VietNamNet Bridge – Cam Ranh Airport in Nha Trang City in the south-central coastal province of Khanh Hoa will welcome two chartered flights each month carrying Hong Kong visitors from late November this year.

Illustrative image. (Source: Internet)

The plan to take Hong Kong visitors to Nha Trang on chartered flights is initiated by a foreign tourism company, just like the case of Russian travelers being flown to Cam Ranh, said Truong Dang Tuyen, director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Tuyen said Hong Kong-based JJ Explorer Tours and its local partner had already worked with the tourism department on launching chartered flights using the airplane of Vietnam Airlines. In the first phase, chartered flights on the route will be arranged from the end of November to March next year, he said.

“JJ Explorer Tours has taken many representatives of Hong Kong media and travel agencies to Nha Trang to promote the local destination among Hong Kong visitors. The plan of using chartered flights is just the first step to explore the Hong Kong market and such flights will be run more regularly if the pilot run proves positive,” Tuyen said.

Russian visitors still make up the majority of international arrivals in Nha Trang, at roughly 70%. As the number of Hong Kong visitors to the central coast city remains modest, adopting chartered flights can be a breakthrough to develop this market further.

Apart from chartered flights from Russia and South Korea, Cam Ranh International Airport now handles only one direct air service from Moscow operated by Vietnam Airlines. The national air carrier next month will increase the frequency on this route from one to two weekly flights.

Khanh Hoa welcomed around 2.3 million visitors in 2012 with some 530,000 of them foreigners, the tourism department reports. In this year’s January-July period, more than 1.65 million visitors came to the province, with international arrivals totaling 353,300, growing 50% year-on-year, according to the department.

Source: SGT