Travel firms decrease tours for Russian visitors

Russian tourists feed spotted deers in Hon Nhi Island in Khanh Hoa Province's Nha Trang City. The number of the tourists visiting Viet Nam decline due to the recent devaluation of the ruble. - VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Ha

The cancellation is the result of the declining number of Russian tourists visiting Viet Nam due to the recent devaluation of the ruble.

Anh Duong Tourism Company will cancel their charter flights to Phu Quoc Island of southern Kien Giang Province and HCM City. Annex Tour will also cancel most of the flights to Nha Trang of central Khánh Hia Province starting January 2015.

Hoang Thi Phong Thu, president of Anh Duong Company, told the local media that the number of Russian tourists arriving in Viet Nam has been declining since early December. The company works in partnership with the Turkey-based travel firm Pegas Touristik.

In December, there were only 10 charter flights to Phu Quoc and one to HCM City. However, there will be no flights in January.

Therefore, the company will temporarily stop its flights to these two destinations.

Thu told VnExpress.net that the flights will only be rescheduled when the number of tourists has increased.

Consequently, the company has to narrow the office's activities and lay off staff.

"What happened is unexpected, but we have to decide to keep the company running. However, we still hope that Russia's economy will recover and Russians tourists will visit Viet Nam again," added Thu.

This company set a target of 250,000 Russian tourists this year. However, the number has decreased to only 195,000.

The Annex Tour Company is no exception. It will reduce 20 per cent of its flights to Cam Ranh International Airport beginning January 2015, from its current 52 flights.

Annex Tour Company Director Nguyen Duc Tan has a pessemistic view of the situation regarding the Russian tourists.

"Russia currently has to deal with many issues. The overseas travel budget is included in the list of those costs to be cut. This winter is like a "frozen winter" for the travel firms, and will continue until 2015 and 2016. The firms will still face difficulties," revealed Tan.

Annex Tour Viet Nam targeted 120,000 Russian visitors early this year. This number is four times higher than last year. However, the target will not be reached since the number of bookings fell by 60 per cent compared with last year.

Nguyen Van Khoa, president of Binh Thuan Tourism Association, toldVnExpress.net that Russian tourists traveling to southern Binh Thuan has also declined.

Apart from Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, Mui Ne in Binh Thuan is also popular among Russian tourists.

The association has requested the service providers to offer discounts to support travel firms. They also encourage the firms to explore new tourism markets to ensure a flow of tourists.

Statistics from the Administration of Tourism showed that more than 330,000 Russian visitors came to Viet Nam in the past 11 months, which is an increase of 25 per cent over the data recorded last year. The country seeks to reach one million Russian visitors annually by 2020.