Illustrative photo (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Tet (Lunar New Year) festival is only a few weeks away, making people with wanderlust flock to travel agents to book their trips for the holiday. As a result, the tourism market has become bustling these days.
Domestic travel agencies have designed and introduced a series of inbound tours to serve the increasing travel demand during the festival.
To make it easier for tourists to plan and select interesting tours and destinations, travel agencies have focused on creating connection with destinations in order to diversify their products, especially hi-quality tours and those with diverse itineraries.
Representatives from a number of travel businesses in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities said visitors can easily choose tours to get interesting experience as they desire because almost all the tours are not only diversified in itinerary and activities, but also offer many options for departure dates.
Domestic tours related to the traditional Tet festival will be even more special because apart from visiting and enjoying the beauty of landscapes across the country, visitors can also join traditional festivals imbued with national cultural identities, learn about customs of Tet celebrations of different ethnic groups in the northwestern region, the northern delta, the Central Highlands, or those in the southern and Mekong Delta regions.
According to the Saigon Travel Service Company (Saigontourist), in recent years, many tourists have chosen to travel before Tet, especially overseas Vietnamese who return to the homeland for Tet.
They want to join preparations for the Tet in Vietnam, and buy local products, representatives of the firm said.
Most of the tourists like to visit flower and craft villages mainly in the southwest localities where they can learn how to make ‘tet’ cake and Tet jam; and enjoy the busy atmosphere on floating markets.
Nguyen Xuan Phuong in Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh City, said her family booked a tour from a reputable travel business, which will depart on the second day of the first lunar month from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Ba Be National Park in Bac Kan province and Pac Bo relic site and Ban Gioc waterfalls in Cao Bang province.
The early planning and booking helps her family members to not only actively choose suitable itineraries but also enjoy big promotions from the travel business.
A representative from Saigontourist’s Marketing-Communications Department said from the beginning of November 2019, the firm has sold 60 percent of the total number of tours designed for the upcoming Tet.
The company expects to serve 23,650 holiday-makers for its inbound and outbound tours during the festival.
Many travel businesses have offered incentives and promotions for customers who buy tours in the Lunar New Year festival such as giving lucky money, high-class suitcases, and promotional coupons.
Representatives of tour operators encourage tourists to buy tours early in order to get more choices of services.
If visitors plan to welcome the New Year abroad, they should book tours earlier for timely visa application, they said.
Illustrative image (Photo: VietnamPlus)
According to travel agents, the nearer the Lunar New Year draws, the more tourism market heats up. The most attractive domestic destinations include Mekong Delta localities of Can Tho, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and the northern provinces of Ninh Binh, Cao Bang and Ha Giang.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said the country served 85 million domestic holidaymakers in 2019, an increase of over 6 percent.
In 2020, Vietnam strives to welcome approximately 20.5 million international tourists, and serve 90 million domestic ones. The tourism sector aims to gross over 830 trillion VND (35.9 billion USD) in revenue./.
