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This year the Vietnamese government had announced the Tet holiday
schedule much earlier, prompting people to rush to book tours, with travel
agencies having less time to prepare for a variety of interesting tours.
International visitors in Hoi An
More people want to take long distance tours, since this year the Tet holidays
will be for 9 long days. Some local travel agents report that the number of
inbound and outbound tours registered during Tet have increased by 30 percent
compared to the same period last year.
Traditionally, for generations the Vietnamese people have preferred to spend Tet
holidays with their family members at home. This culture is changing fast, and
many now look forward to using their free time to take tours either within the
country or abroad.
Travel agencies inundated with tour bookings
According to travel agencies, 70 percent of tourists have registered for
tours that offer low airfares.
Saigon Tourist Travel Company is organizing more than 150 domestic tours during
the Tet holidays, serving more than 120,000 tourists nationwide, an increase of
20 percent compared to the same period last year.
The number of overseas Vietnamese account for 31 percent. The destinations most
popular with overseas Vietnamese are Nha Trang, Da Lat, Hue, Hoi An, Phong Nha,
Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.
Fiditour Company has registered about 10,000 tourists for inbound tours and
8,000 for outbound tours during Tet, an increase of 24 percent compared to the
same period last year.
Viet Travel Company said that 3,500 tourists will depart on January 24 (January
2 of the lunar calendar), of which 1,900 are registered for inbound tours and
1,600 for outbound tours.
The number of tourists registered for Thailand tours have increased this year.
600 out of 3,000 tourists registered for tours to Thailand at Viet Travel.
This proves that a long Tet holiday schedule motivates people to travel to far
off destinations.
Travel agencies welcome international visitors
Many local travel agencies are preparing to welcome international visitors
during Tet in Vietnam.
Saigon Tourist will welcome more than 2,000 international visitors from European
countries, including crew and passengers of Costa Classica cruise ship on
January 22 (December 29 of the lunar calendar) on a visit to Ha Long Bay.
On January 23 (January 1 of the lunar calendar), Saigon Tourist will see off the
Costa Classica cruise ship from Hai Phong to Da Nang and the Superstar Aquarius
cruise ship with 1,000 international visitors and crew members from Da Nang to
Hue.
On the same day, Saigon Tourist will also welcome Indochina river cruise liner
with more than 50 international visitors from France and Belgium for a five days
tour of Chau Doc – Sa Dec – Vinh Long – My Tho – Ho Chi Minh City.
Mekong Delta provinces are proving to be attractive destinations for
international tourists.
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