Domestic tourism attracts many visitors during the summer.

Many domestic tour packages this summer are being offered at an average discount of around 30% compared to regular tour prices.

For tourism businesses, summer is the peak season of the year. This year, due to the still-difficult economic situation, coupled with political instability in some countries, most travel and tourism companies in Ho Chi Minh City are focusing on investing in and exploiting the domestic tourism market. Accordingly, a series of tours have been offered to customers this summer at prices averaging around 30% off compared to regular tour prices, while still guaranteeing quality.

Despite being busy civil servants, for the past three years, Nguyen Thu Minh and her husband, residents of Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City, have always tried to arrange family trips during the summer. This year, they initially planned a Singapore-Malaysia tour, but due to the high cost, they decided to switch to Long Hai beach in Ba Ria Vung Tau. According to Ms. Thu Minh, this is not only an opportunity for rest and relaxation but also a chance for all family members to bond more closely.

Many people choose to travel to domestic beaches to save money while still having plenty of fun activities (Photo: KT)

"Usually, during the summer when the children are on school break, our family organizes trips to the beach. We usually prefer Long Hai because it's close and affordable, and the children really enjoy the beach, especially during hot weather. We also consider it a reward for them after a year of hard work at school," Ms. Minh said.

Representatives from many travel companies said that this year, instead of focusing on overseas tours during the peak summer travel season like in previous years, businesses are concentrating on investing in and exploiting the domestic tourism market. Accordingly, a series of domestic tours with many new destinations and shorter tour durations of 4-7 days have been introduced to the market by travel companies. To date, the number of customers registering for summer tours at travel companies has been quite high, with Saigontourist alone having over 11,000 registrations.

Commenting on the trends for the 2014 summer travel season, Ms. Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Director of Marketing and Communications at Saigontourist Travel Company, said: “At this time, for domestic tours, beach resort tourism remains the most attractive. The most popular destinations are Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, and Con Dao. Besides that, there is a slight change compared to previous years: routes and combined routes to the Central and Northern regions are attracting a lot of interest from tourists. The reason is that this year Saigontourist is implementing routes with relatively high savings. Domestically, savings of up to 5 million VND are available for flights to the Central and Northern regions. And the price factor is also a key factor attracting tourists to these destinations.”

The difficult economic situation has directly impacted family budgets for summer travel, so most businesses have proactively sought ways to cope, offering discounts and stimulating demand to attract customers. For example, Vietravel has allocated up to 10 billion VND for promotional tours throughout the summer of 2014 by adding extra services for customers while keeping tour prices unchanged. Other companies such as Saigontourist, Ben Thanh, Viet Travel, Fiditour, etc., also offer tours during this period with discounts of 20-30% compared to regular prices. Thus, with only about 3-4 million VND, tourists can enjoy a pleasant 3-day, 2-night beach vacation. Besides ensuring tour quality, the summer tours offered by travel companies also feature diverse departure times and flexible pricing policies, allowing tourists to choose from 3-star or 4-star hotels and resorts.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, Director of Communications at Ben Thanh Tourist Company, stated: “In difficult economic conditions, attracting people to travel is not easy. Therefore, Ben Thanh Tourist has sat down with partners, especially airlines. In reality, when tour operators reduce prices, the quality is often compromised, so the biggest reductions are in airlines and hotels/accommodation establishments. Ben Thanh Tourist has the advantage of having a hotel system throughout the South and Central regions of Vietnam. This is a strength that allows us to create a competitively priced product while still ensuring quality.”

Mr. Ton That Hoa, representing the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, stated: After two years of implementation, the domestic tourism stimulus program initiated by the Association in collaboration with several airlines has yielded positive results and is of particular importance in developing the domestic tourism market amidst difficult economic conditions, creating opportunities for budget travelers to travel domestically by plane. The program has also partially narrowed the paradoxical gap where domestic tours are more expensive than international tours, a situation that has existed for many years. This year, in addition to cooperating with airlines such as Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air to offer affordable fares, the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association is also expanding its cooperation with tourism service providers in many localities nationwide to help local travel businesses offer significant discounts to the domestic market during the summer.

Mr. Ton That Hoa, Secretary General of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, said: “The association's main task is to link member units together to boost business. In this regard, the 2014 domestic tourism stimulus program continues with the airlines we have signed agreements with. This year, we continue to cooperate with airlines to implement the 2014 stimulus program earlier so that businesses in the stimulus group can offer their products, which will certainly lead to much better results.”

In the context of a challenging economy and reduced market purchasing power, tourism businesses have implemented numerous discount and promotional policies, offering tourists a wide range of choices during the vibrant summer season. However, sustainable development of the domestic tourism market still requires close cooperation between service providers, travel agencies, and management authorities.

According to VOV