Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing and communications director at Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said her firm has seen a sharp pickup in tour sales since the start of the summer and that 65% of tours have been sold to individual tourists.

However, Tran The Dung, deputy director of Young Generation Travel Company, a small tour operator, complained about slow tour sales to individual tourists. Customers prefer large travel companies that have generous promotion programs.

Small tourism enterprises have to find niche markets and tours to unpopular destinations such as the northeast and northwest of the country, Dung added.

Summer tours to seaside destinations are as in high demand as usual.

Tour operators offer a variety of promotion programs to early and group bookings. Some companies give a discount of VND150,000-250,000 (US$6.61-11.02) a person to groups of three to 10 that book domestic tours by air and VND400,000 a person for Japan tours. Meanwhile, there is a 5-7% discount for groups of four to six after airfares are deducted. Those customers buying tours two months before departure also get 5-7% off.

Prices of summer tours are stable this year. “We offer more than 300 domestic and international tour programs in the summer this year at stable prices. Tour buyers have edged up by 15% over the same period last year,” said Tran Thi Bao Thu, marketing and communications director of Fiditour.

Source:  thesaigontimes.vn