Travel companies in HCMC report lower than expected tour bookings ahead of the extended Southern Liberation Day holiday, according to local agencies.

Lua Viet, Fiditourist and VYC among other travel companies said their sales have not hit the numbers that they had predicted weeks ago.

Many factors have contributed, including what is seen as an unreasonable increase in hotel room charges, said travel agencies.

Many hotels at tourist attractions including Nha Trang, Dalat and Phan Thiet have taken the holiday as a chance to double their room charges as tourism boomed on the holiday in previous years.

Also, locals have reconsidered plans due to overcrowding of sites, common on weekend holidays like the April 30^th Liberation Day as many travel companies have grossly exaggerated tour bookings.

Faced with the declining booking numbers, local travel agencies are likely to lose their deposits at hotels if they cannot receive sufficient tour bookings as predicted.

Hotels in the Central Highland city of Dalat announced full occupancy during the holidays three weeks ago but now rooms are available as many tour organizers have canceled their contracts.

Reported by Cam Nhi amp; Lam Vien – Translated by T.H.

Trekking tours are a new and popular option offered by many travel companies in Vietnam. Tour operators throughout the country are also beginning to offer more than just a standard hike through a forest.

Many now combine visits to remote mountain communities where tourists can interact with locals while learning about the indigenous flora and fauna in the area.

Several local travel companies also focus on trips to national parks and forests where plants and animals are abundant, diverse, colorful and easy to spot with the naked eye.

In addition, primeval forests and minority ethnic villages in the Central Highlands and Vietnams northwest are also popular places for trekking adventures. These areas feature diverse scenery, rich ecosystems, and colorful villages of traditional minority ethnic groups.

Tourists can hike through quiet forests and terraced fields on mountainsides, visit small springs, touch rare plants and beautiful wild flowers, and go bird-watching. They can also meet and speak with people of Bana, Ma, JRai and HMong ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands as well as the Phu La, Dao, Tay and Nung people in the northwest.

Visitors may also choose a home-stay tour and spend a night at a local familys home.

The Central Highlands is also home to the Madagui forest, an ideal area for exploring a primeval forest. These woods are part of Nam Cat Tien National Park. Here, tourists can observe a rich ecosystem of flora and fauna, listen to guides speak about animals and plants of the rainforest, and explore caves and springs.

In addition, visitors can camp out, enjoy traditional gong drum shows, drink ruou can (a kind of wine contained in an earthen jar), meet with minority ethnic people, and visit their homes.

Reported by Tien Dat

An international travel fair will be held in HCMC next month to showcase Vietnams tourism and for local operators to strengthen ties with foreign partners.

The expo, scheduled for October 7-9, will be attended by tourism industry players from France, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, and Japan.

Besides, travel companies from nine countries and territories have also been invited to set up stalls at the fair.

A seminar would be held at the expo to showcase the countrys tourist attractions and unique tourism products, the organizers, the HCMC Tourism Department, Binet Singapore Co., and Vinexad Co., said.

Source: Tuoi Tre – Compiled by Thanh Hang.

Vietnams tourism industry holds great potential to become a favorite destination for foreign travelers but many hindrances still prevent the country from becoming a major hot spot, said local travel companies.

One good signal of a booming domestic industry is the high occupancy of hotel rooms. Hotels in Ho Chi Minh City have reported a higher-than-expected room occupancy rate of 78 per cent on average.

Also, for the first time, the U.S. became the biggest source market of the citys tourism industry in the first four months of this year. An official statistic shows that the city received more than 654,000 foreign tourists, mainly from the U.S., Japan, Australia, Korea, UK and France, in the January-April period.

But despite the positive reports, local companies are still not confident that the country is taking full advantage of current opportunities to attract more foreign tourists.

For example, one missed opportunity, according to unofficial sources, is the fact that thousands of Japanese people have canceled their tours to China because of recent tensions between the two countries.Attracting these tourists to Vietnam instead would be a big win for the tourism industry.

Visa waiver not enough

Although local officials deemed visa exemptions for Japanese travelers the biggest advantage to luring the tourists, some travel companies said the visa waiver was not enough.

Visa exemption is a good stimulus but not enough. The number of Japanese travelers to Vietnam has not increased as expected and on the contrary, dropped, said Nguyen Anh Tai, director of Saigontourist Travel Service Company.

Citizens of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have also been exempted from entry visas for a maximum stay of 15 days starting early this month.

Other hurdles

High airfares are one major reason why the flow of Japanese tourists to Vietnam has not increased, said Kitakawa Koichi, deputy general director of Apex Joint-Venture which has mainly serves Japanese travelers.

The price of an air ticket from Tokyo to Vietnam is much higher than one from Tokyo to Bangkok, said Mr. Koichi.

According to the director of Ben Thanh Tourist Company, procedures at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC are also still complicated and time-consuming despite recent efforts by local authorities.

Also, current regulations in the city, like closing entertainment venues by midnight, prevent foreign tourists from spending more while visiting. Foreign tourists have the habit of staying out late or overnight during their vacations, said a travel company.

Agencies in HCMC have also caused difficulties for local hotels to provide added services for tourists as they have created unreasonable sub-licenses, said Nguyen Huu Tho, general director of Saigontourist Holding Company parent company of Saigontourist Travel Service.

Currently, a prime minister decree states that hotels with the recognition of one star or more are allowed to provide added services like karaoke bars, night clubs and alcohol and cigarette sales without getting licenses.

But in reality, the hotels must seek permission from the Departments of Trade or Culture and Information in order to provide these services, Mr. Tho explained.

Reported by Trung Binh – Translated by T.H.