Tour companies say holidays to popular destinations such as Sa Pa and Ha Long Bay are virtually all fully booked over the holiday period.

Ha Long Bay.

Deputy director of Ha Noi Redtour Nguyen Cong Hoan said his company had sold 45 tours to groups. Of that number, 800 holidaymakers had opted to travel abroad, while 500 were travelling to destinations in Viet Nam, he said.

Hoan said that there were very few spaces left on remaining tours. However, he said there were one or two seats still available on tours to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

Duong Mai Lan from Viettravel Ha Noi said the number of holidaymakers travelling abroad had increased by 40 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of holidaymakers travelling within Viet Nam had risen 10 per cent.

Sinh Cafe Ha Noi also said it had been inundated with holiday requests.

“We have sold almost every one of our outbound tours. Now, we only have spaces left on tours to China,” said Dai Nam, the company’s sales director.

Sinh Cafe Ha Noi offers tours to eight foreign destinations. Each tour typically had about 30 holiday makers, Nam said.

While the number of holidaymakers has soared this year, prices have only risen on average 5-10 per cent. Sai Gon Tourist is offering package holidays to South Korea for just under US$700 per person.

“Recently, people’s income has increased. Meanwhile, the price of tours remained static so more people can afford to go on foreign holidays,” Nam said.

Nam added that the world recession had had little effect on trade.

“Due to the world recession, many visitors have cut the holiday budgets, but they still go on holiday, they just choose cheaper tours,” he said.

Many holidaymakers are choosing to travel abroad to avoid the crowds at home. But many are still preferring to have traditional Vietnamese holiday destinations.

“Traditional tours to Sa Pa, Cat Baand Ha Long have still attracted lots of visitors. We sold out a long time ago,” Nam said. “We have stopped selling tours to Nha Trang and Phu Quoc because these destinations have no empty hotel rooms left,” Nam said.

VietNamNet/VNS