Tour cancellations to northern region rise as COVID-19 resurges
Many booked tours to the northern provinces for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday have been postponed or
Travel companies in HCM City are introducing many tours for Tet Holiday with big promotions and discounts after no new Covid-19 cases were reported within the past three weeks.
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Nguyen Huu Y Yen, director of Saigontourist, said the market was livelier than last month as more people searched for information for HCM City tours. However, the number of customers was still lower than expected. The company also only focuses on the domestic market.
Lai Minh Duy, director of TST Tourist, said they had had prevention plans for several scenarios. Considering the in-bound tour sector alone, revenue in 2020 doubled compared to the previous year. TST Tourist has announced the 2020 Spring Promotion Programme for tourists this Tet Holiday. Many prizes and gifts are offered such as gold leaf or discount for their customers.
Meanwhile, Vietravel said their customers prioritised service quality and safety measures over brand names. Many people want to travel with families or friends and the most popular tours to resorts or to explore nature and new destinations on two-day to five-day trips.
The most popular destinations are in the northeast and northwest regions, Phu Quoc Island and the Central Highlands. 60 tour packages, 150 combo packages and 240 other services have been offered to tourists for Tet Holiday.
Tran Doan The Duy, general director of Vietravel, said they had also started the discount programme for spring 2021. The programme will take place from December 26 to March 21 with gifts worth VND18bn (USD776,500). There is a VND800,000 discount for a three-generation family. Customers will also be given a VND1.5m coupon if they buy tours worth over VND15m.
Saigontourist had co-operated with many four and five-star hotels to offer many discount programmes to attract customers during Christmas and the New Year. For the coming Tet Holiday, they launched several programmes and tours that start on the second day of Tet. Customers that book tours early were also given discounts that went up to VND500,000 (USD22).
