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The outbound tours would be more diversified and more
convenient in the next year, when a lot of domestic and foreign airlines are
planning to open new air routes from Vietnam to foreign countries, offering good
airfares.
In the past, travel firms always were the ones who explored and developed new
routes and then discusses with airlines to find out the best airfares, which
allowed to design the tours with competitive tour fees. However, the roles have
been interchanged as airlines themselves act as the advanced parties, who march
forward and suggest cooperation with travel firms to attract more travelers.
When airlines go ahead
In early November 2011, Vietnam Airlines, the national flag air carrier,
cooperated with South Korean Arirang travel firm to bring representatives of
leading HCM City-based travel firms to the new destinations on the itinerary
from Busan to Seoul. In the immediate time, travel firms can design the tours
for the travelers who want to enjoy the winter in the land of gimchi with skiing
areas, warm indoor water parks, amusement park Lotte World. After that, from
next year, many other tours would be designed for different seasons of the year.
In the winter flight schedule, Vietnam Airlines has decided to provide direct
flights from Vietnam to London in the UK from December 8, 2011. The Vietnam
National Administration of Tourism VNAT is building up a promotion campaign to
support domestic travel firms to grab the opportunities to attract British
travelers.
Not only the domestic Vietnam Airlines, foreign air carriers have also paved the
way for the cooperation between airlines and travel firms. The representative of
Air Mauritius in November carried out a survey and discussed with partners, so
that it can introduce clients to Vietnamese travel firms.
In order to encourage Vietnamese travel firms to learn about Mauritius, an
island in Indian Ocean which remains unfamiliar to Vietnamese people, the air
carrier has decided to offer preferential airfares until December 31, 2011.
Meanwhile, the office of Air Mauritius in Vietnam has been authorized to follow
procedures to grant visas to Vietnamese travelers. Just five days after
receiving lawful documents for applying for visas, people would get visas after
paying the fee of 30 dollars.
Travel firms believe that once the tours to Mauritius are designed, they would
attract a lot of Vietnamese travelers. Mauritius is warm all year round, many
beautiful beaches, waterfall rapids, hills, colorful land, and a lot of
beautiful landscapes created by volcanic activities.
The way for development widened
Jet Airways can see the opportunities to attract the clients who travel between
Vietnam and India, which has prompted it to sign a strategic cooperation
agreement with Vietnam Airline in October, which prepared the way to open a
direct air route between the two countries.
While waiting for the direct air route to be opened, Jet Airways has offered the
special airfares for return tickets for the year-end season. The passengers who
fly from Vietnam to India, only have to pay 381 dollars, and if counting on the
taxes, the sums of money passengers have to pay are still lower than the
airfares set up by other airlines.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhien, Deputy Director of Vector Aviation, the general booking agent
of Jet Airways in Vietnam, said that with the reasonable airfares and the
network of more than 50 destination points of Jet Airways’ network, it would be
easy for travel firms to organize tours.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Hai from Fiditour said he pays a special attention to
the fact that Aerosvit Airlines will provide direct flights from HCM City to
Kiev from December 23, 2011. The air carrier, with 70 destination points, would
allow passengers to travel to many countries in the world, which can create
favorable conditions for travel firms to design the tours to Europe.
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