Examples of such prices can be found in two recent ads offering cheap trips: “VND2.19 million per traveler only for departures in March, including return ticket to Da Nang. Stay in 5-star hotel for two days”… “VND7.7 million per traveler for 3-day-and-2 night trip, including return ticket for 5-star Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in Nha Trang.”
Airlines have also launched about 1 million tickets at the price of zero dong to VND88,000.
Analysts say that the tour fees are ‘unimaginably low’ which has prompted people to resume their travel plans which they postponed because of the pandemic.
However, Le Hai Nga and her team of five members said they will only book tours just several days before the departure time instead of booking early.
Nga said a Covid outbreak can emerge at any time, so it will be risky to book tours too soon. She had to cancel a trip last year which she had booked nearly half a year in advance. And she has to delay a trip to Ha Long in March because of the latest Covid-19 outbreak. She had initially planned to go to Ha Long on Tet.
As for travel firms, tours have resumed since late February. It is now the low travel season, so the number of travelers is modest, but it is on the rise.
In the north, people mostly book tours to visit pagodas at the beginning of the Year of the Buffalo, and to the northeastern and northwestern highlands. Meanwhile, southern people go to the sea, islands, Da Lat or the Central Highlands.
Hanoitours’ CEO Ho Xuan Phuc said his firm has received a lot of calls asking for information about tours to Tam Chuc Pagoda (Ha Nam) and Tay Thien (Vinh Phuc) and tours to northwestern and northeastern provinces.
Hanoitours’ 22 clients will go to Lai Chau – Lao Cai on March 14-17, 100 clients to Sa Pa on March 19-20, 70 clients to Ha Giang in mid-April and 5-6 groups of travelers (15-25 travelers for each group) to Con Dao in March.
A representative of Flamingo Redtours said as the pandemic has cooled down, the number of travelers has increased. The firm serves 10-14 groups of tourists each week. The favorite destinations are Central Highlands and Da Lat in the south, and Ha Giang and Cao Bang in the north.
TST Tourist has re-activated with the first group of travelers to Phu Quoc in late February. To date, TST has served 800 travelers.
Tran The Dung, CEO of The He Tre, believes that travel will recover on the April holiday if there is no bad news about the pandemic.
Ngoc Ha
