More people are choosing to travel abroad thanks to cheap prices and greater interest in exploring other countries.

Vietnamese prefer holidays abroad

Many firms said outbound tours are more popular than inbound tours during the HCM City Tourism Fair 2017.

Ben Thanh Tourist Company said VND10m (USD660) tours to Taiwan, Bali, Dubai and Bhutan were particularly popular. 

The tours to Japan and South Korea sold out and many people selected Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia this summer.

Other firms such as Vietravel, Saigontourist and Tugo also reported an increasing number of customers booking holidays abroad.

Japan National Tourism Organisation which has opened a new office in Vietnam, said the number of Vietnamese tourists to Japan quadrupled to reach 230,000 last year.   

Ayumi Takahashi, head of the organisation in Hanoi said they considered Vietnam as one of top 20 most important markets. 

"We will actively participate in tourism fairs in Vietnam and collaborate with Japanese firms to attract more customers. We will also offer support to Vietnamese firms," he said.

Thailand, Singapore and South Korea have also established their own offices in Vietnam to boost tourism. 

According to the Korea Tourism Organisation, over 251,000 Vietnamese arrived in South Korea last year. 

In 2017, they aim to attract over 300,000 arrivals. Last year, Thailand attracted over 830,000 arrivals.

Nguyen Thien from HCM City said she liked travelling and had visited various destinations in Taiwan and Myanmar. 

Thien also preferred holidays abroad as they offered very good value compared to local destinations. 

The flight from HCM to Danang City is around VND1.5m (USD66), while a flight to Taiwan cost the same. Many attractions in Taiwan don’t even charge entry. 

"They don't raise prices unreasonably like some places in Vietnam so the tours are safe, the prices are stable and the tourism firms have good links with other service providers. I only need VND10m to explore Taiwan, the same prices for going to the northern provinces. The plane ticket to Myanmar is also cheaper now after a direct flight route opened," she said.

Tran The Dung, deputy head of The He Tre Tourism Company, admitted that too expensive travel costs were hindering the local tourism industry. 

Overseas flights were minimal costs compared to accounting for a third or a half of the total price of domestic holidays.

Meanwhile, the major airlines including Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific recently announced that they would raise flight prices. 

In order to have cheap ticket prices, the firms have to book tickets months in advance. Sometimes, the firms booked tickets for tours that didn't have many customers.

"It's not easy to secure cheap ticket prices. Sometimes the ticket prices offered to tourism firms are even higher than the discounted prices for individual passengers," Dung said.

Nguyen Ngoc An, deputy head of Fiditour Company said the discount and promotional programmes of local airlines were always short and repetitive and the number of tickets actually offered at the advertised price were low so it was difficult to plan trips based on them.

More foreign airlines and travel agents are coming to Vietnam encouraging people to travel abroad.

Dtinews