Passengers taking a Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City - Quang Nam get off the plane at Chu Lai airport - Photo: QUANG DINH
The problem of tour prices in Vietnam lacks connection within the tourism industry, let alone related industries because the Vietnamese economy in general and tourism in particular is still "strong and everyone does their own thing".
Recently, the increase in air ticket prices has sparked a lot of debate. There is an opinion that air tickets are the cause of high tour prices. Is this correct? In this article, I have a few things to say about this.
Tour price includes services: transportation, accommodation, meals, sightseeing, activities (gala, training, team building...), organization fees (insurance, gifts, tour guides, taxes , profit...). The most important of which is transportation.
Without transportation services, tours cannot be organized. Transportation including plane tickets, trains, cars, and boats accounts for the largest cost but cannot account for 60 - 70% of the tour price.
This ratio depends on the number of days of the trip, number of guests, time and quality of services such as accommodation, meals, sightseeing... Airline tickets can only account for 60 - 70% of trips. 1 - 2 days, going to meetings, conferences, handling urgent work.
If the domestic tour is 4 days or more, the furthest is flying from the North Pole to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi flying to the South Pole. Except for the Lunar New Year peak, air tickets never account for 40% of the tour price. Normally, tours last from 6 to 7 days, the maximum airfare is about 30% of the tour price.
5-day tour to Japan, UAE, airfare is always less than 1/3 of the tour price. The same goes for European and American tours. Commercial tours to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China... are subsidized by shopping services, tour prices will be cheaper, especially Thailand tours.
There was a time when Chinese tourists came to Thailand and Chinese companies were paid 50 USD each.
Tours to Thailand are extremely cheap not because of cheap air tickets, but because of the shopping and entertainment attractions linked to free car transportation, deep discounts on accommodation services, meals, taxes... and included in the tour price.
The distance from Ho Chi Minh City to Thailand is also too close, only equal to Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang. Thailand's population is only 2/3 of Vietnam's but Thailand currently has 15 airlines. Vietnam has only 4 airlines (actually only 2 main airlines).
It is true that many tours to Asean are cheaper than domestic tours, but not because of airfare but because of the mutual support of the local tourism industry and related industries. To get the best prices, travel companies have to buy wholesale, hundreds of tickets or more, and prepay part of the services, not just air tickets. If you don't sell it all, you'll lose money and face a loss.
The problem of tour prices in Vietnam lacks connection within the tourism industry, let alone related industries because the Vietnamese economy in general and tourism in particular is still "strong and everyone does their own thing".
It is also necessary to distinguish between tour price (in money) and tour value (experience content and service quality). Unfortunately, the price of the tour is known by looking at it, but the value of the tour is often known only after being used.
Smart customers always carefully review services, bind detailed contracts, choose brands, consult with users, compare between units, practical promotional policies... There is no quality tour but the price is cheap, only reasonable price because "you get what you pay for".
Summer tourism peak is coming. We cannot rule out the possibility that there are companies that falsify their services and push prices sky-high. You must "choose which tour to buy" to have the travel experience you want. Don't blame it all on airfare.
