LookAtVietnam – The increasing number of holiday-makers, despite the economic difficulty that could be keeping travelers at home, has made many local tour operators upbeat about their business performance leading to the holidays of April 30 and International Labor Day.

Travelers ask for information about tours to the central seaside resort town of Nha Trang at Saigontourist Travel Service Co.’s booking office in downtown HCMC on Tuesday.

This year, the two holidays, April 30 and May 1, get stretched into a four day weekend as April 30 falls on a Thursday, a good chance for people to make longer journeys to tourist attractions around the country.

Tai said Saigontourist had so far reached 80% its target with over 4,000 travelers having booked both domestic and international trips for this long holiday weekend and that some tours to Phu Quoc Island, Korea, Europe, and America had already been closed, and tours to Nha Trang and Mui Ne were nearly full.

Tai said that most domestic tour prices were the same as last year but some prices were cut by 15% to 20% thanks to the promotion program of Vietnam Airlines.

Nguyen Ngoc An, director of Dinh Trade & Travel Service Co, better known as Fiditour, said that her company had seen a strong increase in travel demand for this year’s holiday weekend.

An attributed the increase in bookings by local travelers to hot weather and stable tour prices this year when the company introduced 60 new domestic and international tours.

He said Fiditour expected to serve 12,000 tourists for the forthcoming holiday weekend, 20% more than last year, and that the company had to open more tours to Nha Trang, Phan Thiet and Dalat to cater to the demand in the coming days.

Vietravel is on track thanks to the longer holidays this year. A company representative said Vietravel had targeted to serve 5,000 domestic travelers and 2,500 international travelers.

Strong demand this year will make it difficult for people to book last minute accommodations at favorite destinations such as Mui Ne in the central coast city of Binh Thuan.

Most resorts in Mui Ne, such as Bamboo, Coco Beach, Hoang Ngoc and Tien Dat, are fully booked for April 30 and May 1. Some resorts there have hiked room rates by 20% to 35%.

VietNamNet/SGT