Outbound tours surge despite inflations

Belt-tightening trend to cope with inflation could not hinder the trend for outbound tours, which have surged recently.

Viettravel, for example, reported a year-on-year increase of between 30 and 40 per cent in outbound tours at this point.

Some other travel agencies said outbound tours buyers recently made up 60 per cent of their local clients while only 40 per cent were interested in domestic tours, making a reverse.

Tour operators attributed the trend to numerous promotion campaigns launched by foreign countries as well as discounts in air fares and tourist service charges.

Many travel agencies have set up partnerships with airlines to reduce tour costs. The Hanoi Redtours, for instance, offers a five day-four night tour to Bangkok-Pattaya at between $319 and $389 per pax. Its deputy general director Nguyen Cong Hoan said the prices represented a discount of up to 20 per cent per pax.

A Hanoi citizen, Thanh Huyen, said thanks to the alliance between airlines and travel agencies that leads to discounts in tour charges, her family’s dream for an Europe travel will come true soon.

Huyen added her family will visit France and Italy this summer.

Favourite destinations are China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and some European countries.

Preliminary statistics showed that the number of clients booking for a tour of Thailand in May and June increased by 20 per cent year on year. Meanwhile tours of Japan for August have been almost fully booked.

Last year saw over 90,200 Vietnamese holiday makers visit the RoK, representing an increase of almost 20 per cent over the previous year.

There are some 73 flights to the RoK conducted weekly by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and Vietnam Airlines. The RoK Tourism Organisation opened its Hanoi branch office in April, boosting travel link between the two countries. – VIR

Tags: Outbound tours