Tran Ngoc Nhung in Binh Thanh district in HCM City said her daughter initially planned to go on an outdoor excursion to Ho Tram in Ba Ria – Vung Tau with classmates late last week on the occasion of the closing of the academic year.

However, parents decided to cancel the tour because of Covid-19.

Le Hoang Nam in district 12 said he and friends are thinking about cancelling a tour to Con Dao Island later this week.

“We have booked air tickets and hotels. And no infection cases have been discovered at the destination so far. However, traveling at this moment does not bring joy,” he said.

According to the Hanoi Tourism Department, 7,503 travelers booking tours at 22 travel firms canceled tours to many destinations on July 28-30, the days the first cases in Da Nang were discovered.

CEO of Flamingo Redtours Nguyen Cong Hoan said after the ‘Vietnamese travel Vietnam’ campaign, the tourism sector should launch another campaign calling on travelers to share difficulties with travel firms by delaying tours to reasonable times or changing destinations.

Pham Minh Quang, director of Dolphin Tour, said 95 percent of the company’s tours have been cancelled or postponed.

“We have tried to persuade clients to postpone tours to appropriate time, but they insist on cancelation,” he said.

Phung Quang Thang, chair of the Hanoi Travel Association, director of Hanoitourist, said that three parties, travel firms, airlines and service providers, need to cooperate to share difficulties.

Airlines should apply reasonable policies for groups of passengers canceling or postponing flights, while accommodation service providers should also extend the validity of booking, so that travelers can travel at another time at the same prices.

Airlines should apply reasonable policies for groups of passengers canceling or postponing flights, while accommodation service providers should also extend the validity of booking, so that travelers can travel at another time at the same prices.

Nguyen Thi Khanh, deputy chair of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said the association has sent a document to the state management agency and local tourism associations calling for cooperation in negotiating for tour cancelation and postponement.

When canceling tours, most travelers require 100 percent refunds, while only a few of travelers accepted to delay tours to appropriate time.

Meanwhile, travel firms cannot get back the advances, deposits or payments for services they made to transport firms, accommodation service providers, restaurants and airlines.

Representatives of Vietnam Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Vietjet met with travel firms recently. Vietnam Airlines said it is allowing passengers to reserve tickets until June 2021.

Translated by Kim Chi 

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