A long holiday in late April combined with growing consumer confidence attributed to steady economic recovery has been inciting increased travel across the country.
Rapidly developing Vietnamese tourism in the early 2000’s lost its momentum during the economic slump in 2010, but a first quarter growth over 6 percent in 2015 looks to revive the travel urge.
According to travel companies, pre-travel bookings for the April 30 and May 1 holiday are some of the highest numbers seen in years with an estimated 30 percent increase from the same period last year.
The Ha Noi Redtours Company said that its bookings rose sharply, and its tours to Phu Quoc and Da Nang are fully booked.
Bookings have also been filled for tours to Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
The Vietrantour travel firm said that the company expects to serve roughly 3,000 customers during the holiday, a 50 percent increase from 2014.
Luong Duy Ngan, Director of the Newstartour travel company, said the company’s current reservations show a 30 percent rise from last year with tours to Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Singapore fully reserved and high traffic volumes to Da Nang, Da Lat, Sa Pa, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and the RoK.
Destinations like Quy Nhon, Tam Ky and Co To Island in the central region are becoming increasingly popular choices.
Despite a surge of tourists, operators do not expect issues with over-crowding since tours will be spread out over the long holiday.
Tours will also keep to capacity limits, according to Nguyen Cong Hoan, Deputy Director of the Redtours Company.
Travel firms said that prices for domestic tours could increase as much as 30 percent while international tours could rise between 10 and 20 percent.