VietNamNet Bridge - Tourism centers across of the country such as Danang, Quang Ninh, Binh Thuan and Dalat have been flooded with tourists on Reunification Day and International Labor Day holidays.

The Danang Tourism Promotion Center said that many hotels were fully occupied during the International Fireworks Competition on April 29-30. Around 31,000 tickets to the competition, each costing VND200,000, were sold out. Tourism companies in Danang said the number of tourists who bought packaged tours to the city strongly increased on these days.

“More than 6,000 one- to five-star hotel rooms were occupied during the event, not including motels in neighboring areas,” Nguyen Duy Quang, deputy director of the center, told the Daily on Monday.

Cao Tri Dung, director of Vitours Danang, said the company has sold packaged tours to 2,000 people who visited attractions of the city in combination with joining the fireworks competition. However, tourism prices, especially transport and hotel services, skyrocketed during the days, with some travel companies even speculating on hotel service by booking many hotel rooms and then re-selling to others for a margin.

“A two- to three-star standard room costs around VND500,000 in normal times but it has doubled to VND1 million on the days. Still, many tourists couldn’t book the rooms,” he said.

Halong City in the northern province of Quang Ninh was crowded on the holidays last weekend in coincidence with the Carnival Halong 2011 festival. The organizing committee said that around 3,000 processional and unprofessional artists have performed in the festival.

Some representatives of hotels in this northern city told the Daily that their hotels were fully booked during the holidays.

“Our hotels were fully occupied on April 30 and May 1,” said Le Huu Duc, manager of the four-star Saigon Halong hotel.

Like Danang, prices of tourism services in Halong also strongly increased on the holidays, with a motel room having an asking price of VND1 million. Prices of some services even tripled.

Binh Thuan Tourism Association said around 42,000 tourists, including around 10,000 foreigners, visited the province on the holidays, most of them staying in resorts in Ham Tien- Mui Ne, and others which were all occupied.

However, the association said that prices of resort rooms and other services increased around 5% only.

Local media reported that the Central Highlands city of Dalat has welcomed around 100,000 tourists on the holidays, and prices of tourism services there were sky high.

In related news, serious traffic congestion was reported on all major routes leading to HCMC on Monday, as holidaymakers returned to the city after the holidays.

On Hanoi Highway, vehicles queued up several kilometers from the gateway to the city, with chaotic traffic circulation reported at Suoi Tien Entertainment Park in HCMC’s District 9.

At Binh Khanh Ferry Station midway between the city center and Can Gio District, hundreds of vehicles were seen lining up waiting for hours to pass the ferry into the city.

Source: SGT