Outbound tours are in high demand, domestic tours are awaiting bookings.

Kinhtedothi - The Lunar New Year holiday in 2025 lasts 9 days, leading to a surge in travel demand. However, the exorbitant airfare has left the domestic market struggling to attract customers. Meanwhile, international tours are attracting more customers due to reasonable prices and many attractive destinations.

Overseas tours are in high demand.

Taking advantage of the extended Tet holiday, Mr. Tran Viet Hoang (Cau Giay district, Hanoi ) and his friends decided to go on a trip. Initially, Mr. Hoang planned a trip to Da Nang - Hoi An - Hue, but after researching prices, he booked a tour to Kunming - Dali (China) for less than 8 million VND for a 4-day, 4-night tour.

Regarding travel trends for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, a representative from Dat Viet Tour travel company stated that the most popular overseas tours during this holiday are those to China, South Korea, and Japan, with tours to China accounting for up to 75% of the total.

Vietnamese tourists visit Batu Caves (Malaysia). Photo: Hoai Nam

Similarly, information from BenThanh Tourist shows that tours to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and China currently have an 80% occupancy rate. "In particular, tourists are increasingly willing to spend more on high-value tours to ensure a complete vacation, new experiences, and high-quality service," said Tran Phuong Linh, Director of Marketing and Information Technology at BenThanh Tourist.

Explaining the reason why overseas tours are in high demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, Bui Anh Vu, Director of Communications at Viet Travel Company, said that Vietnamese tourists choosing overseas tours account for a higher percentage compared to domestic tours because the prices are cheaper but tourists enjoy higher quality services.

Information from tourism businesses indicates that Vietnamese tourists prefer traveling abroad partly because host countries offer preferential policies for Vietnamese visitors. Some popular and affordable tours to China include: Jiuzhaigou and Jiagushan tours; a 4-day, 3-night tour to Guizhou for only 6.9 million VND/person; a 6-day, 5-night Beijing-Shanghai tour for 17.4 million VND/person; a 4-day, 4-night Kunming-Dali tour by road for 7.6 million VND/person; and a 6-day, 5-night tour to Fenghuang Ancient Town for 10.9 million VND/person... Additionally, some 5-day, 4-night tours to South Korea are priced at 19.9 million VND/person...

Domestic tours are looking forward to welcoming guests.

While overseas tours are attracting tourists, domestic tours are experiencing a slump. Data from the online travel platform Mustgo shows that, except for Phu Quoc which is operating at high capacity, the occupancy rate for the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday at many hotels in Lao Cai, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Quang Nam , Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, etc., is only at an average level, with some places even below 40%.

Vietnamese tourists visiting Fenghuang Ancient Town (China). Photo: Hoai Nam

Explaining the reasons why tourists are not favoring domestic tours, Bui Thanh Tu, Marketing Director of BestPrice Travel Company, analyzed that airfares during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2025 will remain high and increase by 10-15% compared to the 2024 Lunar New Year.

According to Phung Quang Thang, Vice President of the Vietnam Travel Association, almost every year, during the New Year and Lunar New Year holidays, airfares increase significantly, while airfares typically account for 30-40% of tour prices. This forces travel companies to adjust domestic tour prices upwards by 10-20%, making many companies reluctant to sell domestic air travel packages. Meanwhile, all-inclusive overseas tours offer more reasonable prices, and the diverse range of travel products, including departure dates, tour durations, ticket prices, and destinations, gives domestic tourists many choices.

Similarly, Pham Van Bay, Deputy Director of Vietravel's Hanoi branch, said that the overseas tourism market during Tet (Lunar New Year) attracted significantly more interest from tourists compared to the same period last year. "High airfare is one of the reasons why tourists are shifting their focus to overseas travel during the Tet holiday instead of domestic travel. This has a negative impact on domestic tourism," Mr. Bay said.

According to Nguyen Huu Cuong, General Director of Trang An Travel, the price of round-trip domestic flights on some routes during Tet (Lunar New Year) is equal to, or even higher than, the price of all-inclusive tour packages to Thailand and Cambodia at the same time, causing tourists to choose overseas travel instead. “Currently, a 5-day, 4-night tour departing from Ho Chi Minh City to Taiwan on the 1st, 2nd, and 8th days of Tet is sold for 12.9 million VND per person. Meanwhile, a tour from Ho Chi Minh City to Quy Nhon and Phu Yen at the same time costs around 9.5 million VND, so many tourists have chosen to travel abroad,” Mr. Cuong explained.

Vietnamese tourists participating in a tour of Thailand. Photo: Hoai Nam

Surveys on travel websites of tour operators offering domestic tours for the 2025 Lunar New Year (Year of the Snake) show that a 5-day, 4-night Da Nang tour departing from Hanoi costs 8.5 million VND per person; a 4-day, 3-night Hanoi - Buon Ma Thuot tour costs 5.4 million VND per person… Meanwhile, the price of overseas tours is only 7 million VND per person for a 5-day, 4-night Hanoi - Bangkok - Pattaya tour; and 7.99 million VND per person for a 5-day, 4-night Ho Chi Minh City - Bangkok - Pattaya - Nong Nooch Dinosaur Park tour.

From an expert's perspective, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research (Vietnam National Tourism Administration), believes that the aviation and tourism industries should consider long-term cooperation to avoid price increases during peak seasons. To achieve this, government involvement is necessary to coordinate ticket prices, ensuring they are not too low compared to the floor price or that losses are covered.

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