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W
hen 28 year old Nguyen
Hong Vinh of Hanoi put
out a call for travel buddies
on Facebook last month,
she had no shortage of takers. Once the
group was set and the destination was
fixed, they searched for a cheap tour.
Hundreds of special offers are avail-
able via tourist companies these days.
Viettravel, for example, has discounts
of VND3-3.5 million on tours around the
north and from now until March they
are giving away a diamond every week
to one lucky customer.
Vietrantour’s website meanwhile
lists discounts of up to VND10 mil-
lion on outbound tours to a variety of
destinations, such as Thailand, Japan,
Hong Kong and Korea. Inbound tours
from Hanoi to Phu Quoc or Dalat are
also discounted at an unprecedented
40 per cent.
These heavy price cuts are also of-
fered on tour prices by the 14 members
of Tour Demand Stimulating Alliance,
which was established in August 2012.
“This year people have shrunk their
budget for traveling dramatically,” says
LacViet Travel and Event director Le
Tan Tri. This opinion is echoed by many
travel agents. LacViettravel is therefore
focusing on building tours in combina-
tion with events such as teambuilding,
gala dinners, and meetings.
Tong Thu Hien, deputy manager of
Hanoitourist also reports that this has
been a hard twelve months: “Due to the
slow economy, tourists spend less trav-
elling. The increase of transportation
costs sparked by increased fuel prices
and inflation has created hard condi-
tions for travel agents. Keeping the
price stable or increasing it slightly, we
have to provide more added value for
customers. Reducing the price, would
make it necessary to re-schedule the
tours to avoid losses for company, while
still maintaining its prestige and image.”
Short tours which cost from VND
1-4 million, such as those from Hanoi
to Thung Nai, Mai Chau, Moc Chau, Ha
Bargaining power
Afteradifficultyearintourism,pricesarebeingslashedmakingthisagreattimetobookatour,writes
HongNguyen