Vietnamese tourists 'ignore' New Year holiday

The short New Year 2025 holiday makes Nguyen Anh, Ho Chi Minh City, not interested in traveling because he is afraid of the expense of traveling, so he will wait for the 9-day Tet holiday to go.

Usually, Nguyen Anh takes advantage of the holidays to travel because of the nature of his work, so he doesn't have much time off, but this upcoming New Year's Eve, he decided to stay home and have fun in the city. He said that this time he only has one day off, "not worth the effort of traveling". In fact, many other tourists also choose like Nguyen Anh - according to reports from travel agencies - because the vacation time is short, close to Lunar New Year.

VNA Travel recorded that the number of visitors during the New Year holiday was not as sudden as other holidays. With a one-day break in the middle of the week, tourists had difficulty choosing a destination as they had to ask for extra time off if they were traveling or just staying overnight near the city.

Viet Travel Company determined that customers rarely travel far during this time, focusing on selling short tours within a 200km radius of Ho Chi Minh City to serve small groups in need. In the South, popular New Year destinations include Da Lat, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet; while popular destinations in the North include Moc Chau, Vinh Phuc and Ninh Binh. Deputy General Director Pham Anh Vu said that customers' priority is 1-2 day trips.

Vietnamese tourists visit Quang Ninh Museum. Photo: Vietnam Tourism

Meanwhile, Trang An Travel also surveyed customers and found that the majority of them are waiting for Lunar New Year travel. The short New Year holiday, falling in the middle of the week, combined with economic difficulties, means customers have more concerns than spending on travel.

Despite low demand, airfares during the New Year holiday are still high. Surveyed on the afternoon of November 26, the cheapest airfare from Hanoi to Phu Quoc on January 1 was nearly 3 million VND one way, nearly double the price of a week before. Similarly, the cheapest one-way fare from Hanoi to Da Nang was 1.5 million VND, flying early in the morning; other flights cost around 1.9-2.5 million VND, about 35-40% higher than normal days.

Mr. Vu said the problem of lack of trains and business policies makes ticket prices still high even though tourism demand is low. The representative of Vietnam Tourism said that during peak seasons, high-priced ticket ranges are opened first to measure demand - high demand means more sales and vice versa.

Tourists experience canoeing through the forest in Ca Mau in October. Photo: Chuc Ly

Regarding international tours, General Director Nguyen Huu Cuong of Trang An Travel said that the company currently only sells a few short foreign tours such as Thailand during the New Year holiday. Customers are currently interested in Lunar New Year products with a 9-day holiday schedule and long-distance trips such as Europe, Türkiye or winter skiing in Korea and Japan.

The number of Lunar New Year products at Vietnam Tourism is currently 3-4 times higher than that of the New Year 2024. Northern tourism programs are leading the domestic tour trend while international tours still focus on traditional itineraries in Japan, Korea, and China. New, high-priced destinations such as Hokkaido or Harbin are currently still picky about customers. It is expected that from the end of December, the demand for Tet tour registration among Vietnamese people will be higher.

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