickets to tourist destinations over this holiday, but they could meet only 30% of the demand.
Bus stations are also under pressure as they expect the number of passengers to increase by 300%. Stations are planning to release more buses to meet to increased demand.
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