The difficult problem of tourism

However, to stimulate tourism in the context of late vacation plans and high airfares is not easy.

Long break to stimulate tourism

Before the news that officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers nationwide will have 5 days off during the April 30 and May 1 holidays, many tourism businesses believe that extending the holiday is truly a golden opportunity to promote better tour products for tourists, in anticipation of the upcoming summer tourist season.

Wondertour General Director Le Cong Nang shared that the 5-day holiday will impact people's travel needs, shifting towards longer, low-cost tours. "Overland tours to Ha Long, Cat Ba, Sam Son, Sa Pa, Moc Chau, Ninh Binh... or air tours to Da Nang , Thailand, Singapore with reasonable costs will be chosen by families" - Mr. Le Cong Nang predicted.

Developing diverse forms of transportation in Vietnam is extremely necessary, ensuring convenient and smooth connections, shortening time and increasing the experience time of tourists. When diversifying types of tourism, connecting roads, trains and airlines, it will help reduce the cost of package tours, while also creating attractiveness for tourists' sightseeing journeys.
Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh

Information from tourism businesses shows that immediately after the Government decided to extend the April 30 holiday, the number of customers booking tours increased sharply. Marketing Director of Best Price Travel Company Bui Thanh Tu said that just 2 days after the information about the holiday, the demand for searching for tours at this unit increased by 20% compared to the previous days and is expected to increase further in the following days. In particular, the rate of searching for domestic services such as travel combos and hotel accommodation increased significantly.

From the perspective of a tourism expert, Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association Phung Quang Thang assessed that the 5-day holiday is a signal to stimulate tourism. Although the decision to extend the holiday is a bit late, travel agencies have experience welcoming guests during this time and often design products within the time frame from April 27 to May 1.

According to the Vietnam International Tourism Fair (VITM Hanoi) 2024, many consumers asked about April 30 tours and summer travel. Deputy Director of Hoang Viet Travel Company Luu Thi Thu acknowledged that the 5-day break will help travel companies resolve the number of unsold tours. "The company currently has about 30-40% of seats available for some international tours such as Thailand. Therefore, extending the holiday will help businesses consume this number of unsold tours" - Ms. Luu Thi Thu shared.

Regarding the tour programs for the April 30 and May 1 holidays, a representative of Saigontourist Travel Company said that the company has built more than 200 domestic and international tour itineraries, expected to serve more than 110,000 visitors, with more than 350 groups departing nationwide.

In particular, domestic tours to the North and Central regions and tours to Japan, Europe, and cherry blossom viewing continue to attract visitors, with some routes almost fully booked. In particular, road routes to Da Lat, Nha Trang, Buon Ma Thuot, Ca Mau... or high-speed boat routes from Vung Tau to Con Dao, Rach Gia, Phu Quoc are chosen by many tourists for the upcoming holiday.

Urgent request to reduce airfares

The Government's decision to extend the April 30 holiday has created an opportunity for businesses to increase revenue, but many travel companies regret that the 5-day holiday was finalized just 2 weeks before the April 30 holiday, causing them to not have time to release more products, making it difficult to create a big boost for Vietnamese tourism. The leader of a travel agency in Hanoi expressed that if the holiday proposal had been approved at the beginning of the year, travel companies could have boldly imported more series bookings (early tickets, good prices) and launched more attractive stimulus programs.

In addition, the challenge for the tourism industry today is that airfares are sky-high, causing travel costs to increase, forcing people to consider and recalculate their "wallet" before deciding on a trip. According to a survey by reporters from Kinh te & Do thi Newspaper, the current round-trip airfare for the Hanoi - Phu Quoc route departing on April 28 and returning on May 3 is from 5 - 7 million VND/ticket (including taxes and fees), compared to normal days, the price of this flight is 2.5 million VND/ticket higher.

Even if customers buy business class tickets, the price is up to 12 - 13 million VND/ticket. Similarly, for the Hanoi - Nha Trang flight departing on April 28, returning on May 3, the cheapest price is 3.9 million VND/ticket; round trip is up to 7.7 million VND/ticket, 1.2 - 1.5 million VND higher than the current time. For the Hanoi - Da Nang route, the ticket price is 1.6 times higher than at the end of March.

“We are always concerned and have worked with aviation businesses. However, this is an issue related to the competent authority on air transport management. In the near future, we will propose that the competent State management agency re-evaluate the demand and costs to have appropriate policies,” said Pham Van Thuy, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration.

Director of Marketing and Communications, Saigontourist Travel Service Company, Doan Thi Thanh Tra, said that airfare accounts for 30-60% of the tour price. The increase in airfare will force businesses to increase tour prices, leading to many Vietnamese tourists abandoning domestic travel and switching to international travel.

Explaining the reason why international tours are so popular, General Director of AZA Travel Nguyen Tien Dat said that when planning a trip, customers will compare the prices of domestic tours and international tours to Southeast Asia and discover that these tours are not more expensive than domestic tours.

In the context of the tourism industry trying to recover but still facing many challenges, especially the impact of airfares, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh, the aviation and tourism industries need to sit down to find a "common voice", creating products with the best prices for the market as well as customers. In particular, there must be a "conductor" to harmonize the interests of all parties, avoiding the situation of everyone doing their own thing, especially during holidays and Tet, when tourism demand increases.

For routes without commercial flights, the aviation industry encourages travel businesses to charter entire flights, thereby diversifying products, adding new options for tourists and benefiting all parties.

Analyzing the reasons why airfares are so expensive, Vice President of the Hanoi Tourism Association Do Dinh Cuong stated that currently, an airfare is subject to 20 types of taxes and fees, accounting for 70% of the ticket price structure.

For example, Vietjet Air's airfare from Hanoi to Dien Bien Phu is only 290,000 VND before taxes and fees, however, customers will have to pay 584,000 VND in taxes and fees, including system service surcharge (domestic), security screening fee, domestic airport fee, system management surcharge... Thus, to reach consumers, the final price of the airfare is up to 897,000 VND.

"Therefore, to reduce airfares and help the domestic market attract customers, the State should reduce some taxes and fees and help ease difficulties for the aviation industry," Mr. Do Dinh Cuong suggested.

Experts also believe that in order to attract customers to use domestic tours, businesses and destinations must constantly improve the quality of tourism products and services. Because price promotions will no longer be an attractive factor, tourism businesses must promote by adding new services and improving quality to increase the customer experience.

A 4-day, 3-night trip to Phu Quoc during the April 30 and May 1 holidays costs about 10 million VND/person, while a tour to Thailand is only nearly 7 million VND/person, so of course tourists will choose to go abroad. Although in terms of attractiveness, destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, etc. are not necessarily equal to Vietnam, cheap airfares are the driving force attracting tourists to these countries.
General Director of AZA Travel Company Nguyen Tien Dat

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