Thousands tours with discounts to be offered in Vietnam Int’l Travel Mart

Vietnam International Travel Mart – VITM will take place at Vietnam Exhibition Fair Center in Hanoi on April 3-6, announced the Vietnam Tourism Association and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on March 18.

This year’s event themed “Viet Nam-the country of heritages” has attracted around 654 local and foreign enterprises featuring nearly 500 display booths, including 248 travel businesses, 12 airlines, 136 hotels and resort, and among.

About 8,000 tours will be offered at 20-50 percent during the event.In addition, visitors will have a chance to buy 15,000 promotional air tickets; and get 600 free hotel and restaurant vouchers.

The organizer expects to attract more than 65,000 visitors; and the participants’ turnover will reach VND150 billion and exceed last year's figures.

Held annually in April in Hanoi since 2013, this is the largest-ever international travel fair in Viet Nam, contributing to promoting the national tourism.

This is good opportunity for domestic and international tourism enterprises to meet, link and promote tourism products each other.

Travel firms downbeat about business on upcoming holidays

Local travel companies are looking to modest growth in tour bookings during the upcoming holidays of Hung Kings’ death anniversary, Reunification Day, and International Labor Day from late April till early May.

Travel firms agreed that predicting the buying power for the upcoming holidays is not easy but they projected the number of guests booking their tours would pick up at least 10% as people spent much on their trips during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, which ended in the last week of February.

Therefore, many of them will not be able to travel again although they have six days off during the upcoming holidays.

Phan Dinh Hue, director of Viet Circle Travel and Service Company, told the Daily that the number of tourists is forecast to rise by a maximum of 15% on the same period last year.

“Demand for travel will not grow strongly after the long holiday on the occasion of the Lunar New Year,” Hue said.

Other firms like The He Tre Travel have the same view. Tran The Dung, deputy director of The He Tre Travel, said as it is not easy to find hotel rooms with good prices in tourist hot spots like Nha Trang, Danang and Phu Quoc, the company targeted to attract around 1,600 tourists during the holidays, up 10% against last year.

“In many tourist areas, the hotel room rates and service fees are too high,” Dung complained.

Travel firms bemoaned that it is difficult to book enough rooms in beach towns like Nha Trang, Danang, Phan Thiet and Phu Quoc. In Danang, though the city government permits a maximum room rate increase of 50% during the Danang International Fireworks Competition 2015 on April 28-29, travel firms will have to spend nearly VND800,000 per night for a three-star room, double the rate on normal days.

Big travel companies with preparations in advance can attract more guests during the coming holidays. Saigontourist Travel Service Company expects a 19% pickup in tour bookings as it booked hotel rooms and air-tickets one year ago and thus enjoyed good prices.

Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing and communications manager at Saigontourist, told the Daily that its tours to Danang, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang including flights have been sold out.

According to travel firms, most of the tours for the coming holidays will last three to five days, and tours bound for coastal destinations are still favored.

Bookings for outbound tours fare better. Many travel firms reported increases of over 15% in bookings for overseas tours, with growth at Saigontourist estimated at 30%. Like previous holidays, tours to regional countries are selling well.

Vietnam Airlines to launch pre-paid baggage service in late March

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on March 18 announced that it will offer a pre-paid baggage service for flights starting March 31.

In addition to allowed hand luggage and checked baggage, all passengers travelling on Vietnam Airlines flights (except for children under two years old) may pre-pay for their excess baggage through the airline’s website at www.vietnamairlines.com or ticket offices up to six hours prior to the flight’s departure.

Pre-paid baggage is sold in 5 kg increments starting at VND80,000 per pack for domestic flights and US$10 a package for international flights (depending on each itinerary). Each passenger can buy up to ten blocks equivalent to 50 kg.

The service is only applied to flights operated by Vietnam Airlines except for some domestic flights using ATR72 aircraft.

Excess baggage charges are normally paid at airports.

Ha Long Bay listed among top 15 most amazing rock formations

Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province has been listed in the top 15 most amazing landscapes and rock formations across the world by BBC News.

BBC News described Ha Long Bay as a spectacular landscape dotted with limestone pillars, arches and caves.

The rocks have been shaped by the repeated rise and fall of the sea over 500 million years. The bay also includes over 1600 islands and islets, most of them uninhabited, according to BBC News.

BBC News added that, according to legend, dragons created the islands and rocks to keep invaders out of Vietnam.

Among the top 12 amazing landscapes are the Fairy Chimneys in Turkey; Eye of the Sahara, in Mauritania; The Great Blue Hole of Belize; the Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand; Zhangye Danxia in China; Valley of the Moon in Argentina; the Wave Rock in Australia; Chocolate Hills in the Philippines; Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland; Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah; Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona; Cave of the Crystals in Mexico, and the San Andreas Fault in California.

Vietnamese tourists to Japan set record

The number of Vietnamese travellers to Japan for the first two months of the year surged 54.3% on-year to an estimated 21,800, a record high for the period, the Japan National Tourism Organization has reported.

Factors behind the increase included higher travel by Vietnamese during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, more flights connecting the two countries, easier visa conditions for citizens and the falling Yen saving shoppers money.

Chinese comprised the largest group of arrivals for the January-February period, at 359,100, up 99.2% followed by travellers from the Philippines, up 71.7%.

Vietnam Airlines offers summer promotion

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines launched its annual “Hello summer vacation 2015” promotion for passengers in Vietnam who buy tickets from March 17th-31st on both domestic and international flights.

One-way tickets between VND333,000 and VND999,000 are being offered for domestic flights departing from April 1st to October 31.

While, return tickets for international flights are being sold for VND21,500 (around US$1) to VND6,428,000 (around US$299). It is associated with interest rates of the banking system at the time of delivery of tickets.

These prices exclude taxes, surcharges and other additional fees do not apply to flights between April 30 and May 1 or on National Day (September 2).

Detailed information is available atwww.vietnamairlines.com, Vietnam Airlines booking offices nationwide, or call Hanoi 04.38.320.320; Ho Chi Minh city 08.38.320.320; or Danang city 0511.3.832.320.

Four-star hotel to be built on Ly Son

The Muong Thanh Hotel Group will build a four-star hotel on Ly Son Island, 30km off the coast of central Quang Ngai province, as part of its 2020 tourism development project.

Le Dinh Dong, the group's Deputy General Director, said the project is scheduled to start this year. It will cost 200 billion VND (9.5 million USD).

The seven-storey four-star hotel will provide 150 rooms and meeting accommodation for tourists, he added.

"It's part of our strategy to boost tourism on the island, as guest houses and homestay services cannot provide enough good accommodation for 3,000 visitors during the busy season," Dong said.

VNA to transfer HCM City-Tuy Hoa flight route

Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JPA) will take over the flights of national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) and Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) on the HCM City-Tuy Hoa route.

The transfer for the flight from HCM City to Tuy Hoa on the central coast Phu Yen Province will take place March 30, VNA reported.

JPA is a VNA subsidiary company and VNA owns nearly 69 per cent of JPA's charter capital.

Under the first phase of the takeover, JPA will operate three flights per week on every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday via an A320 aircraft.

The move is part of VNA's strategy to develop the brand name VNA-JPA. The strategy focuses on improving flight route networks and diversifying services to meet the passenger demand.