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VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of domestic tours under the tourism promotion
program have been described as the “trap” for travelers. Clients think they can
save money with the low cost tours, but in fact, they are overcharged.
Unreasonable departure time eats into travel schedule
In principle, travel firms always try to design the travel schedules in the most
reasonable way, so as to ensure that travelers can take full advantage of their
time on traveling, while keeping them in the best health conditions.
However, the principle has been ignored by many travel firms which deliberately
“forget” to inform the schedules of the trips, including the departure and the
return time. A traveler said that when she called a big travel firm in HCM City
to ask about the departure time, the officers of the firms refused to give
answers, telling her to book tours first and she would be informed about the
schedule on the day before the departure day.
Hanoi Redtours is one of the rare travel firms which have made public the travel
schedules of its 10 tours under the tourism promotion program on its official
website.
Those, who book the 4-day-and-3-night Tam Ky – Hoi An – Da Nang tour, would fly
with Vietnam Airlines, and they would have to get into buses to go to the
airport at 9 am of the last day of the trip. Meanwhile, the travelers booking
the 4-day-and-3-night Quy Nhon tour would arrive in Noi Bai airport in Hanoi at
11 am of Wednesday, which means that they would waste half a day on transport.
The reason behind the unreasonable schedule is the dependence on the air
carriers which offer low airfares. As for the Quy Nhon – Hanoi air route,
Vietnam Airlines remains the only one airline that develops the route with one
only flight a day.
In HCM City, Festival, a travel firm, announced the 20-25 percent tour fee
discounts for the promotional tours. However, the travelers, who book three
tours to the central region which would depart in August and September, would
land in the Da Nang airport in the central region at 11.10 pm. As such,
travelers would waste money to pay for hotel room for the first night, just
because they want to start out early the next morning.
Meanwhile, those, who book the Da Lat tour (four days and 3 nights) with the
departure time in August 22, in fact, would have three days and 3 nights to tour
because of the unreasonable departure schedules.
Departing at the dawn, returning at mid-night
On its official website, Festival announced the tour fee discount of 40-60
percent for summer domestic tours. On June 22, the travel firm would kick off
the tour from HCM City to Phu Quoc Island which offers the discount of 1-1.2
million dong.
However, in order to enjoy the discounts, travelers would have to see the travel
duration shortened. On the last day of the tour, travelers would have enough
time for sea bathing once and going to the market. After that, they have to get
into airplanes to return home.
The clients of Hanoi Redtours have announced that its buses would pick up
travelers at 3.40 am to the Noi Bai airport, from which travelers would fly to
Can Tho. Saigontourist Hanoi, which offers the 34 percent tour fee discounts,
and Vietran Tours, which offers the tours to Mekong Delta, using the air tickets
with the 40 percent discounts, have also forced travelers to take off at 5.50
am.
Phuong Loan – Nguyen Long
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