September 2nd holiday: Travel trend to nearby destinations and self-sufficient

On the occasion of National Day, September 2, workers across the country will have 4 days off. Many families choose to travel to end the summer and create excitement for children to prepare for the new school year. However, instead of traveling the entire vacation time to faraway destinations, adventure travel, discovery, many tourists choose nearby, short-term and self-sufficient destinations.

Da Lat is the top destination on the list of travel trends for September 2. Photo: Nguyen Dung/VNA

Hesitate to go far to prepare for the new school year

Recently, one of the world's leading websites in the field of digital tourism, Booking.com, has compiled a list of the most searched tourist destinations by Vietnamese tourists for the National Day holiday.

The data was recorded based on searches for trips from August 31 to September 3. In the Top 10 destinations of interest, with peaceful scenery and poetic ancient French architecture, Da Lat is the place at the top of the list of travel trends. Next in order on the list are: Da Nang, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and cultural centers with many relics such as: Hoi An, Hanoi .

Notably, Phan Thiet ranked 8th in the list of searched destinations for the first time. Recently, the Dau Giay - Phan Thiet expressway has been put into operation, creating many conveniences and shortening the travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet. The northwestern mountainous town of Sa Pa with its cool, fresh air and the ripening rice season with terraced fields ranked 9th in the list. Finally, Hue ranked 10th in the list.

Due to the high price of domestic airfares and the desire for a less crowded vacation, many Vietnamese, especially young people, choose to travel abroad. The most searched is the capital Bangkok (Thailand). Next are: Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore, Hong Kong (China). These are all vibrant cultural centers in the Asian region with a variety of entertainment and shopping areas. It is worth mentioning that 4-day 3-night tours to countries in the Southeast Asian region cost from 7-12 million VND. This price is not too high compared to domestic travel, but there are many incentives on tour discounts, so it attracts customers.

A representative of Saigontourist Travel in Hanoi said that before this holiday, the company had launched tourism stimulus packages very early with a lot of information, including a preferential program of 1 million VND/person discount for some domestic tours, and up to 30 million VND discount for international tours. Saigontourist has designed about 100 flexible travel packages to serve a variety of customers who want to take a holiday.

However, due to the economic situation not yet recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic, many tourists have traveled during the summer, the time of the new school year with many tuition fees and early year shopping for children, causing many families to carefully consider where to go and what to do during the holidays. Mr. Pham Duy Nghia, Director of Ban Chan Viet Tourism Company, shared that for many reasons, the September 2 holiday is like a "catch-up" vacation. Many families will choose to stay at nearby destinations, with little travel and low costs. Therefore, most travel agencies do not focus too much on this occasion because the expectation of a "big push" is not optimistic. Coinciding with the transition to the fourth quarter, tour agencies will focus on evaluating and summarizing the summer travel program and preparing for the year-end travel season.

Not too exciting

Through monitoring the level of tour bookings, many travel agencies have determined that although it is the last holiday of the summer, the September 2 holiday will not be as exciting as other holidays of the year. Because most families have used their travel funds during the 3 summer months. In addition, the economic situation is still difficult, many families tend to tighten spending, prepare to shop and pay many fees for the new school year, so they are not "interested" in long-distance tours. In addition, at this time, students of all levels have started to return to school, many families cannot let their children go on holiday because of extracurricular schedules. Families with young children are also afraid that long-distance travel will tire their children, affecting the new school year.

Mr. Vu Duy Tu (Tay Ho district, Hanoi) said that although he had 4 days off, his family chose to stay in Hanoi for 1-2 days to prepare for the new school year for his children. The family rented a private car to visit grandparents and stay in the countryside for one night so that the children could still get out of Hanoi but did not spend much on food, accommodation, transportation, and did not have to worry about traffic jams on the way there and back when they actively rented a car by the hour.

Ms. Mai Thi Huong (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi) shared: Her hometown is Thanh Hoa, so this holiday, she will take her children back to her hometown to spend time with their grandparents. After the new school year starts, the children will have less time to go back to their hometown. On the way, the family plans to visit an ancient pagoda in Ha Nam province. On the way back, the family is considering letting the children stop by Ninh Binh to visit Van Long lagoon for the day and enjoy local specialties.

With 4 days off, sightseeing spots, scenic spots, heritage sites, relics, short-term and short-term tourist routes, traveling by road are the trends chosen by tourists and many families. On this occasion, Hanoi is a popular destination for many tourists from all over the world and is chosen to visit because the capital is both a cultural center and has many historical sites, especially Ba Dinh Square associated with the event where Uncle Ho read the Declaration of Independence giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In the North, many visitors are interested in tours to Moc Chau, Son La. In the South, Da Lat, Ba Ria - Vung Tau are the chosen destinations.

Grasping this trend, along with promoting self-drive car rental services, car rental with driver for family tours, travel agencies focus on day tours to visit Hanoi. Currently, many travel companies are exploiting tours such as: "Journey of Thang Long - Hanoi past and present" by Hanoitourist, Hanoi City tour by Saifgontourist. Day tours combining the discovery of the unique features of Hanoi's cultural heritage with traditional cuisine have received positive signals from customers.

Ms. Le Thanh Thao, Head of the Hanoi Travel Association, said that because domestic ticket prices are still high, with the same number of travel days, many foreign tours to Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia have prices equal to or even lower than domestic tours. Therefore, there are still a number of Vietnamese tourists, especially young people, who choose to travel to countries without a visa. Although this still promotes tourism, it will create a shift of mid-range tourism from domestic to foreign countries and may lead to a loss of revenue for Vietnam's tourism industry this year.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, shared that during peak tourist seasons, to stimulate domestic tourism, Vietnam needs to have effective financial and fiscal policies to stimulate tourism such as tax and fee exemptions for a certain period to support travel agencies as well as tourists, thereby helping to restore domestic tourism. After the September 2 holiday, tourism will have a period of stagnation. Taking advantage of this time, travel agencies will plan tours and routes to welcome tourists at the end of the year and early 2025.

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