Domestic tourism can bounce back to glory days of the past

Domestic tourism can bounce back to glory days of the past

Returning to Hanoi after a 4-day vacation in Quy Nhon on the occasion of the April 30 holiday, Andy Pham was surprised at even high-class services being overloaded, even though the family made bookings a long time ago.

“I reserved a room and airline tickets more than a month before my vacation and actively chose high-class resorts and restaurants to avoid crowded places. Surprisingly, these places were almost full and I did not have many options, even though I had carefully researched a month before,” Pham said.

Like Pham, millions of Vietnamese tourists are ready for new experiences this summer after two years of tourism woes. According to the latest survey on travel searches from Google, searches for “best luxury hotel” increased by 71 per cent in Vietnam.

At the beginning of April, a travel company with more than 20 years of experience shared that it had prepared about 60 tour products, ready to serve the needs of 6,000 tourists during the first holiday of the summer peak season.

But a few days later, this business doubled the number of products and visitors to better match the market demand, especially at beach destinations.

Airlines are all having to increase the frequency of flights to serve the travel needs of tourists during the holiday season. Carriers who are members of the Vietnamese Airlines Group, consisting of Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, and VASCO, have provided nearly 450,000 seats in the seven days from April 28, while Bamboo Airways also announced an increase in flight frequency on key routes around the country.

According to vice chairman of the Hanoi Travel Association Phung Quang Thang, the holiday weekend booking has created a wave of tourism, showing that domestic tourism in the summer will be very busy. “This is the foundation for travel businesses, accommodation establishment owners, and restaurants to have funds to continue to reinvest, while gradually restoring business activities and providing new services.”

Travel businesses have partnered with hotels and destinations to launch many attractive promotions. Vice chairman of the Vietnam Hotel Association, Nguyen Phuong Chi, said that 4-5 star hotels in some famous tourist destinations such as Nha Trang and Danang are offering product packages with a discount of 20-50 per cent on room rents and service fees, while offering gift vouchers to use culinary and spa services.

In addition, destinations are also continuously organising promotion programmes and promoting regional links in tourism development to provide more products.

The 2022 Sam Son Sea Tourism Festival kicked off in the north-central coastal province of Thanh Hoa on April 23. A day later, the northern province of Thai Nguyen held a ceremony to open its tourist season 2022 under the theme “Discover the legendary land”.

he northern province of Ninh Binh also opened Hoa Lu Festival on April 9, while a hot air balloon festival was held for the first time in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum on April 23.

Meanwhile, Hanoi Department of Tourism has started a series of events to stimulate tourism in 2022. In order to attract tourists to Hanoi during SEA Games 31, taking place in mid-May, the capital is also hosting a series of unique and attractive tourism events such as the Hanoi Tourism Festival (May 13-15) and Hanoi Cuisine and Craft Village Tourism Festival (May 18-22) along with a number of night tours of Hoa Lo Prison and the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.

In the suburban area of Hanoi, Son Tay town also held the opening of the pedestrian street in Son Tay Ancient Citadel. Bat Trang Pottery Village in Gia Lam district is also cooperating with Hanoitourist travel company to launch a bicycle tour from the Opera House to Bat Trang.

Although there are no official statistics on the growth of domestic tourists in April, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the industry welcomed 26 million domestic tourists in the first quarter of 2022.

Tour operators expect that with such a strong increase in demand, domestic tourism can recover 70-80 per cent compared to pre-pandemic, and the goal of serving 60 million domestic tourists in 2022 can still be achieved.