Cat Co 1 beach on Cat Ba Island

Contrary to forecasts, tourism companies say the numbers of visitors buying tours for the National Day holiday are on the rise, despite economic difficulties and tour price increases of 5-7%.

Quoc Bao from Saigontourist said local airlines applied fuel surcharges as of August 15 so on August 14, Saigontourist booked nearly 500 tickets for its customers.

Some travel firms have announced they will not increase prices of tours during the National Day holiday (September 2) or will slash tour charges for visitors who registered early (one week in advance).

As students have started their new school year early this year, the numbers of visitors who are families have fallen remarkably but tours registered by organisations have increased.

Quoc Bao said the number of visitors in tours bought by companies account for 50% of the total.

Most individual visitors are buying tours to Phan Thiet, Vung Tau and the central coastal region. Tours to Phu Quoc and Con Dao islands sold out very early because travel agents couldn’t book more air tickets.

Tour prices have increased by 5-7% on average due to the increase of transportation fares.

Outbound tours selling well

According to travel firms, the volume of tourists buying outbound tours has surged. Saigontourist said by August 18, the number of visitors buying overseas tours for the National Day holiday had risen by 14% year on year. The increase is 20% at Vietravel.

Fiditour’s Outbound Tourism Director said Fiditour expected to have 3,000 visitors buying overseas tours, up 22% over the same period of 2007.

4-5 day tours are selling very well, including Thailand tours. Saigontourist will send 325 visitors to Thailand from August 28-30, 67% up year on year, Fiditour nearly 400, and Vietravel 100-150, every day.

Notably, the number of visitors who have bought expensive tours has increased unexpectedly. Fiditour said visitors who have booked tours worth more than $1,000 account for 17% of the total, and the percentage is growing.

Tours to the US, South Korea, Japan, Europe, and Australia offered by Vietravel, Hoan My and Saigontourist in September are sold out.

Hoan My said at least 100 tourists are waiting for visas for tours in September and October.

(Source: VNN)