Tour operators shift focus to domestic travelers

Local travel agencies are teaming up with airlines, hotels and associations in Vietnam for tour discounts by at least 10% to woo more travelers to domestic destinations this summer.
A travel guide introduces pepper specialty to local tourists at a pepper farm on Phu Quoc Island of mainland Kien Giang Province. Local travel agencies are teaming up with airlines, hotels and associations for tour discounts by at least 10% to woo more travelers to domestic destinations this summer.
Tran The Dung, deputy director of HCMC-based THT Travel Co. and deputy head of the tourism promotion group in the south, said that the joint effort was to boost domestic demand for travel to sites in Vietnam when local tour operators faced more difficulties in attracting foreign visitors, particularly those from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Halong, Hanoi, Danang, Nha Trang and Lao Cai.
Many hotels, restaurants and transport firms in central Vietnam have joined the promotion programs of the HCMC Tourism Association (HTA), offering discounts of 10-40% for their services. Meanwhile, hotels in Ninh Binh, Halong, Hue, Danang, Nghe An, Do Son and Haiphong have launched promotions by 20-40% compared to normal prices.
The tourism promotion group under HTA has worked with local airlines, including national flagship carrier Vietnam Airlines and the country’s second largest airline VietJetAir to arrange tours at reasonable prices for domestic travelers.
Besides domestic destinations, a number of travel agencies have managed to lure local guests to their tours of Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan.
HCMC-based Lien Bang Travel Link has initiated a promotion program to give VND800,000 (US$37.8) to the customers who book its tours to South Korea before June 6 this year.
Tran Thi Hoang Linh, marketing specialist at Lien Bang, said the guests who make early bookings would be offered discounts and gifts plus a chance to win free trips to domestic and overseas destinations for two persons.
Previously, some travel companies recommended their customers who had already booked tours to Thailand switch to those trips with the same or lower prices to domestic destinations due to political unrest in that country.