Local travel market busy with tours during Lunar new year festival

Vietnamese travel agents reported that the local tourism market is busy with a great number of tourists registering tours during the lunar new year festival (Tet) and some long-distance tours are closed because of impossible ticket reservation.
Ms. Viet Thao from Vietravel said that the local tourism market is expected to be bustling during the 2009 Tet holiday as the number of overseas Vietnamese and foreign tourists has increased sharply. This year’s lunar new year holiday lasts for 6 days and is a good opportunity for travel agents to showcase the country.
Vietravel launched a series of special tours during the 2009 Tet holiday of more than 100 local and foreign tourist programs which are expected to welcome nearly 12,000 tourist arrivals.
Popular outbound tours are destinations with similar cultural backgrounds such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China, the Republic of Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Moreover, tours visiting relatives in the U.S. and Australia are favored by Vietnamese tourists.
A representative from Vinatour said that tours for the 2009’s Tet holiday are nearly full. In spite of discounts between travel agents, tour prices will likely be raised.
Prices of long-distance tours are based in part on airfares, of which account for 50% of the tour, because airlines adjust prices as other Asian countries also have lunar new year celebrations.
A representative from Saigontourist said that the number of tourists registering tours during the lunar new year holiday 2009 increased by 15-18% year on year and the company had to sell 10 more daily tours to meet the increased demands. Additionally, Saigontourist launched more than 200 saving tours with a 10-30% discount and 15 tours with one destination or numerous for overseas Vietnamese during the Tet holiday 2009.