Vietnam travel firms say long holidays bring bumper crop

Vietnam travel firms, long holidays from the weekend till the Labor Day on Tuesday generated good business for Vietnam local tour operators, many of whom reporting strong increase in the number of local, inbound and outbound tourism.

Tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City said the number of tourists traveling on these holidays went up by an estimated 20% over the same period of last year, while other provinces and cities home to tourist destinations also benefited strongly.

Fiditourist in Ho Chi Minh City said it catered to 8,500 tourists on domestic and outbound tours, up 22% year-on-year, while Saigontourist Travel Service Co. served about 6,600 tourists, up 20%.

Vietravel also reported around 6,000 tourists, up over 15% compared with the holidays last year. Le Hong Viet Thao from Vietravel said that many guests of the company traveled on long-day tours to the central and northern regions.

On the holidays, many tourism activities were also launched in other cities and provinces across the country. These include Bach Ma Impression 2007 in Thua Thien Hue Province, the Carnival Festival in Quang Ninh, and the centennial tourism festival Sam Son in Thanh Hoa among others.

During four days from April 28 to May 1, around 135,000 tourists visited Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long City, resulting in a 100% occupancy rate at about 7,800 rooms in the city. Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in the south welcomed some 290,000 tourists.

Dinh Hai, director of Quang Nam Province's Department of Tourism told the Daily yesterday his province received 10,000 tourists on these holidays, and all hotels in Hoi An Town reported full or over 90% occupancy.

On the occasion, the province launched Charming My Son night program for visitors, with traditional dances and music typical of the Cham ethnic people.

Binh Thuan Province with the famous resort city of Phan Thiet has attracted around 50,000 tourists on the holidays, said a report of the provincial department of tourism.

In related news, the General Statistics Office said in a report that nearly 351,000 international tourists visited the country last month, some 11,000 visitors less than in last month because the month was in the low season of international tourism.

However, in the first four months of this year, the total number of foreign arrivals in the country was up 12.5% year-on-year to over 1.46mil.

(Source: SGT)