Tourists participating in water sports activities in Phú Quốc City. — VNA/VNS Photo

PHÚ QUỐC — The number of visitors to Phú Quốc City has decreased significantly year-over-year, mainly due to expensive flights and unstable service prices, said city authorities in a conference held yesterday.

Chairman of the city People’s Committee Huỳnh Quang Hưng said that the number of tourists coming to Phú Quốc during Reunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1) was 11 per cent lower compared to other years, and it had not increased since.

He said the main reason was that plane ticket prices to Phú Quốc this year were higher than to other places and than other years.

“It is unreasonable for visitors to spend less on service but more on flights and vice versa”.

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Phú Quốc tourism has been seeing a dip in visitors due to expensive flights and unstable service prices. – Photo vnexpress.net

He suggested that airlines, tourism associations, and enterprises should discuss neutralising the price between flights and tourism services.

While receiving questions from authorities on the problem, many airlines attending the conference did not provide plausible explanations.

High airfare prices were not the major problem, but the instability in ticket prices was, said general secretary of Phú Quốc International Tourism Development Association Lê Thị Hải Châu.

“This has increased the tour price to Phú Quốc to VNĐ 8-10 million per person, which almost doubles the price to other destinations such as Nha Trang or Đà Nẵng”.

Another reason is because international flight paths from Hong Kong, India, and other countries to Phú Quốc have been disrupted, making it harder for the city’s tourism to see a surge in visitors, according to Châu.

Chairman of Phú Quốc Guide Group Trương Công Tâm said that it was also important to control service pricing in the city.

He said the problem did not lie in commodity and service prices, but rather in the difference in prices between facilities. 

“The majority of tourism facilities have list prices, but some are still unreasonable. One restaurant sells crabs at VNĐ500,000 per kilogramme, another one sells the same for VNĐ300,000 higher, which is totally unreasonable”.

Besides, Tâm said that unprofessional tour buses, which drive irresponsibly and lack proper management, were making Phú Quốc tourism unattractive to visitors.

“They often draw visitors in for their cheap prices, but then take them to expensive restaurants or souvenir shops to get the commission from those places”.

Hưng said that Phú Quốc would discuss with airlines to provide reasonable plane tickets and examine tourist facilities to neutralise service prices. — VNS