Never before has the story of where to go and balancing the cost of the trip been of as much concern to Vietnamese people as it is during the Lunar New Year 2022. Let's review the panoramic picture of domestic tourism with many contrasting nuances.
Optimistic travel in the new normal
This year's holiday season, tourists mainly choose to travel within the province or to neighboring provinces following the "staycation" trend - traveling on the spot. Instead of going through travel agencies, they book services themselves, buy combos to travel in small groups and families, choose products close to nature, and can go for a short time.
Tourism and travel businesses forecast optimistic signals about the 2022 New Year tour market lasting until the Year of the Tiger, or even the first quarter if the epidemic situation nationwide is stably controlled.
Tourists during the Lunar New Year this year mainly buy combos to travel in small groups and with family, book services themselves and rarely buy tours through travel agencies.
From a travel perspective, a representative of Vietravel said that currently, tourists prefer tour packages lasting less than 5 days with prices ranging from 2.5 to 9 million VND. If flying from Hanoi to destinations in the South, tourists will stay 1 night at the most luxurious hotels in Ho Chi Minh City such as Rex, Grand Saigon, Majestic, Caravelle... for only 1 to under 3 million VND/night, including breakfast and free airport pick-up. If tourists buy additional tours to the provinces of the Southwest or to Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, they only need to spend from 800,000 to 1.5 million VND.
TSTtourist also said that if the situation is positive, the company will launch about 20 impressive tours to the market. These include long-distance tours departing from Ho Chi Minh City to the northern provinces such as Dien Bien, Sa Pa and Quang Ninh.
Many tourists choose to go to Phu Quoc, this is also the time when the island's tourist season is the most beautiful of the year.
In addition to Da Lat, Phu Quoc and Sa Pa, which are places with a large number of visitors again, many other localities also recorded signs of recovery. A representative of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of An Giang province shared that the number of visitors to the province during the 3-day New Year holiday in 2022 reached nearly 40,000 people. At the same time, Dong Thap welcomed over 27,000 visitors; Vung Tau welcomed about 61,000 visitors, nearly equal to the same period last year; Khanh Hoa welcomed more than 37,000 visitors, a slight increase compared to the New Year holiday last year.
This year, many tourist attractions and entertainment areas across the country have pledged to offer free or no price increases for services. All are focused on implementing safety measures to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic.
Accommodations excited as high-end spending exceeds expectations
Despite the impact of Covid-19, the rate of tourists spending more on luxury accommodation services has increased significantly. Hotels and resorts have launched many attractive promotions and room discounts that tourists could not find before the pandemic broke out.
For example, in Sa Pa, during the New Year holiday, tourists mainly choose high-end accommodation services, which are 90% full from December 31, 2021 to January 2, 2022. Meanwhile, mid-range motels and small homestays have almost no or only a few guests.
Topas Ecolodge Resort in Sa Pa is isolated in the mountains and forests, like a small village in a fairy tale.
While budget motels in Vung Tau still have many vacant rooms, large hotels and luxury resorts have been fully booked. Many large resorts in Phu Quoc such as Nam Nghi, JW Marriott, Movenpick, Radisson Blu, Premier Village... have also announced that they are fully booked or have very few rooms left for this year's holidays. Most tourists believe that in high-end accommodations, hygiene and disease prevention will be strictly controlled and safer.
Aviation is bustling again, but still cautious
The domestic aviation industry is equally bustling. In December 2021, busy routes such as Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City had an average seat utilization rate of about 70%. In Phu Quoc, the air route alone welcomed about 10,000 passengers during the 2022 New Year holiday. The flight route from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc alone had a seat utilization rate of up to 78%. Overall, the number of passengers was 3 times higher than normal days.
It is expected that peak aviation demand during the Lunar New Year will be 70-75% compared to last year's Lunar New Year.
It is expected that during the peak period of the Year of the Tiger, domestic airlines will operate 14,000 flights with about 2.7 million seats, equal to 70-75% compared to last year's Tet. Based on the number of tickets sold and the booking rate of each specific route, the Civil Aviation Authority will work with airlines to review and consider the need to increase the supply capacity of each route. Routes with a seat utilization rate of over 70% or a high number of bookings (over 50%) will have their supply capacity increased to meet the maximum travel demand during this year's Tet holiday.
According to Vietnam Airlines Group (including Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and VASCO), the airline plans to provide nearly 2 million seats, equivalent to about 10,000 - 11,000 flights, during Tet from December 14 to January 15. Vietjet alone is also offering hundreds of thousands of tickets with prices starting from only 600,000 VND (excluding taxes and fees). Tickets are available for sale without time limits on the website, mobile application, and Facebook page.
This year, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, many airlines allow passengers to easily adjust ticket information when needed.
However, the impact of the epidemic still causes the demand for tickets to decrease, at the same time due to the regulations of aviation authorities on ticket sales. To effectively stimulate demand, flight times and especially the conditions for refunds and changes of tickets at many airlines allow passengers to easily adjust when needed.
Bus companies are worried because the number of customers returning home has decreased.
This year, due to the complicated developments of the epidemic, bus companies opened ticket sales before and after Tet later than in previous years. Major bus companies such as Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi accepted reservations but have not yet announced specific ticket prices and the number of buses operating during Tet. In Ho Chi Minh City, both Mien Dong and Mien Tay bus stations are forecast to see a 30-40% decrease in passenger numbers compared to last year.
