Tourism companies pose ideas

Vietnamese tourism companies have proposed that airlines increase ticket prices gradually, rather than all at the same time, to allow companies to charge competitive prices so as not to put off potential customers.
They have made this proposal as a result of a predicted increase in prices this year, due to a variety of factors including higher VAT, which is now at 10 per cent compared to 5 per cent last year.
In an attempt to control the effect on customers, airlines should increase ticket prices in stages. For example, the price of a Ha Noi - HCM City return flight should increase from VND1.4 million (US$77) to VND2 million ($110), not VND2.6 million ($144) or VND3.4 million ($188), suggested Tran The Dung, deputy head of a team in charge of stimulating domestic tourism in HCM City.
Recently, Dung added, the cost of flights from Ha Noi to HCM City had increased and were now between VND2.6 million ($144) and 3.4 million ($188).
He said that at this new price, tourists had to pay up to an additional VND2 million for one domestic tour. For some domestic tours, visitors now have to pay up to VND7.9 million ($438) instead of last year VND5 million ($277).
Now, after spending a long time developing the domestic tourism industry, companies are faced with a new challenge.
At these new prices, domestic tours are now more expensive than those to regional countries such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, according to Nguyen Cong Hoan, deputy director of Hanoi Redtours.
As a result, tourism companies are attempting to find ways of keeping tour prices stable.
They have held discussions with service suppliers and sent documents in a bid to force them to co-operate.
Some companies have chosen to form small groups in order to increase buying power, however, it is not easy.
Focus Travel has its own way of tackling the challenge.
“My company specialises in organising inbound tours for foreigners. We guarantee the price of all booked tours for our customers,” said Nguyen Viet Trinh, deputy director of Focus Travel.
“We accept a cut in profits to attract customers,” he said.
However, Trinh said that in the future, when airline charges increased, his company would have to follow suit.
Last year, the country organised a programme entitled “Impressive Viet Nam” to stimulate domestic tourism. The programme brought about many positive results for tourism, especially when different sectors co-operated on cheap, high-quality tours.
However, many experts worry that the situation will revert back when the programme ends this year.