Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa Tourism Association on February 20 signed a deal with 10 travel firms to maintain fair prices for tours to Nha Trang Bay in a bid to fight unfair competition among tour operators, the local media reported.


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Local and foreign tourists are on board a boat in a Nha Trang Bay tour. Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa Tourism Association on February 20 signed a deal with ten tour operators to ensure fair prices for tours to the bay 


Nguyen Van Thanh, vice chairman of the association, said that the agreement was executed in response to unfair competition among multiple tour operators. Many unofficial travel agencies offer four-island tours at giveaway prices with low-quality services, negatively affecting the reputation of the tourism industry in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

According to the agreement, the 10 travel agencies operating tours to the bay, commonly known as four-island tours, fixed prices for these tours. They pledged to offer no promotional tours to ensure the tour prices remain unchanged at all costs. Besides this, they agreed not to offer reductions for tour groups or individuals buying tours at berths and deny unfair competition.

The new tour prices under the agreement will be registered at the Department of Finance of Khanh Hoa Province on March 1. The 10 travel firms will work daily to improve the quality of the four-island tours.

In the coming period, those taking tours on wooden boats will pay VND250,000 each (excluding admission fees at each location), while those buying similar tours but using motor boats will pay an all-inclusive price of VND450,000 each.

Further, the firms pledged to create a fund for maintaining tour management at the bay at a monthly rate of VND1 million per firm.

Four-island tours were reportedly first offered in 1990 at an initial price of US$7 per tourist, equivalent to VND70,000 based on the exchange rate at the time.

To date, 500-1,500 tourists daily take tours operated by some 10 travel agencies to the bay. As of November last year, tourists paid between VND150,000 and VND200,000 per tour using wooden boats. Some travel firms even charged as little as VND80,000-VND90,000 per tourist.

SGT