Tourism business is busy since the beginning of the year

The high number of tourists during the Lunar New Year is an optimistic signal for the whole year of business of travel companies.

Big growth

Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of Vietravel Hanoi, said that this year, the ratio of domestic and foreign tourists at Vietravel is equal. On the first and second days of Tet alone, Vietravel served 10,500 visitors.

Ms. Pham Bich Ngoc, Deputy Director of Vietrantour, said that more than 3,000 customers registered for Tet Binh Than tours at Vietrantour, reaching 90% of the plan. Although the tour price increased by 20-30% compared to normal days, there were not many changes compared to last year's Tet holiday, and some tours even had better prices to meet the increasing demand for tourism. Also to attract customers, Vietrantour has a policy of directly reducing tour prices or reducing from 200,000 VND to 1 million VND/person when registering for 4 people or more.

Northern tourists explore gardens in the Southwest region.

Ms. Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Marketing and Communications Director, Saigontourist Travel Service Company, also expressed excitement when Saigontourist continued to reap profits during the peak Tet business season with more than 39,000 domestic and international guests served, achieving a growth rate of 20% over the same period last year, of which domestic tourism accounted for 55%.

Ms. Tra said that during the 2016 Tet holiday, over 6,000 Vietnamese tourists “went” abroad with over 300 Tet tours. In contrast, from February 3 to February 15 (ie from December 25 to the 8th of Tet), Saigontourist welcomed 14 train trips to Vietnam with a total of 20,000 tourists and crew members.

This success is due to the fact that travel companies have planned to prepare and introduce fully and early hundreds of domestic and international Tet tours, ranging from IKO Travel's budget travel products, traditional travel products to Premium Travel's high-end travel products, high-end cruise tours...

According to records, this year's Tet, many tourists tend to choose long-term tours to experience the differences and cultural diversity of regions. Accordingly, the Northern tour package attracts the attention of tourists from the South and vice versa. In addition, many tourists have chosen Tet tours to travel and explore historical sites on the Central Heritage Road, where many Tet customs and folk games with strong traditional identities are still preserved. For those who are busy all year round, have the need to rest, relax, enjoy the spring atmosphere and experience a private space with their loved ones, high-end sea tour packages are suitable choices. It can be mentioned as the Resort tour at the modern 5-star complex The Grand Ho Tram Strip; admire the most beautiful Nha Trang bay in the world and stay at the 5-star Vinpearl hotel or Experience the Pearl Island resort at Vinpearl Phu Quoc, Saigon - Phu Quoc Resort, explore the newly opened Vinpearl Safari wildlife conservation park...

For foreign tours, many tourists tend to choose long distances, so the most popular European tour is to visit the top 4 cities of the "world fashion capital" in Italy; America - the world's leading shopping and entertainment paradise, with the highlight of enjoying Vietnamese Tet in Little Saigon, Los Angeles or Australia - experiencing the phenomenon of the opposite season with full summer sunshine. On this occasion, Dubai also becomes an attractive destination for those who love to explore the luxurious tourist paradise of the Arab world due to the cool, pleasant weather conditions and experience the buffet at the 7-star Burj Al Arab hotel, enjoy ice coffee in a space cold to -60C and admire the Miracle flower garden, the world's largest flower garden in the middle of the desert.

Spiritual tourism attracts visitors

Tet is also the pilgrimage season, so spiritual tourism is also the main business direction of travel service businesses as the peak time for these tours lasts until the end of the third lunar month.

At Vietravel, pilgrimage tourism is one of the main tour lines after Tet. To serve this large number of tourists, Vietravel has quickly built and deployed tour products combining pilgrimage activities in all three regions of the North, Central and South. Of which, the Northern pilgrimage tour group is expected to have the largest number of visitors with destinations such as Bai Dinh, Trang An, Yen Tu, and Huong Pagoda.

In addition to the traditional destinations mentioned above, Vietravel also opened the route Bai Dinh - Lam Kinh - Uncle Ho's hometown - Dong Loc intersection - Huong Tich Pagoda - Visiting the General's tomb - Thien Duong Cave.

In foreign markets, pilgrimage tours to Cambodia, Myanmar, Tibet, India - Nepal are also strongly exploited.

Up to now, the number of customers registering for pilgrimage tours through Vietravel has accounted for about 30-40% of the total number of customers registering for tours after Tet and is expected to increase slightly by 10-15%.

Also to anticipate the demand for spiritual tours after the Lunar New Year, Vietrantour has launched two new pilgrimage tours: India, Bangkok - Siem Reap, converging many attractive sacred destinations of India, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Ms. Ngoc said, according to Vietrantour's prediction, spiritual tourism that attracts visitors after Tet is to Thailand, Myanmar and especially spiritual destinations such as Trang An - Bai Dinh, Yen Tu, Cao Bang - Lang Son... will be chosen by many visitors due to the short travel time and convergence of many sacred destinations.

At Saigontourist, pilgrimage tours to the North, to the sacred Yen Tu mountain, to the Huong Pagoda festival, to celebrate the Lantern Festival in Hoi An, pilgrimages to the South and to the That Son region... with continuous departures from February to March 2016 are priced from 2,579,000 VND/person. Budget tours priced at 4,400,000 VND/person or itineraries to explore the North (from 7,479,000 VND/person), the Central region (from 4,879,000 VND/person) and Phu Quoc (from 3,979,000 VND/person)... are also being implemented throughout the company's system.

According to Baodautu