Travel in brief on 19/3

Hoi An resort offers 50% discount
To meet the rising demand of visitors coming to Da Nang for the fireworks competition, the Golden Sand Resort&Spa has launched a promotion programme that offers all rooms discounted up to 50 per cent. Buyers of rooms under this promotion will get a free ticket to watch the fireworks on March 27 and 28 and free transportation to Da Nang on the same nights. The resort also offers free transportation for guests to visit Hoi An.
Campaign to help lure 4.2m tourists
The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) expects that the "Viet Nam – Your Destination" programme will help the country achieve its annual target of 4.2 million foreign tourists and 28 million domestic holidaymakers this year. The head of the VNAT’s Travel Department, Vu The Binh, said the campaign will focus on overseas Vietnamese and encourage them to promote Viet Nam’s image abroad.
So far, about 80 per cent of foreign arrivals have said they based their decision to travel to Viet Nam on the recommendation of someone who had visited earlier, Binh said, explaining VNAT’s policy.
According to VNAT, foreign arrivals surged by 27.4 per cent year-on-year to almost 880,000 in the first two months of 2010.
Jetstar Pacific offers discounted fares
Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific has said all its branches are applying the same promotion programme on its 129 domestic and international routes beginning last week.
The discounted fares for domestic flights will be VND315,000 (US$16) on the HCM City-Da Nang and Ha Noi-Da Nang routes while a Ha Noi-HCM City flight will cost VND600,000 ($30) per ticket. Prices will be applied to flights from May 6-25 and September 7 – October 27. Tickets for flights on the HCM City-Hue and HCM City-Vinh/Hai Phong routes from September 7-October 27 will be sold at VND350,000 and VND650,000 respectively.
International air fares in the programme are also discounted. Tickets from Singapore to HCM City can be got at as low as US$25 while a flight from Darwin, Australia to HCM City will cost just $69, excluding taxes.
Travel firms fret over casino warning
Local tour operators are confused over a warning recently issued by VNAT who asked them not to take Vietnamese tourists to casinos abroad. The warning aims to protect local tourists from falling victim to gambling, but the tourism authority failed to explain why the tour operators have to shun these venues. Casinos are often included in itineraries in outbound tours, especially those tours of Cambodia, Malaysia, Macau and the US.
Nguyen Van Tuan, VNAT chief, explained that with regard to the law, VNAT cannot ban tour operators from taking tourists to such venue, but it issued the advisory to express clearly its view that it does not encourage such kind of tours.
Philippine Airlines to fly new routes
Philippine Airlines will launch new international air routes connecting HCM City with the Middle East and more destinations in Australia, the carrier’s country manager in Viet Nam said on Monday.
The Filipino carrier will commence services to Australia’s city of Brisbane on March 17 and Saudi Arabia’s city of Riyadh on March 28. The airline’s flights to the two new destinations would have good connections with the daily service the carrier operates between Manila and HCM City.
Tours to Thailand suspended
Some travel agencies have suspended tours to Thailand for fear that travellers can be trapped by demonstrations, and turned to other destinations. Vietravel and Fiditour have decided to halt providing tours to Thailand from March 14 to 20.
In fact, fearing the demonstrations, a lot of tourists have called off trips to Thailand. A Redtour group of 300 people decided to cancel their trip to Thailand, slated for March 14; they left instead for China’ Guangzhou and Shenzhen on March 20. Vietravel said that the people who cancel tours to Thailand will get a full refund of their down payment and a five dollar reduction on the next tour they book.