Tour prices seen stable in upcoming national holiday

Many travel firms in HCMC have launched tours on Vietnam’s National Day, September 2, with prices staying stable or a little bit lower than on normal days.

Tourists visit Tra Su cajuput forest in An Giang during the flooding season

Saigontourist is among the companies that have put on tours for the forthcoming holiday. It offers 50 domestic tours of two to four days to famous destinations like Phan Thiet, Dalat, Nha Trang, Con Dao, Phu Quoc, Danang and Hoi An.

Like other travel firms that have launched promotions to woo customers at a time of falling travel demand, Saigontourist offers discounts of up to 30% for families that want to visit Danang, Hue, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Halong and Sapa.

Saigontourist will organize scheduled and customized tours to the Mekong Delta during the flooding season.

Meanwhile, Vietravel will not increase tour prices during the National Day holiday and even mark down certain tours. Particularly, a tour to the northern region will be VND2.7 million (USD130) cheaper than normal and the price cut for tours to the central region will be VND2.5 million, and five-day Nha Trang-Phu Yen tours will be VND1.1 million cheaper than on normal days.

Vietravel will have tours with everyday departures during the National Day and adjacent days.

Lien Bang Travelink has introduced a variety of domestic and outbound tours on this occasion. The company will slash prices of tours to the central and northern regions by as much as 30%.

Tourists booking tours from August 20 to 25 will receive discounts of VND200,000-300,000 for tours to Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and Dalat and VND500,000 for those traveling to the central and northern regions.

The promotion program during this week does not include the tourism stimulus program organized by Vietnam Airlines, which is applicable for tours to Phu Quoc, Danang-Hoi An-Hue and Hanoi-Halong-Sapa.

Nguyen Thi Khanh, vice chairwoman of the HCMC Tourism Association, said many members of the association had expressed concern over poor demand during the coming travel season. So far, the stimulus program that the association jointly launches with Vietnam Airlines and VietjetAir has yet to create a strong motivation for the market as expected.

“Demand remains weak. With airfares cut by as much as 49%, tour operators have been able to offer big discounts but the number of tickets sold is not as high as desired,” she said.