On holiday eve, goods are abundant but hotel rooms scarce

Supermarkets are well-stocked as the four day holiday approaches. Expecting to fill up, hotels have raised room rates, reports Saigon Tiep Thi.

HCM City supermarkets fill their shelves, launch promotions

Nguyen Phuong Thao, Director of the Maximark supermarkets, says that the HCMC and Nhatrang City chain has 50 percent more goods in stock than on the eve of the Saigon Liberation/Labor Day holidays last year. In particular, she’s got lots of processed food and drinks on hand – twice as much as last year.

“The summer heat is giving us a boost,” Thao said. “Many families go to supermarkets to avoid the heat.”

Saigon Co-opmart is also stocking more goods to sell during the four day holiday, which begins on Friday, April 30. There is plenty of vegetable oil, eggs, dried food and frozen seafood, 40 percent more than a year ago. The Co-op’s marketing director, Le Quang Thuc Quynh, says that the supermarket chain is luring more customers by offering 50 percent discounts on summer clothes.

Meanwhile, fashion shops on Nguyen Trai Road in HCMC’s downtown District 1 are offering 50 to 70 percent discounts. Fabric shops on Thu Khoa Huan and Cach Mang Thang Tam Road are discounting five to ten percent of the total bill or giving gifts to buyers. At traditional markets, small merchants who sell food and spices are offering home delivery from April 28th.

Travel firms report resorts filling up fast

Travel firms say it looks like many people will spend the holiday at the beach, even though sun and surf packages are priced at fifteen to twenty percent above normal. Already complaints are heard that hotels are fully booked or demanding exhorbitant rates.

In Da Lat City, the average cost of a hotel room has jumped from 200,000 dong per day to 400,000-500,000. A check by Saigon Tiep Thi confirmed that all hotels on beachfront Tran Phu Boulevard in Nha Trang are fully booked. Mini hotels and 1 or 2 star hotels in Nha Trang, normally 150,000-300,000 dong per day, are able to require 300,000-600,000 dong per day for the four day holiday.

There’s still hope for last minute travellers in Phan Thiet City (Binh Thuan), where travel agents report that hotel rooms are 75 percent booked, and some hotels are deliberately holding rooms for walk-ins – doubtless at a high price!

It is now also the high business season for car rental companies. Prices have risen 20 to 30 percent, fuelled by high demand. For 900,000 dong per day, a customer can rent an Innova seven seat van, 200,000 dong above the normal tariff.

Intercity coach tickets are commanding a forty to sixty percent premium for the holiday, according to Saigon Tiep Thi’s survey in HCM City. Despite the higher ticket prices, the Mien Dong (East) and Mien Tay (West) bus stations both report that tickets to holiday destinations like Mui Ne, Vung Tau, Long Hai and Da Lat are sold out.

Saigon tiep thi

Tags: Vietnam holidays, Vietnam Tourism