HÀ NỘI — People in the capital have made preparations for the upcoming four-day (from April 28 - May 1) holiday celebrating the Reunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1), and many of them will be traveling. Many tourism companies are reporting a 20 per cent increase in bookings as compared to non-holiday days. 

Popular destinations near Hà Nội include Sa Pa (Lào Cai Province); Hạ Long Bay and Cát Bà Island (Quảng Ninh Province); Tam Đảo mountain (Vĩnh Phúc Province) and Ninh Bình Province and those further away, including the central cities of Đà Nẵng, Quy Nhơn, Phú Yên, Nha Trang, the coastal town of Mũi Né (Bình Thuận Province) and Phú Quốc Island (Kiên Giang Province).

People with more money may choose travel to Southeast Asian countries, East Asia and Europe.

For months before this holiday travel agencies in Hà Nội have prepared relevant tours to serve tourists.

The Vietravel Tourism Company has worked to keep tour prices reasonable as compared with low-season prices.

The company will serve around 24,000 tourists, a 20 per cent increase against the same period last year.

Up to now, the number of guests booking the company’s domestic has reached 70 per cent and the number of guests booking foreign tours has reached 80 per cent of the company’s plan for this point in the year.

Vietravel has also implemented a charter programme in which travelers can book a full plane and “free & easy” programmes (including hotel, flight and booking) to meet tourists’ diversified demands.

The Hanoi Red Tours Company since the beginning of the year has negotiated with partners like airlines and hotel systems in and outside the country to book flights for convenient days at the best prices. The company’s tours for this occasion have lured thousands of people. Many tours to the US, Dubai and Japan have been fully booked.

New tours include Bangkok-Pataya, Singapore-Malaysia, Seoul-Everland-Nami, and Germany-the Netherlands-Belgium-France.

The number of guests booking the tours of the company has surpassed 90 per cent of the company’s available spots. 

Nguyễn Tiến Đạt, deputy director of the Trans-Viet Company, confirmed that the number of guests booking the company’s tours increased 20-25 per cent against the same period last year.

Various tours departing on convenient days have been sold out to destinations like Đà Nẵng, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea.

“On this holiday, more guests prefer travelling abroad to various destinations like Europe, Japan, South Korea, Dubai, Turkey, South Africa and the US,” he said. “Up to now, the number of guests booking our tours has reached 80 per cent of the plan.”

Since the holiday was announced early, tourists have been more active in planning and booking.

The holiday is also the beginning of summer holiday, so many localities have prepared to open summer tourism services to mark the occasion. These include Đồ Sơn (Hải Phòng Province), Sầm Sơn (Thanh Hóa Province), Cửa Lò (Nghệ An Province), Nhật Lệ (Quảng Bình Province) and Đà Nẵng City with its annual fire work festival.

On this occasion, the South Korean Tourism Authority’s office in Việt Nam has introduced Busan tourism services, focusing on luxury tours for Vietnamese guests.

Last year, Busan received 88,000 Vietnamese tourists. The city’s authorities have promoted city’s tourism potential throughout Việt Nam.

“Airlines have increased the number of flights between Việt Nam and Busan to facilitate visitors to and from both sides,” said Shim Jeong Bo, head of Busan City’s Tourism Promotion Department.

For this holiday the Hà Nội Tourism Department has asked tourism service enterprises in the city to enhance safety for tourists.

The department has also examined individuals, enterprises and agencies working in tourism to ensure they follow regulations and laws during the holiday in the city to offer the best tourism environment for tourists visiting the capital. — VNS