Stimulating tourism from the April 30 and May 1 holidays

There are still about three weeks left until the April 30 and May 1 holidays, but the tourism market is already quite active. This is considered the “golden” time for travel businesses to kick off the peak summer tourism season.

Tourists visit Duong Lam Ancient Village, Hanoi. (Photo: Hong Trang)

Even before the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs proposed to swap working days to extend the holiday, travel companies predicted that many workers would take advantage of their vacation days to have 5 consecutive days off on April 30 and May 1. Therefore, in addition to short-term tours, travel agencies also launched many longer tours to meet tourist demand, along with attractive stimulus policies.

On this occasion, Saigontourist has built more than 200 domestic and international tours, expected to serve more than 110,000 visitors with more than 350 groups departing nationwide. A representative of this travel agency said that domestic tours in the North and Central regions and tours to Japan and Europe to enjoy the world's flower season continue to attract visitors, with some routes almost fully booked, reaching 80% of the service plan. In particular, road routes to Da Lat, Nha Trang, Buon Ma Thuot, Ca Mau...; high-speed train routes Vung Tau-Con Dao, Rach Gia-Phu Quoc are chosen by many tourists for the holiday.

Meanwhile, TSTtourist simultaneously launched 63 exciting summer tours at home and abroad with a total of 163 departures, the average number of guests per tour is only 20 people to ensure service quality, all tours have discounts and valuable gifts according to each market... Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2024 (from April 4-7) and Vietnam International Tourism Fair - VITM Hanoi 2024 (from April 11-14) taking place right before the holiday with thousands of attractive summer promotional tourism products are noted to further increase the heat of tourism on April 30 and May 1.

However, the reality is that the domestic tourism market is facing a situation of skyrocketing airfares, especially for routes with departures during holidays, leading to the forced ceding of market share to outbound tourism (Vietnamese tourists traveling abroad). Some routes with high ticket prices are Hanoi-Nha Trang, Hanoi-Phu Quoc, Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City... That is the reason why both travel companies and tourists have to find ways to cope to "avoid" the increase in airfares.

Airfares have long accounted for about 50% of the tour cost, so when airfares increase, tour prices also increase. Tourists are forced to recalculate, instead of flying, they travel by train or car to suitable destinations; instead of traveling domestically, they switch to traveling abroad with routes with small price differences.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, General Director of Flamingo Redtours

This explains why overseas tours are dominating this year’s holiday season, especially when many international airlines are offering competitive and attractive pricing policies. Destinations with average, stable, and relatively close prices such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, South Korea, etc. are the most popular choices among Vietnamese tourists.

Finding ways to adapt to the context of rising domestic airfares, many travel agencies have immediately diversified their tour types by increasing high-quality car tours on short trips; combining flights, trains, cars, and waterways on long trips. In Ho Chi Minh City, inner-city tours with river buses, city tours, and night tours are chosen by many tourists.

According to many experts, when a series of North-South expressways are completed, the flexible application and combination of many types of transportation in the travel itinerary will not only help optimize travel costs but also contribute to increasing the experience of tourists. This is a factor that travel agencies need to carefully calculate to build products, especially when airfares are predicted to not cool down in the near future.

In addition, this year's summer travel season continues to witness the rise of independent travel, especially in the domestic market. Many families have their own cars, transportation is increasingly convenient, so instead of buying package tours, families tend to design their own travel schedules with personal vehicles to increase their initiative in the travel experience. On this occasion, many travel agencies launch travel combos that integrate room rates, entertainment, etc. to serve independent tourists.

According to records, many groups of family guests in Hanoi rent homestays in the suburbs of Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh... to enjoy their vacation. Northern destinations with high numbers of bookings are Cat Ba, Van Don, Sam Son, Sa Pa...; while in the south, Vung Tau, Mui Ne...

During the peak holiday season, the railway industry also increases many train brands to serve passengers with preferential policies and discounts for social policy beneficiaries, union members, passengers with customer cards, students, and round-trip ticket discounts for passengers buying round-trip tickets...

The April 30 and May 1 holidays are considered the start of the summer tourism season, especially beach tourism, so on this occasion, many localities also focus on organizing beach tourism festivals to increase the attractiveness of attracting visitors. Typical examples include the 2024 Cua Lo Tourism Festival with many unique cultural, artistic and sports activities, affirming the image of a coastal city developing and reaching out in the future; the 2024 Nghi Son Sea Tourism Festival with the theme "Nghi Son pearl sea - aspiration to reach far"; Ha Long Carnival with the theme "Lighting up with wonders"; the Sam Son Sea Tourism Festival is expected to start from the end of April 2024; the Hai Tien Sea Tourism Festival with the theme "Hai Tien - the sea sings a love song".

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