Travel during the 2014 Lunar New Year: Bustling both coming and going.

Because the Lunar New Year coincides with the peak season for international tourists, the number of visitors and the growth rate are more promising, especially from South Korean, Japanese, American, Canadian tourists, and overseas Vietnamese.

Nguyen Hue Flower Street (Ho Chi Minh City)

Another reason for the high number of international visitors is the political instability in Thailand, which has led many tourists to cancel their tours in Thailand and instead travel to Vietnam. Many travel companies are bringing Russian tourists to Vietnam during Tet to escape the cold winter. A significant number of Vietnamese expatriates are returning home for Tet and simultaneously booking tours this year.

A large number of overseas Vietnamese are returning home early and booking tours before Tet (Vietnamese New Year) with their families, eager to experience the Vietnamese Tet atmosphere. Many tour operators have had to develop additional specialized or customized tours for this group.

In addition, companies also organized the reception of cruise ship passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday. Saigontourist was the company that received the most cruise ship passengers, with 21,713 arrivals (a decrease of 7,000 compared to the same period last year).

Compared to the Lunar New Year of 2013, the number of international visitors to some localities increased sharply, such as Hanoi (up 12%), Ben Tre (up 16%), Binh Thuan (up 15%), Can Tho (up 9%), Da Nang (up 33.5%), Ha Nam (up 9 times), Hau Giang (up 40 times), Khanh Hoa (up 20.46%), Kon Tum (up 15 times), Lang Son (up 40%), Lao Cai (up 50%), Phu Yen (up 15%), Thai Nguyen (up 10 times), Thanh Hoa (up 60%), and Tien Giang (up 60%). However, some localities, such as Lam Dong, saw a decrease of 60%.

The outbound tourism market is quite vibrant, offering many options for travelers who want to explore the Lunar New Year in neighboring Asian countries such as Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

However, the increasingly complex situation due to political instability in Thailand has made tourists hesitant to choose Thailand as a travel destination during this year's Lunar New Year, leading many travel companies to cancel tours to Thailand. In previous years, Thailand typically accounted for 15-35% of the total tours sold during the Lunar New Year by travel companies, so the temporary suspension of this tour during the holiday is a significant loss for travel companies as well as airlines specializing in tours to this market.

Travel agencies have proactively introduced alternative tour programs to South Korea, Japan, and South America with preferential prices and promotions. Compared to domestic tours by plane, the price difference is not significant, so many tourists are willing to spend a small amount more to travel abroad. In addition, the launch of attractive promotional programs by companies also stimulates the demand for overseas travel among the people.

Overall, the number of outbound tourists decreased, but leading travel companies still saw growth during the 2014 Tet holiday. Ben Thanh Company had the highest increase in customers (20%), followed by Saigontourist Company with a 16% increase.

Localities with high revenue include Ho Chi Minh City with 5,100 billion VND (up 20%), Khanh Hoa with 289 billion VND (up 129.39%), Binh Thuan with 289 billion VND (up 40%), Ba Ria-Vung Tau with 79 billion VND (up 20%), Ben Tre with 32 billion VND (up 20%), Lang Son with 48 billion VND (up 21%), Lao Cai with 63 billion VND, Ninh Binh with 139 billion VND (up 9.3%)...

According to VH