Around 60 percent of travel companies in HCM City have resumed operating while the rest are expected to regain business in the fourth quarter of the year, according to the city’s Department of Tourism.
Tourists at Linh Quy Phap An Pagoda in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. (Photo: VNA)
Travel companies specialising in inbound and bound markets, however, must wait to reopen when foreign tourists are allowed to enter the country again, according to Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, deputy director of the department.
Travel agencies are now focusing on domestic air travel as part of an effort to recover from the fall-out caused by COVID-19, Hoa said.
Most travel companies are seeking help from the Government’s relief package so they can remain in business.
The department has submitted to the State Bank of Vietnam’s HCM City branch a list of 50 travel firms in need of aid packages from the Government and banks.
Travel firms are coordinating with airlines, hotels and resorts, restaurants and tourist spots to develop tour stimulus packages discounted by 50-60 percent.
Tours from HCM City to the Central Highlands for two days, for example, have discounts of 500,000-1 million VND (21-42 USD) and are sold for 1-1.5 million VND (42-64 USD) per person.
Tours to destinations in the north are priced at 4.5 million VND (193 USD) per person, down from 7 million VND (300 USD).
Many travel companies have reported a rise in the number of domestic travel bookings in the past few days.
A Vietravel representative said there has been a surge in bookings for car and hotel services, but the number of tour package bookings remains modest./.