From the second day of the Lunar New Year, cruise tickets in Ha Long Bay are being sold at prices 20-25% cheaper than usual, in order to attract more customers.
The Lunar New Year holiday lasts 7 days, giving people many travel options. On the third day of the holiday, some tourist destinations in the Northeast had not yet received many visitors. Some vendors began offering rooms at discounted prices to accommodate more guests and cut losses, especially for high-end tourism products.
Mr. Hoang Minh, the owner of a company specializing in domestic travel services, is currently holding a large number of Halong Bay cruise bookings that he needs to sell urgently. From February 13th to 14th, he had 34 remaining seats on a 5-star cruise ship that operates on an hourly basis, so he reduced the selling price to only about 1.5 million VND per seat.
Besides the cruise ship, he also has a large number of vacant rooms at several resorts and hotels such as Vinpearl Resort & Spa Ha Long, Novotel Ha Long Bay, Sea Star Hotel Ha Long, FLC Grand Ha Long, and À La Carte Ha Long Bay. Mr. Minh believes that if he doesn't sell all the vacant rooms quickly, he will suffer significant losses during this holiday season. The room clearance sales started on the afternoon of February 11th (the second day of Tet), with prices about 20-25% lower than usual.
Previously, Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Thao, Commercial Director of Mustgo, a booking platform with 2,000 hotel partners nationwide, commented that the availability of cruise ship rooms during Tet (Lunar New Year) "depends on the ability to market to the international tourist market." If this aspect is done well, some cruise ships can still be fully booked.
Foreign tourists experience making banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes) and viewing Hang Trong paintings on the Emperor Cruises Ha Long cruise ship on February 11th. Photo: Pham Ha
Mr. Pham Ha, Chairman of Lux Group - a company specializing in cruises - said that his two cruise ships, Emperor Cruises Ha Long and Emperor Cruises Nha Trang, are 90% booked for the holiday. Another Lux Group cruise ship, Heritage Cruises, has been suspended from operation until February 13th (the 4th day of Tet).
Prior to Tet (Lunar New Year), the Mustgo booking platform recorded below-average bookings in Quang Ninh during the holiday period. Hotels with 3 stars or more achieved occupancy rates of 30-40%. Cruise products were more popular, reaching over 80% occupancy.
Slow sales were also observed at some homestays and villas in the suburbs of Hanoi, which were almost empty throughout the holiday. Ms. Le Thi Thu Thuy, owner of Anbooking – a system managing more than 50 villas and homestays in the suburbs of Hanoi – said the occupancy rate of the entire system was only about 20-30%. Bungalow-style accommodations for 2-3 people were more popular, while larger villas for groups of over 10 people had "very few guests". Ms. Thuy hopes the occupancy rate can improve when companies organize social gatherings before returning to work.
A representative from this agency explained that due to the long holiday period, tourists tend to travel further afield for spring excursions, rather than simply renting villas for relaxation. Therefore, mountainous areas in the North or provinces in Central Vietnam will receive a significant number of visitors from Hanoi.
Tu Nguyen - Bich Phuong
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