Promotion campaigns cannot help travel firms pick up travelers

Travel firms have launched noisy promotion campaigns to lure more travelers in the low season. However, their efforts have been in vain.
Sharp discount rates offered
The sharp falls in the number of travelers have been reported by all travel firms, which have only received the bookings from small groups of travelers for the tours to the north or some South East Asian countries.
In fact, the sharp fall has been anticipated, because it is now the low travel season of the year. Therefore, the firms have to run noisy promotion campaigns to stimulate the demand, with the tour fee reductions of up to 30 percent.
In early November, Newstartour launched the program under which the 15 percent tour fee reductions would be offered to those who book tours in the birthday months. Travelers may enjoy the tour fee reductions of 500,000 dong for a domestic tour and one million dong for outbound tour.
Especially, Luong Duy Doanh, General Director of Newstatour, has informed that on the occasion of the Vietnamese Teachers’ Day November 20, the 25 percent tour fee reduction would be offered to the clients working in the education sector on the days from November 15 to November 22.
Doanh has admitted that with the sharp tour fee reductions, the travel firm has been selling tours at the cost prices and earning very modest profit.
At Viettrantour, after the big sale promotion campaign on the occasion of the Vietnamese Women’s Day October 20, it has offered preferential tour fees for the tours to the east and northwest in the autumn – winter season.
A tour to Ha Giang province now costs a traveler 3.19 million dong, while a tour to Sa Pa 3.29 million dong and the tour to Moc Chau 1.49 million dong, which are all very attractive to travelers.
Viettravel has launched a promotion program applied throughout the country, under which preferential tour fees would be offered to the groups of higher numbers of travelers. A traveler would enjoy the discount of up to 600,000 dong.
Director of the Viet Media and Travel Company has also informed that is selling 13 tours at the cost prices in an effort to stop the decline in the number of travelers.
Tours remain unsalable despite big discounts
The noisy promotion campaigns still cannot help activate the market which has been cooled over the last many months since people fasten their belt in the crisis.
Doanh of Newstartour said in general, autumn and winter are the low travel seasons, when less people book tours than in summer. Though Newstartour has slashed tour fees sharply, the number of travelers booking tours still has decreased by 30-40 percent in comparison with summer and 15-20 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year.
Director of a big travel firm based in Hanoi has revealed that the number of travelers booking tours has dropped by 20 percent so far this year; while the number of tourists in the low season is forecast to be 30-40 percent lower than the same period of the last year.
Analysts have commented that the tours have become cheapest than ever, while having advised travelers to book tours instead of arranging trips themselves. Travel firms can obtain air tickets at preferential prices from airlines under the cooperation programs between them. Meanwhile, separated travelers would not enjoy the discounts.