VietNamNet Bridge – There was no sharp rise in the number of visitors during this year’s National Day although many tourist sites and hotels kept prices unchanged and offered various promotions. Meanwhile, entertainment areas in HCMC were crowded.

The Saigon Zoo and Botanic Garden is crowded with visitors during this year’s National Day holiday.

Lots of visitors, many of them local tourists, spent the public holiday at such destinations as Phan Thiet and Phu Quoc, with hotels there posting high occupancy. In particular, hotels on Phu Quoc Island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang were full but no room rate hikes were reported, but other destinations saw lower-than-expected growth.

Nguyen Van Khoa, general director of Mui Ne Bay resort in Phan Thiet City in the south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan, put his resort’s occupancy at 98%, saying the overall rate for hotels citywide was also high, at 80-90%. Few hotels increased room rates while many provided more services to stimulate local demand, he said.

“We had to keep the prices unchanged to lure visitors as there were not as many visitors as in previous years,” said Khoa, who is also chairman of the Binh Thuan Province Tourism Association.

At other tourist attractions like Nha Trang, Dalat and Danang, the number of travelers did not rise while that in Nha Trang even fell by some 10% over the same period in 2012. Despite visiting Nha Trang and Dalat on the holiday, visitors could easily find hotels. Nha Trang, the coastal city often having hotels fully booked during holidays, only saw an average occupancy rate of only over 60% this year.

Tran Quoc Bao, head of domestic tourism at Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said this year’s tour prices were kept unchanged while prices of certain tours said those to Danang and Hanoi declined by between 40% and nearly 50% thanks to air ticket discounts by local carriers. Despite the affordable prices, the demand was not as strong as in previous years.

“Our visitor number rose more than 10% year-on-year thanks to the presence of big groups of customers. The number of tourists didn’t go up sharply as in other years but a year-on-year growth rate of 10% is so good in the context of current difficult conditions,” he remarked.

In the meantime, a large number of visitors had rushed to tourism areas and entertainment parks in HCMC. Recreational sites in the city like the Saigon Zoo and Botanic Garden, Dam Sen Cultural Park and Suoi Tien Theme Park were seen bustling during the holiday.

Due to this year’s short holiday, many visitors opted to enjoy their leisure time in the city instead of choosing long tours, said Ha Thanh Linh, director of Dam Sen Cultural Park. The number of tourists to Dam Sen shrank on the National Day holiday last year but it marked up 5% this year, with around 150,000 people visiting the park from last Saturday to Monday.

Source: SGT