Bustling spring tour market

If in previous years, most of the tourist groups had already "booked" their spring tours before the Lunar New Year, this year the spring tourist market is still showing a positive growth trend. Grasping the needs of customers, travel agencies in Thanh Hoa have been and are continuing to build and launch many attractive spring tour packages, while promoting the exploitation of tourists coming to Thanh Hoa during the spring festival.

Bustling spring tour market The national historical and cultural relic of Nua - Am Tien Temple (Trieu Son) is one of the attractive destinations for tourists on their spring journey to Thanh Hoa.

According to a survey of some travel agencies in the province, if in the period before the Lunar New Year, customers mainly booked spring tours in some northern provinces, currently, spring travel programs from January to the end of February of the lunar calendar are showing a strong increase. In particular, spring tours do not only stop at sightseeing and sightseeing at traditional cultural and spiritual destinations but also have a variety of products and destinations. Therefore, the spring travel market this year is considered a "mystery" for travel agencies in the province.

Grasping the needs and tastes of tourists, the travel agency Huong Viet Travel Gold (Thanh Hoa City) has quickly developed a new product set "Spring travel at the beginning of the year". In which, closely following the criteria of traditional destinations that were loved by tourists in previous years, but for intra-provincial tours and tours connecting to Thanh Hoa, the focus will be on destinations with unique cultural, sports and tourism activities for tourists to experience and learn about culture and customs. Along with the Northern tours with convenient road routes, the unit also focuses on exploiting Central tours to Hue, Da Nang, Quang Binh and the Southeast region. However, at present, the 2-day-1-night and 3-day-2-night itineraries are still the top priorities of the majority of customers.

In order to improve the quality of spring tours, recently, many units have built new products, increasing the experience for tourists, including programs connecting tourists to Thanh Hoa. Specifically, Vietravel Thanh Hoa branch has built a series of tours "Discovering Thanh Hoa", with a schedule of 1 to 3 days, helping tourists not only to burn incense and enjoy the spring scenery but also to combine spiritual cultural tourism products with health care activities, thereby bringing new experiences to tourists, especially international visitors.

According to Director of Vietravel Thanh Hoa branch Tran Thi Nga, there are two factors that help spring tours in Thanh Hoa province attract visitors this year. First of all, the destination is suitable for the cost and experience desires of tourists. Second, the propaganda and promotion of the cultural, sports and tourism event schedule announced by the province early from January 2024. When these activities, especially the spring festival, are announced early in terms of time, location, scale... it will be very convenient for tourists to arrange time, book services, and consult destination information. On the side of travel businesses, they are also more proactive in consulting, building suitable schedules and tours.

From the business perspective, some travel agencies believe that spring tours in general, and spiritual cultural tourism in particular, in Thanh Hoa have the potential to develop strongly in the coming time. Therefore, in recent years, travel agencies have not only exploited domestic tourists traveling to other provinces for spring tours, but also exploited new products and destinations of the province to attract tourists to Thanh Hoa. However, frankly speaking, early spring tours to Thanh Hoa only focus on sightseeing, so the length of stay and spending of tourists are still very low.

In order for early spring tourism to contribute more to total tourism revenue, Head of the Tourism Association (Provincial Tourism Association) Vu Van Binh said: "In addition to focusing on investing in facilities and technical infrastructure, localities and tourism businesses need to pay attention to enhancing the experience for tourists through cultural, sports and tourism activities, especially traditional spring festivals. How can tourists truly immerse themselves in that cultural space, feel the value and meaning of the festival. However, right now, travel agencies need to focus on building tours connecting routes and neighboring cultural tourist destinations, convenient in transportation to suit the needs of short spring trips of tourists. Along with that, quickly build more tours to meet the trend of cultural tourism associated with experiences and health care in the first months of the year".

It can be said that although the tourism market is developing diversely in terms of products, tours, and routes, spiritual cultural tourism is still identified as the main product in the spring travel itinerary of many customers. Meanwhile, Thanh Hoa province currently has over 1,500 historical - cultural relics, scenic spots and a diverse and rich treasure of intangible cultural heritage, especially most localities in the province have unique traditional spring festivals. This is a resource and advantage for travel agencies to promote the exploitation of more attractive spring tour programs, attracting visitors to Thanh Hoa in the coming time.

Article and photos: Hoai Anh

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