Vietnamese football fans are planning to go to Laos and Cambodia to watch World Cup as local TV channels have not yet been able to buy World Cup broadcasting rights.

World Cup 2018 to be held in Russia

Tran Thai Tuan from Dong Da District, Hanoi, said that he had booked flight tickets to Laos to watch the opening match of World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia. 

Many Vietnamese football fans can’t afford to come to Russia for directly watching World Cup, so, instead have chosen to fly to Laos, Cambodia or Thailand to watch the televised matches.

According to Tuan, his tour to Laos along with some of his friends will be five days and four nights would cost around VND7 million (USD318.1). During this time, he could watch seven matches.

Hoang Thanh from a travel company in Hanoi said that in recent days, her company has seen a rise in the number of passengers who have booked tours to neighbouring countries to watch the World Cup, particularly tours at middle-June when the Spain-Portugal, Brazil-Switzerland, and Argentina-Iceland matches are scheduled to be held.

Thanh added that at present tours to Laos by road for five days and four nights are about VND6.3 - 7 million, while the price for the trip from HCM City to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia for four days and three nights is some VND3.8 - 4.2 million per person.

In the context of the rising demand, many travel firms in Hanoi have launched promotional programmes, discounting VND300,000 – 400,000 for each person in a tour to Southeast Asia to watch World Cup.

Nguyen Ha Nam, Chief of the VTV Secretariat and Editorial Board claimed VTV was trying its best to negotiate with Switzerland-based Infront Sports and Media AG, official distributor of the tournament’s broadcasting rights, but claimed the price was very high.

Nam didn’t reveal the exact price but it was obviously going to be more than the price of World Cup 2014, which cost around USD7 million. 

Phan Ngoc Tien, head of board of VTV’s sport programmes said that besides the costs, many other factors also affect the negotiation’s result.

Dtinews