VietNamNet Bridge – Though the petrol price has been increasing continuously over the last month, travel firms have affirmed the fees for the tours on the September 2 holiday would be unchanged.

Keeping tour fees unchanged, or losing clients

Nguyen Minh Man, a senior executive of Vietravel, complained that the petrol price increase would certainly lead to the higher input costs, because travel firms all use automobiles as the main transportation means for domestic tours.

Vietravel has a car group of its own; therefore, it can take initiative in drawing up the plan to serve travelers. However, it would suffer because of the higher expenses for petrol.

Meanwhile, other travel firms would meet big difficulties if they sign contracts with transportation firms at this moment. Besides, hotels and restaurants would also charge higher service fees, reasoning the petrol price hike, which would put a heavy burden on travel firms.

Despite the input cost increases, Vietrans Tour, Hanoitourist, Saigontourist, Vietnamtourism-Hanoi have all affirmed they would not raise the tour fees, according to To Quoc newspaper.

“The fees of the tours on September 2 holiday, which have been quoted over the last two months, would be unchanged,” an executive of Vietrans Tour said.

However, travel firms have complained that the repeated petrol price increases has neutralized all the efforts by the firms to slash the tour fees made in recent days.

“Travel firms cannot slash tour fees, if hotels, restaurants do not reduce their service fees, and if the food and petrol prices have been increasing continuously,” said an executive of a travel firm said.

However, keeping tour fees unchanged proves to be the only choice for travel firms now. If they don’t, they would lose clients.

Hanoi moi newspaper has reported the travel demand has been very weak, which has forced travel firms to offer big discounts to attract more travelers.

Lai Huu Phuong, Director of Ben Thanh Tourist, said despite the input cost increases, Ben Thanh and many other travel firms still have to keep the tour fees stable to retain clients. However, he admitted that the sale promotion campaigns have not helped much, while the demand for September 2 remains very weak.

Tran Van Long, Director of Du Lich Viet, has affirmed that the tour sales has been unsatisfactory, therefore, travel firms do not intend to design new tours, while they would still provide familiar tours.

Vietravel, which is considered a big guy in the tourism sector, has also reported that the number of travelers would not be higher than the previous year, which means that it would serve 2000 domestic travelers and 2500 inbound travelers on September 2 holiday.

Nguyen Thi Khanh, Deputy Chair of the HCM City Tourism Association, has said that the weak demand has caused big worries to travel firms. Meanwhile, the tourism promotion program implemented by the association with the cooperation of the national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air has not brought the achievements as big as expected.

Tour fee discounts still offered

Since people have been trying to fasten their belt, travel firms still keep the sale promotion programs running, even though the input costs have increased.

An executive of Vietrans Tour said some tours to depart in late August and early September would even enjoy lower fees in comparison with the high season in June and July.

The two tours which depart on August 28 – the golden day for booking tours – would enjoy the sharp fee discounts of 3 million dong. These include the four-day Hanoi – Da Nang – Hoi An – My Son tour (4.99 million dong per traveler) and the Hanoi – HCM City – Mui Ne – Dai Nam (6.499 million dong)

Compiled by C. V