Many people make travel plans during Tet holiday (Photo: VietnamPlus) Hanoi (VNA) – Ninety percent of rooms in high-end resorts in Sa Pa, in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, and Phu Quoc Island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang have been booked for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays. Most tourism companies in localities that are popular with tourists have resumed operations.
The domestic tourism market saw a surge in demand ahead of the Tet holidays after two years of adverse impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many tourist attractions have begun to be filled with holidaymakers.
The nine-day Tet holidays and increasing vaccine coverage jointly contributed to people’s decision to travel during the new year, as well as the Government’s policy to revive international travel in the new period.
Domestic tourism during Tet holidays
A survey on demand and trends of tourists in the post-pandemic period conducted by the Tourism Advisory Board, the National Private Economic Development Research Board and VnExpress e-newspaper in December 2021 showed that nearly 90 percent of the more than 10,700 respondents said they want to travel within the next 10 months.
Of that number, 53.7 percent chose to go on trips in the early months of 2022; 45 percent favoured two to three-day trips and 78 percent hoped to travel in groups of families or friends.
These answers reflect the reality of the tourism market for the Tet holidays. They opted for travelling to nearby attractions in small groups and short trips to ensure safety amid the ongoing pandemic.
Tourists conquer Fansipan peak. (Photo: VietnamPlus) Representatives of travel companies said that although tourism this year is not as popular as it was before the COVID-19 broke out, the domestic market has seen positive signals of recovery. The most favoured destinations in the southern region include Phu Quoc, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Quy Nhon, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong Delta localities; while Hoa Binh, Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Son La and Bac Giang are the most-visited in the north.
Demand for air travel from HCM City to Central Highlands, and central and northern localities has been on the rise, with flight occupancy rates over 70 percent. During the 2022 Tet holidays, domestic flight frequency hit about 14,000 with 2.7 million seats, showing that Vietnamese tourism has ‘waken up’ from hibernation, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.
However, the pandemic has forced tourists to change the habit of booking early before the Tet holidays to enjoy low costs. Now, they wait to the last moment before Tet to close the deal, to keep a closer eye on the pandemic situation in destinations.
Many tourist attractions fully booked
A representative of the HCM City-based Saigontourist said that since early October last year, they have served 98 groups of meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) regarding tourism, with more than 6,000 domestic visitors travelling to Ha Long, Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Phu Quoc and HCM City. It is projected to serve over 150 MICE groups in the first and second quarters of this year, including the largest one comprising 2,200 members departing to Long Hai.
The high-end tourism segment received increasing bookings for Tet as safety has been considered a top priority. Homestay facilities and resorts near Hanoi have been fully booked.
Photo: Young visitors travel in Hoi An (Photo: VietnamPlus)Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong Nguyen Viet Van said the province’s Da Lat resort city was full of tourists in early January. Many accommodations in the city recorded an occupancy rate of 70 percent, while two-star hotels, villas and bungalows were 90 percent; the figure was higher than 90 percent in three- and five-star hotels.
Tourists opted for pre-Tet travel as the pandemic has been brought under better control. Many facilities stated that they were fully booked between the third and the sixth day of the lunar new year.
Arrivals to Da Lat were mainly travellers from the south, as those from the northern region are more cautious regarding COVID-19.
In addition to strictly complying with the 5K message, travel firms have devised COVID-19 insurance packages to ensure the safety of tourists.
Numerous tourists decide to travel during the Tet holiday. (Photo: VietnamPlus) A representative of Vietravel said its domestic tourism insurance packages offer a maximum premium of 60 million VND (2,590 USD) per person.
Furthermore, unwanted incidents may occur when travelling amid pandemic time, particularly when departure dates and times must be changed due to complex developments of COVID-19, or visitors suddenly test positive for COVID-19 or have direct contact with patients.
To ensure customers’ rights, some travel companies have built flexible plans such as changing destinations and accommodations and deferring bookings so that tourists may switch to new travel plans with a more suitable schedule.
Travel firms are exerting efforts to offer more incentives for customers, thereby creating momentum for the tourism sector./.
