The nation’s unification day (April 30) and May Day still a week away, tickets for the Hanoi-Lao Cai trains for the holiday are all sold out. All hotels and inns in Sa Pa are fully booked.

Foreign visitors in Sapa.

Due to hot weather in the last several days, the number of travellers from northern provinces wanting to head to Sa Pa has sharply risen.

The prices of hotel rooms in the resort town have increased quickly, especially for the time from April 28 to May 2.

The director of the two-star Darling Hotel, Do Lan Huong, said that the common price is VND500,000 to VND600,000 per two-three star room, from VND800,000 to VND1 million for luxury room (over 3-star hotels). The Victoria Hotel is asking $165-$235/room a day.

Though the prices have surged, all big hotels in town, namely the Victoria, Chau Long, Hoang Gia, Green Bamboo, Darling and Trade Union, are fully occupied and booked until May 2.

The vice head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Sapa district, Pham Tien Dung, said that the district forecast and prepared facilities to welcome tourists this summer. Some hotels and inns have been newly built or repaired but the town can’t meet the sudden increase of tourists for the coming holiday, estimated at 2-3 times more than the corresponding period of last year.

“This is good sign for us because the economic crisis isn’t hitting Sapa’s tourism industry. At this moment, all big hotels and restaurants in the town are fully booked,” Dung said.

Sapa has nearly 160 hotels and inns, with a total of 3,000 rooms, sufficient for around 5,000 to 6,000 visitors. Sapa authorities plan to send tourists to villages in Ta Van, Ban Ho and some households in Sapa town.

“We will control prices and service quality at these places to protect the interests of tourists,” Dung confirmed.

Sapa authorities are urgently preparing the “Sapa Culture and Tourism Week 2009”, which will open on the evening of May 1 at Van Hoa Park.

The five-day festival will include various events, such as an orchid contest, a folk-song contest, a cooking festival and the Sapa love market.

Quoc Hong