Shop more than sightsee
Having just returned from Thailand after participating in a 5-day, 4-night Bangkok - Pattaya tour of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Vo Linh's family (District 3) expressed disappointment: "The program is full of shopping spots. The flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok is in the late afternoon, so it takes a day. The travel time on the road is too much."
Vietnamese tourists buying Thailand tours need to pay attention to departure and return flight times.
According to the program, on day 1, the group arrived at Bangkok airport and went to the hotel to check in and have dinner. Only staying here for one night, not having time to explore anything, on day 2, Linh's family had to check out early in the morning to follow the group to Pattaya to visit Nongnooch Dinosaur Park and Big Buddha Temple. In the evening, guests were free to stroll around the coastal city.
On the 3rd day, Mr. Linh was busy boarding the boat to Coral Island to... freely swim in the sea and participate in water games at his own expense. Then he rushed back to the mainland for lunch, then hurriedly got on the bus to Khao Chee Chan (Tran Bao Phat Son) and "specially" learned about and shopped at the World Gems Company gemstone processing workshop; in the evening he returned to watch the Alcazar show...
The "sightseeing and shopping" journey did not end on the 4th day, the group checked out early in the morning to return to Bangkok, conveniently stopping by the "royal sleep research center" to learn about sleep aid products; going to the "venomous snake research center" and "a place displaying leather products such as crocodile, stingray..." - where visitors can buy many other products. In Bangkok, visitors continued to visit the Four-Faced Pagoda, freely "exploring" shopping centers such as Central World, MBK...
On the last day, the whole group checked out to board the ship to visit Chao Praya, Golden Buddha Temple, Wat Yannawa boat temple and then went to the airport to return to Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon. Tour price 6,490,000 VND/adult.
"A 4-day, 4-night tour is more accurate, because the first day in Bangkok is in the evening. Most of the attractions are free temples and free exploration programs. There are not many attractions that require tickets. The rest is shopping and exploring the stores. When buying a tour and reading the program, tourists are overwhelmed by the series of destinations, but in reality there is nothing," said Mr. Vo Linh.
"2S" commission to compensate for tour price
The most popular Thai tour for Vietnamese tourists has long been the Bangkok - Pattaya itinerary, which is advertised by travel companies at "various" prices. There is a tour priced at 5.9 million VND for 5 days and 4 nights; but the most common price ranges from 6,490,000 to nearly 11.5 million VND/person (falling on the upcoming holidays of April 30 and May 1).
Bangkok - Pattaya tours often include many shopping destinations and free exploration of the coastal city.
However, in addition to the itinerary of many shopping destinations, Mr. Vo Linh also noted that tourists buying Thailand tours need to pay attention to the arrival and return flight times. For example, travel companies always "cheat" a day of tourists. For example, there are many tours that fly to Bangkok at 6:45 p.m., completing immigration procedures and collecting luggage still takes more than 1 hour, about the same time tourists take a car to get to the hotel. Even with dinner, when tourists receive their hotel room, it is still 10 p.m. If tourists buy a tour that departs earlier, at 11:15 a.m., the return flight is also early, at 1:30 p.m. In the case of a return flight at this time, tourists also lose a final day, because after breakfast they have to leave the hotel to go to the airport.
That is one of the reasons why Thailand tours are cheap, because the travel company will save time at the destination and thereby, save costs such as meals, transportation...
According to Mr. Truong Duc Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hon Ngoc Vien Dong Tourism Company, the "cheap" Thai tour also has the following significant reasons: First, the Ho Chi Minh City - Bangkok route has many promotional tickets from international airlines. These airlines use Suvarnabhumi airport as a transit point to a third country, so most of their flights are cheap, priced from 3 - 5 million/round trip. Second, the group tickets of Vietnamese airlines are quite low. Third, the land tour (ground costs) for the Bangkok - Pattaya route is currently "supported" by Thai partners. On this route, the Thai partner is losing 30 - 40 USD/guest. However, this loss will be compensated by the "commission" when guests "2S" - shopping and show. If the tour goes outside of Bangkok - Pattaya such as Phuket, Hua Hin, Khao Yai... the land tour price is still high because there is no "2S" to compensate.
"Thailand does tourism by making profit from the majority and Thailand's point of view is to attract as many tourists as possible and... deal with them. Therefore, many tourists say that when coming to Thailand, sometimes the cost of eating, going to the night market, shopping, watching shows... is higher than the tour price," said Mr. Hai.
Before the pandemic, Vietnam was always among the top 10 largest tourist markets of Thailand. After Covid-19, it is no different, Vietnam is in the top 5 largest sources of tourists to Thailand with nearly 400,000 visitors in 2022, equivalent to the pre-pandemic level. This year, about half a million Vietnamese visitors are expected to come to Thailand.
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