23% price rise in airfares
to flow into group tour costs

Travel agencies are planning to
hike prices following announcements by carriers of a 23 per cent hike in
airfares.

Ben Thanh Tourist said it is
considering a 10 per cent rise while Vietravel said it would hike some tour
prices by 5 per cent.

Nguyen Chung Thuy, PR manager of
Lua Viet Tours, said the company had to adjust its prices due to the higher air
fares.

Website to
encourage voting for Jeju Island, Ha Long Bay

A website to encourage voting for
South Korea’s Jeju Island and Viet Nam’s Ha Long Bay as among seven new wonders
of the world has been launched at
.

The website, which has been
established with the co-operation of South Korean Culture Centre in Ha Noi and
Viet Nam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, provides sufficient
information on the two destinations and guide for voting in English, Vietnamese
and Korean.

The website is expected to attract
votes from more than 10 million South Korean and Vietnamese people.

Air Mekong puts on more
summer flights to Con Dao

Air Mekong and Vasco will operate
more flights to Con Dao Island to meet the surge in demand for travel to the
island during the summer holidays.

From June 1 Vasco will increase the
number of weekly flights between HCM City and Con Dao from the current 21 to 28.
From June 1 of this year, it will also fly between Can Tho and Con Dao four
times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and consider
increasing the frequency depending on demand.

Air Mekong will fly daily between
HCM City-Con Dao against two to three times a week now.

Samurai Tours organises
familiarisation trip to Japan

HCM City-based Samurai Tours will
take Vietnamese travel firms to Japan to assess the impact of the March
earthquake/tsunami in Japan as part of plans to regain the trust of Vietnamese
travellers.

Samurai Tours in co-operation with
All Nippon Airways and Japanese tourism service providers will organise a trip
for 12 to 15 tour operators to popular tourist attractions in Tokyo, Osaka, and
Nagoya between May 30 and June 6.

Like other Vietnamese travel firms,
Samurai Tours has also temporarily suspended tours to the country after the
natural disaster struck north-eastern Japan.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News