More prefer overseas destinations

Travel firms reported a 20-30 per cent increase in the number of tour bookings this year during the Reunification Day-May Day holidays.

They said that many chose outbound tours simply because they travelling to neighbouring countries was cheaper than domestic trips.

Binh An of Dat Viet travel firm said tours to Thailand, Cambodia and China were favoured since customers believed their costs were reasonable and service quality better than that of domestic tours.

The Ha Noi-based Ratraco said most clients preferred outbound tours, with the number of bookings doubling from last year. Seventy per cent chose to go abroad because domestic tours were a bit more expensive than outbound tours, it said.

A five-day tour from Ha Noi to Nha Trang cost VND9 million while a comparable one to Thailand cost only VND8.2 million.-VNS