During the COVID-19 outbreak, multiple tours across Vietnam were cancelled due to movement restrictions. This led to a significant drop in revenues for travel agencies, airlines, and the service sector in general.
As the country has lifted the nationwide lockdown and is now encouraging domestic travel, many travel agencies and airlines have come up with promotions and discounts to entice residents to travel domestically.
Many local travel agencies are going into overdrive to boost bookings by offering attractive promotions on tour packages.
Travellers purchasing tour packages after the COVID-19 lockdown
Image credit: Vietravel
HanoiRedtours, a travel agency in Hanoi, is offering a knockdown price for its inbound tour packages that combine both airfare and hotel fare.
Image credit: HanoiRedtours
In an advertisement posted on 13th May, the travel agency is offering a 4-day tour between Hue and Da Nang at only VND4,690,000 (~USD200.74). The package covers both Vietnam Airlines air tickets and accommodation in a 3 or 4-star hotel.
The travel agency also added that the prices of air tickets are already 80% lower than usual, and the whole tour package is being offered at a 50% to 60% discount.
Vietravel, a Saigon-based travel agency, is also proactively promoting cheap tours to provinces that are a short distance from Saigon. For example, a 1-day tour to 5 different locations in the eastern provinces is priced at only VND299,000 (~USD12.80) per pax. The cost of a 1-day tour to these locations used to be around VND500,000 – VND700,000 (~USD21.43-USD30) per pax.
Sun World Ba Na Hills, a recreation complex in Da Nang is also offering a free lunch buffet when they purchase a cable car ticket at VND750,000(~USD32.10).
The unanimous offers of discounts and promotion programs by travel agencies are also in line with the plan of authorities to revitalize the tourism industry.
Image credit: Sun World Ba Na Hill
Many cities and provinces in Vietnam, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Nam Province, and Quang Ninh City, are offering discounts as well as free tickets to local attraction sites.
To make up for previous losses from the drop in air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, local airlines are also jumping on the bandwagon by increasing air routes and offering promotions for travellers.
In a bid to win more bookings, VietJet Air, Vietnam’s most popular budget airline, has started to release flight tickets from as low as VND18,000 (~USD0.77) for Hanoi-Da Nang flights. Usually, a flight ticket between Hanoi and Danang is about VND1 million (~USD42.85) and above.
What comes as a surprise is that even Vietnam Airlines, which usually has the highest airfares, is also offering discounted tickets from only VND99,000 (~USD4.24) per ticket for all domestic flights starting from 6th September this year.
Of course, this price point does not factor in taxes and fees yet, which can amount up to VND579,000 (~USD24.78), but it’s still an unprecedented move from the national airline.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague many countries and force many people to stay at home, Vietnam’s one of the safest places to live a normal daily life at the moment. We can go shopping, watch movies, and eat in restaurants without worrying about community transmission.
Let’s enjoy the perks of living in Vietnam to the fullest by starting to travel again. Not only can we enjoy the good deals from travel agencies like never before and might not last forever, but we can also contribute to the recovery of local businesses and the tourism industry.
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Cover image adapted from: Sun World Ba Na Hills
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