Tourists flock to pilgrimages

Although the most important religious rite of the year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has not yet arrived, pilgrimage tours to pagodas in Vietnam have attracted a large number of tourists, said Tran Hung Phong, deputy director of Net Viet Tourism Company.
He added that pilgrimage tours this year began earlier than in previous years in order to meet the demands of tourists. The number of tourists increased about 15 percent over last year.
According to a representative from the Hanoi tourist Company, about 150 tourists booked pilgrimage tours to Huong (Perfume) Pagoda on New Year’s Day, which fell on Jan. 26.
Vietravel Company also took many groups of tourists to visit Yen Tu Pagoda in the northern province of Quang Ninh and Ba Chua Xu Temple in the southern province of Anh Giang.
Some other travel companies also introduced tours to pagodas nationwide for 12-14 days at a price of VND8 million-12 million (US$457-686) per tourist.
Moreover, Nguyen Nhu Hoa, director of Quynh Giang Tourism Company, said that the number of people who rented cars or took a bus to visit pagodas rose by 25 percent against last year. This led to a 20-percent increase in the price of car rentals compared to the other months of the year.