VietNamNet
Bridge – While the long holiday, which
ended yesterday, May 1, was expected to be a bonanza for local tour organizers,
many of them in fact had to cancel their offered tours at the last minute due
to the exorbitant accommodation and service costs in tourism spots around the
country.
The Ho
Chi Minh Tourism Association (HTA) and national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA)
last week unveiled a promotional tourism program targeting domestic tour
packages which was expected to bear sweet fruits from the first holiday it was
applied to -- the four-day holiday to mark the national Reunification Day and
International Labor Day between April 28 and May 1.
However,
though airfares were slashed by 40 percent for certain services as part of the
program, local travel agencies still had to cancel their discounted travel
packages as accommodation and services costs skyrocketed.
In the
central city of Da Nang, tour organizers had to seek intervention from the
municipal Department of Culture, Sport, and Tourism, as hotels offered
exorbitant prices for rooms and other services when it was still a week ahead
of the international fireworks festival set to take place there.
A
three-day-two-night tour package to Da Nang to attend the fireworks festival
costs VND6 million per tourist, 30 percent higher than the rate last year, and
15 percent more than a tour to Thailand, travel agencies said.
Tour
organizers thus demanded the cancellation of 1,400 rooms they had booked due to
the expensive fees.
“Customers
for domestic tour packages dropped by 40 percent compared to the normal rate,”
said HTA deputy chairwoman Nguyen Thi Khanh.
Tran
Van Dong, director of Phu Quoc-based Huong Bien travel agency, said room prices
of 3- or 4-star hotels and resorts account for as much as 40-50 percent of the
total cost of a tour package.
“Hence,
if these expenses are increased, tour organizers have nothing left to earn
profits, and it’s understandable that they cancel the tours,” he explained.
“VNA
and travel agencies’ bid to boost domestic tourism has become fruitless due to
the unreasonably high prices,” said Tran The Dung, deputy director of The He
Tre Travel Co.
“This
occurs whenever holidays arrive, but relevant authorities seem unable to
control it.”
Thousands
of air tickets returned
Khanh,
of HTA, said that on April 25 many travel agencies announced that they had
returned thousands of air tickets to VNA as they failed to sell their packages.
The
organizers accepted losing the deposits and paid fines to return on average of
60 – 100 tickets each, while some even gave back nearly 1,000, said Khanh.
“We had
to return 600 tickets for tours to the central part of Vietnam, and 300 for
package to Hanoi,” said L., director of a HCMC-based travel agency.
“The
room price in Da Nang on April 30 was VND1.4 million per night, while the
normal rate is only VND500,000.”
Dung,
of The He Tre Co, also said he had to return 70 air tickets for a similar
reason.
“We
also lost the deposits at some resorts in Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, and Phan Thiet,”
he added.
VietNamNet/Tuoi
Tre
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