VI
EN
Never before has the question of where to go and how to balance travel costs been of such great interest to Vietnamese people as during the Lunar New Year of 2022. Let's take a look at the overall picture of domestic tourism with its many contrasting aspects.
Travel is optimistic in the new normal.
This holiday season, tourists are mainly choosing trips within the province or to neighboring provinces following the "staycation" trend. Instead of going through travel agencies, they book services themselves, buy packages for small groups and families, and choose products that are close to nature and can be short trips.
Tourism and travel businesses are forecasting optimistic signals for the tour market during the 2022 New Year holiday, extending to the Lunar New Year (Year of the Tiger), and even into the first quarter if the nationwide pandemic situation is brought under stable control.
During the Lunar New Year of the Tiger this year, tourists mainly purchased individual packages for small groups and families, booking services themselves rather than buying tours through travel agencies.
From a travel perspective, a representative from Vietravel stated that currently, tourists prefer tour packages lasting less than 5 days, priced from 2.5 to 9 million VND. If flying from Hanoi to destinations in the South, tourists can stay one night at top luxury hotels in Ho Chi Minh City such as Rex, Grand Saigon, Majestic, Caravelle... for only 1 to under 3 million VND per night, including breakfast and free airport transfers. If tourists purchase additional tours to the Southwestern provinces or to Vung Tau and Phan Thiet, they only need to spend between 800,000 and 1.5 million VND.
TSTtourist also stated that, if conditions are favorable, they will launch approximately 20 impressive tour routes. These include long-distance tours departing from Ho Chi Minh City to northern provinces such as Dien Bien, Sa Pa, and Quang Ninh.
Many tourists choose to visit Phu Quoc, as this is also the best time of year for tourism on the island.
Besides Da Lat, Phu Quoc, and Sa Pa, which have seen a return of large numbers of tourists, many other localities are also recording signs of recovery. A representative from 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's holiday in 2022 reached nearly 40,000. During the same period, Dong Thap welcomed over 27,000 visitors; Vung Tau received approximately 61,000 tourists, almost equal to the same period last year; and Khanh Hoa welcomed over 37,000 visitors, a slight increase compared to the previous New Year's holiday.
This year, many tourist destinations and entertainment venues across the country have committed to offering free services or not increasing prices. All are prioritizing the implementation of safety measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The hotel chain was delighted as the percentage of high-spending guests exceeded expectations.
Despite the impact of Covid-19, the percentage of tourists spending more on luxury accommodations has increased significantly. Hotels and resorts are launching many attractive promotions and room discounts that tourists couldn't find before the pandemic.
For example, in Sa Pa, during the New Year holiday, tourists mainly chose high-end accommodation services, with 90% of rooms fully booked from December 31, 2021 to January 2, 2022. Meanwhile, mid-range guesthouses and small homestays had almost no or only a few guests.
Topas Ecolodge resort in Sa Pa is nestled amidst the mountains and forests, like a small village straight out of a fairy tale.
While budget guesthouses in Vung Tau still have many vacant rooms, large hotels and high-end resorts are fully booked. Many major resorts in Phu Quoc, such as Nam Nghi, JW Marriott, Movenpick, Radisson Blu, Premier Village, etc., have also announced that they are fully booked or have very few rooms left for this year's holiday season. Most tourists believe that hygiene and disease prevention measures are more strictly controlled and safer in high-end accommodations.
Although the aviation industry has become busy again, there is still some caution.
The domestic aviation industry was equally bustling. In December 2021, busy routes like Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City had an average seat occupancy rate of around 70%. In Phu Quoc, air travel alone welcomed approximately 10,000 passengers during the 2022 New Year holiday. The Ho Chi Minh City - Phu Quoc route alone had a seat occupancy rate of up to 78%. Overall, the number of passengers was three times higher than on a normal day.
The peak air travel season during the Lunar New Year of the Tiger is expected to be at 70-75% of last year's level.
During the peak Tet holiday of the Year of the Tiger, domestic airlines are expected to operate 14,000 flights with approximately 2.7 million seats, equivalent to 70-75% of last year's Tet season. Based on the number of tickets sold and the booking rate for each specific route, the Civil Aviation Authority will work with airlines to review and consider the need to increase capacity on each route. Routes with a seat occupancy rate above 70% or high booking rates (above 50%) will have their 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 expects to provide nearly 2 million seats, equivalent to approximately 10,000-11,000 flights, during the Tet holiday period from the 14th day of the 12th lunar month to the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. Vietjet, in particular, is also releasing hundreds of thousands of tickets with prices starting from only 600,000 VND (excluding taxes and fees). Tickets are available for sale without time restrictions on its website, mobile app, and Facebook page.
This Lunar New Year (Year of the Tiger), many airlines are allowing passengers to easily adjust their ticket information as needed.
However, the impact of the pandemic has still led to a decrease in ticket demand, coupled with aviation authority regulations regarding ticket sales. To effectively stimulate demand, many airlines have made it easier for passengers to adjust flight times and, especially, refund and exchange policies when needed.
Bus companies are worried because the number of passengers returning home for the holidays has decreased.
This year, due to the complicated developments of the pandemic, bus companies started selling tickets before and after Tet later than in previous years. Major bus companies such as Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi are accepting reservations but have not yet announced specific ticket prices and the number of buses operating during Tet. In Ho Chi Minh City, both the Eastern and Western bus stations are forecast to see a 30-40% decrease in passenger numbers compared to last year.
