Distance agencies in HCM Municipality hump been kept employed booking international tours as residents essay to sicken advantage of a nine-day Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.
last year’s Tet season. Most customers are buying tours to Asian countries and to Europe, the companies say.
“Longer holidays give people more time to travel,” said Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, head of Fiditour’s External Affairs Office.
Fiditour’s tours to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and China are fully booked, she said.
A six-day tour to Thailand offered by the city’s tourism agencies costs about VND8 million (US$381), cheaper than six-day tours from HCM City to northern provinces that cost between VND11 million and VND12 million.
Bookings of domestic tours have only increased slightly compared to last year’s Tet. However, travel agencies say Vietnamese people do not typically plan holidays much ahead of time or book tours in advance.
The prices of domestic tours will remain unchanged for those who have bought the package before December 31, 2011, but since the beginning of this year, they have increased by about 23 per cent because of the hike in domestic airfares.
