Tourism infected with flu pandemic

      Hotel room rates and tour fees all have come down in order to rescue the tourism industry. The industry, which was already suffering from the world’s global economic crisis, has become more burdened by the H1N1 pandemic.
Tours cancelled because of H1N1 flu
According to travel firms, in the first five months of the year, the number of international travellers coming to Vietnam decreased sharply in comparison with the same period of last year. However, the bigger worry for travel firms is that the H1N1 pandemic will make their job even harder in the coming days.
Tran The Dung, a Fiditour Executive, said that since the beginning of the year, a lot of inbound tours have been cancelled. Even travellers who booked tours and confirmed schedules have cancelled tours at the last minute.
Dung said that a lot of countries have advised their citizens not to travel at this moment and people are afraid of the pandemic.
Minh Son, Head of the Travel Division of APEC travel joint venture, which specialises in bringing Japanese travellers to Vietnam, has also reported sharp falls of Japanese travellers in May and June.
The number of Japanese travellers in May 2009 was 16.5 percent fewer than in May last year. The figure in June 2009 proves to be more worrying, with the sharp fall of 39 percent compared to June 2008. Most scheduled tours have been cancelled. The firm expects that the number of travellers will drop further in July 2009.
Low fees prove to be lifebuoy
The sharp falls in numbers of travellers have forced travel firms to cut tour fees even more heavily.
“We joined the demand stimulus programme initiated by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, and slashed tour fees by 10-15 percent. However, we have had to slash another 25 percent to lure more travellers,” Dung of Fiditour said.
Not only travel firms, hotels are also trying to lure more travellers by launching attractive promotion campaigns. The room rates at some hotels have decreased by 50-60 percent from last year.
Deputy General Director of New World Hotel Dang Huy Hai said that the flu pandemic has made the occupancy rate 5-7 percent lower than the expected rate. Therfore, besides slashing room rates by another 5 percent compared to pre-flu period, the hotel has also organised food festivals to attract domestic travellers.
Hai said that not only export companies, but hotels should also think of targeting the domestic market in the current circumstances.
At its regular meeting with the Government recently, the Ministry of Finance presented a report on the economic situation in the first five months of the year. The report said that the tourism industry is still facing a lot of difficulties. Only 1.6 million international travellers arrived in the first five months of the year, down by 18 percent from the same period of 2008.