After the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, the Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) operated five or six daily flights on the Ho Chi Minh City - Con Dao route, said Trinh Thi Phuong, head of the VASCO branch in Con Dao.

Particularly, during the festival that fell in the middle of the first lunar month, even seven flights a day could not meet the travel demand to Con Dao, a renowned tourist site offshore southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Flights to Con Dao were always fully booked and travellers had to book tickets days before the trip, Trinh told Ba Ria-Vung Tau newspaper.

Domestic tourists to Con Dao normally stay one night, in combination with visiting Hang Duong cemetery, Con Dao temple and prisons.

Resorts such as Six Senses Con Dao, Saigon – Con Dao and Con Dao attract a large number of foreign tourists from Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea. They often spend 7-10 days on their trips to Con Dao.

Average room occupancy in resorts in Con Dao reached 80-95 percent during the period.

Con Dao Island is an archipelago, 180km off Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Covering 76 square kilometres, the archipelago consists of 16 islands, the largest of which is called Con Son.

One of Vietnam’s tourist hot spots and described as a paradise in many international travel magazines, the pristine nature of Con Dao appeals to visitors with beautiful beaches and pure, blue water.

Apart from its seaside attractions, Con Dao has a national park with rich flora and fauna. It is home to dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles, which are under threat of extinction.

The island also houses a special national relic, the Con Dao Prison, where some 20,000 Vietnamese revolutionaries died during the war against the French colonialists and American invaders.

Built in 1862 by the French colonists, Con Dao Prison was once dubbed the largest "Hell on Earth" in Indochina.-VNA