One-day tour bookings increase

HCM City travel agencies reported an increase in one-day trip bookings for this week’s National Holiday – a bright spot in a tourism industry lagging because of the global economic downturn and fears of the spread of swine flu.
The September 2 National Day falls next Wednesday and there will be only one day off for students and public employees.
Dai Nam tourist site in Binh Duong Province, Vung Tau and Long Hai are the favourite destinations for HCM City day-trippers, and bookings for these sites with Fiditour and the Youth Travel Company have doubled over last month.
Trips to Dai Nam, for example, which is 40km from HCM City and boasts an artificial sea larger than 21ha and a zoo housing several kinds of rare animals, are accessibly priced at VND299,000 (US$17) per person.
"Tours to Dai Nam are attracting a high number of customers these months," said Fiditour director Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai.
That’s good news for the country’s economy, to which internal travel is of increasing importance.
Foreign arrivals to Viet Nam have dropped more than 18 per cent in the first seven months of this year. "It’s time for travel agencies to boost domestic tourism," La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of HCM City’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said.
Indeed, travel companies have responded to a tourism stimulus campaign launched by the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism.
Viet Nam Airlines will cut ticket prices from HCM City to central provinces next month. Two-way air tickets from HCM City to Hue and to Da Nang will drop to VND810,000 from VND1,060,000.
Vietravel’s trip features visits to royal palaces and temples in Hue, to Hoi An ancient town and to scenic spots in Da Nang city.
"We expect that bookings of tours flying with Vietnam Airlines to central provinces will increase 20 per cent in September," the head of Vietravel’s Press Office, Huynh Thu Dung, said.