Airfares have stayed high since the start of March as planes of many airlines are undergoing maintenance. Ticket prices for some routes on April 30 and May 1 have doubled.
Nguyen Huu Cuong, director of the Trang An travel company, said that prices of some domestic tours traveling by air have rocketed 150-200% compared to last year.
As airfares have hiked and fluctuated much, travel agencies are concerned about risks and only few can book tickets early for their customers.
Meanwhile, booking flight tickets close to the departure dates pushes tour prices up, he said, adding that road tours and short-distance trips will be preferred for the coming holidays.
Many localities are now ready with various tourism products to attract visitors.
The northeastern province of Quang Ninh will kick off the large-scale Ha Long Carnival 2024, a highlight of which is a light show of about 2,000 drones.
The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai will open the 2024 Rose Festival in its resort town of Sa Pa.
Traveling to coastal Nha Trang city in the central province of Khanh Hoa on this occasion, people can enjoy fireworks displays every night at the Ambassador Club tourist complex on Ana Marina Bay.
In Hanoi, many new suburban tourism products are offered on this occasion such as the tour “South Thang Long Heritage Road” connecting destinations in the outlying districts of Thanh Oai, Ung Hoa, and My Duc, and community-based tourism in Mien village of Ba Vi district.
Dang Huong Giang, director of the city’s Tourism Department, said that Hanoi plans to stimulate tourism in the suburbs to ease pressure on inner city areas and bring new experiences to tourists during the coming holidays.
Tour operators have also debuted a wide range of summer products since last month. Specifically, Saigontourist is offering more than 200 domestic and foreign tours attracting more than 110,000 travelers.
The VietSense travel company has launched many road tours with competitive prices such as about VND1.8-2 million (US$70-78) per person for a trip to northeastern or northwestern provinces; and VND7-8 million per person for a trip to Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Da Lat, or Phu Quoc.
In addition to domestic road tours, outbound tours with affordable prices are also chosen by many Vietnamese tourists.
Nguyen Ha Hai, Director of the Hongaitour travel company’s Quang Ninh branch, said that road tours to Chinese localities such as Dongxing – Nanning, Hekou – Jianshui – Kunming, and Jiuzhaigou – Leshan – Chongqing with prices ranging from VND6-10 million per person are attracting a number of Vietnamese visitors.
According to Deputy General Director of Vietluxtour Travel Company Nguyen Ngoc An, tours to the South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan are also popular among many tourists thanks to good prices.