Origin statistics present that direction firms acquire a “bumper crop” this Tet, despite the economic difficulties and alto inflation. The identify of travelers work tours for Tet holiday has increased greatly.
Travel demand up, turnover up
The recent reports all have pointed out that 2011 was a prosperous year for travel firms, especially the ones in the south. Despite the economic difficulties, which forced people to fasten their belt, people still spent part of their income on traveling and relaxing.
Vietravel Media Division’s Head Nguyen Minh Man said that the firm served 300,000 travelers in 2011, which brought the turnover of 2000 billion dong, an increase of 500 billion dong over 2010, the record high in comparison with other travel firms.
Saigontourist has also reported the total turnover from travel services of the firm in 2011 reached 1600 billion dong, up by 25 percent in comparison with 2010. The firm in 2011 served 410,000 domestic and foreign travelers.
Meanwhile, Du Lich Viet served 30,000 travelers in 2011, reporting the growth rate of 30 percent in both turnover and the number of travelers.
Northern travel firms could not obtain such record growth rates, but they all have affirmed that the business was very satisfactory.
Nguyen Cong Hoan, Deputy Director of Hanoi Redtour, said that though the number of travelers to China, Japan and Thailand decreased, the number of travelers to the US, Europe, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia increased.
Bountiful Tet crop expected
Some travel firms have stopped taking bookings for Tet tours. Preliminary statistics showed the high number of travelers this season.
Saigontourist has received a record high number of foreign travelers so far this January, more than 70,000, up by 388 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year.
The travel firm expects to serve 12,000 travelers this Tet holiday, while 1/3 of them are Viet Kieu, or overseas Vietnamese, who return to Vietnam to celebrate Tet with their relatives.
Vietravel has reported to serve 30,000 domestic travelers. According to Man, the most wanted destinations in Vietnam are Hanoi, Sa Pa, Ha Long in the north, Hue, Hoi An, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet in the central region, and Phu Quoc and Con Dao islands in the south.
As for outbound tours, most of the travelers have chosen South East Asian countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea. Especially, the number of travelers to South Korea has increased by two folds over 2010.
A lot of travelers have decided to depart on the second day of the New Lunar Year, which is considered auspicious day. To date, a lot of travel firms have reportedly sold out the tours they designed, while some have decided to organize some more tours to satisfy the demand. It is expected that 700-1000 travelers would depart from Hanoi, while 1400 travelers would depart from HCM City on that day.
It seems that less northern people want to “go out” on Tet holiday, because they believe that Tet is the time for family union.
According to Nguyen Cong Hoan, the number of travelers who have booked outbound tours is the same as the previous year’s. However, more travelers have booked domestic tours, especially short tours which last three or four days and do not cost too much money.
For example, with just 1.5-3.5 million dong, travelers can travel to Ha Giang, Moc Chau, Mai Chau, Ba Be Lake in the north. There they can also enjoy the Vietnamese Tet atmosphere, enjoy the wild beauty and discover the original culture traditions of the minority people.
