While the number of travelers and turnover of the tourism industry have been decreasing dramatically, travel firms hope that the spring tours before, on, and after Tet will help stimulate the demand.

At Dong Mo tourism area, more than a half of the rooms have been booked.

Pham Duy Nghia, Director of Vietcooking Tourism Company said that travelers nowadays tend to organize tours and go in groups while they don’t buy tours from tourist companies in order to save money. Therefore, it is expected that the number of domestic travelers will increase, while domestic destinations will attract more travelers.

Sharing the same view, Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Head of the Marketing Division under Saigontourist said that though the company has been trying to slash tour fees and offer promotion programs, the number of travelers has seen a considerable decrease in comparison with the last Tet.

Aiming at Viet Kieu and young travelers

Nguyen Anh Tuan, General Director of OSC Tourism Company, said that Vietnam expects to welcome 4,000 Viet Kieu to return to Vietnam to enjoy Tet. Therefore, tourist companies should target these potential clients as Viet Kieu always spend a lot of money when visiting.

Tuan said that OSC has received the orders from five delegations, 500 clients and some more enterprises.

Meanwhile, Hanoitourism said that tourist companies should target young people and young families.

Vu The Binh, Director of the Travel Department under the Vietnam National Tourism Administration VNAT, said that Tet is the golden opportunity for travel firms to stimulate the demand.

On 2009 Tet, Saigontourist will provide two big tours to Hanoi with the departure from HCM City.

Haratour is offering domestic tours with low fees like Hanoi – Huong Pagoda (VND 270,000 per traveler), Hanoi-Lang Son (VND 525,000 per traveler), Hanoi-Yen Tu (VND 540,000)

Vietrivertour is also offering competitive tours: Hanoi-Sa Pa VND 1.09 million per traveler, Hanoi-Huong Pagoda VND 300,000.

There are over 9,300 accommodations for tourists which provide nearly 190,000 rooms. These includes 25 five star hotels with 167 rooms, 85 four-star with 10,367 rooms, and 166 three-star hotels with 12,051 rooms.

(Source: Tien phong)