High airfares still sweep away, luxury hotels fully booked on September 2nd

Spend nearly ten million dong for 1 night in a hotel

Mr. Tran Dang Thanh, CEO of Orion Travel, said that during the September 2nd holiday this year, many people chose to travel nearby to avoid high airfares but did not hesitate to spend money on expensive resorts. Many luxury hotels were fully booked early.

For example, Serena Hoa Binh Hotel costs 5.3 million VND/night including breakfast and dinner buffet; Avana Hoa Binh Hotel costs 7.8 million VND/night; Jiva Hoa Lu Resort (Ninh Binh) costs 7.8 million VND/night for a 1-bedroom villa and 15.1 million VND/night for a 2-bedroom villa; Mandala Kim Boi Hotel (Hoa Binh) has the cheapest price of 4 million VND/night and the most expensive is 8 million VND/night depending on the room type...

“The above hotels do not charge holiday surcharges. Although the room rates are quite high, they are all booked early.", Mr. Thanh said.

A representative of Dragon Ocean Do Son International Tourist Area (Hai Phong) also said that as of August 30, all 303 rooms of Dream Dragon Resort had been booked for the September 2 holiday two weeks in advance. It is estimated that the hotel will welcome 2,200 guests, an increase of 15% over the same period in 2023. The average room rate at Dream Dragon Resort is VND 4,400,000/night/room; the lowest is VND 3,450,000 and the highest is VND 5,400,000.

At the Flamingo Cat Ba hotel complex (Cat Hai, Hai Phong), room rates during the National Day holiday on September 2 range from VND3.2 million to VND15 million. This resort has a maximum capacity of 1,001 rooms for over 2,500 guests staying at 3 buildings: Flamingo Premium Cat Ba Beach, Flamingo Grand Cat Ba and Flamingo Premium Lan Ha Bay. The diverse room categories (double rooms, twin rooms; 1-bedroom apartments, 2-bedroom apartments, 3-bedroom apartments with mountain and sea views; presidential villa) have views of Lan Ha Bay.

Sharing the same opinion about the above trend, Ms. Bui Nhat Linh, a tour sales staff in Hanoi said:“The sudden increase in airfares during the holidays has caused many people to give up on long-distance travel to save money. Instead, they use this money to find quality hotels and resorts to enjoy the best services. Currently, luxury hotels in tourist destinations near Hanoi are fully booked. In fact, customers have booked very early, causing the room fund to run out almost a month before the holiday,”Ms. Linh said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Van Hai (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that his family is preparing to go to Hoa Binh for the National Day holiday on September 2. Initially, his family planned to go to Da Lat, but when surveying airfare prices, his family of four would spend about 20 million VND. If other expenses are added, his family's trip could cost about 50 million VND. Therefore, he decided to change direction, choosing a destination near Hanoi to save money.

“I rented a villa for the whole family for only 7.8 million VND. The whole family will drive to the hotel. I have researched the place where I will stay, because it is a luxury resort, there are many places to play and beautiful photo spots. The cool mountain air is not much different from Da Lat. So, the whole family can still go on vacation together but the cost has been reduced by tens of millions of VND.”, Mr. Hai said.

Airline tickets are still sold out despite skyrocketing prices

Although many tourists are shifting to short-haul travel, the aviation industry is still very popular during this time. According to a survey on August 30, many flights were sold out early, even though prices were 1.6 - 2.7 million VND higher than before the holiday (depending on the route).

Specifically, a round-trip economy ticket for the Hanoi - Phu Quoc route of Vietnam Airlines departing on August 31 and returning on September 3 costs more than 9.1 million VND, nearly double the usual price, and some Vietnam Airlines flights for this route are sold out.

Also on this route, at the same time, Vietjet Air's economy class ticket costs more than 7.3 million VND, nearly double the normal price.

Hanoi - Da Nang flight, round-trip economy class ticket of Vietjet Air costs 4.5 million VND; Vietnam Airlines costs 4.3 million VND and Bamboo Airway costs more than 4.8 million VND. This is 500,000 - 700,000 VND more expensive than usual.

For the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - Con Dao routes, no information about tickets was found. This means that all tickets for departure and arrival from August 31 to the end of September are sold out. Some flights from Hanoi to Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang are also sold out.

According to the report of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, from August 30 to September 3, airlines plan to operate a total of 4,257 flights, an average of 840 flights/day, an increase of 3% compared to the previous holiday week and an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period in 2023.

Of which, the average number of domestic flights is 600 flights/day, an increase of 5% compared to the previous holiday week and an increase of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2023. The average number of international flights is 241 flights/day, a decrease of 2% compared to the previous holiday week and an increase of 5.1% compared to the same period in 2023.

Ticket prices during the National Day holiday on all routes increased by about 20% compared to a week ago and increased by 40% compared to the average of the previous low season. For example, on August 31, prices on the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route ranged from 2.3 - 3.5 million VND/way (including meals), an increase of 23% - 28%; Vietjet Air from 1.5 - 2.4 million VND/way, an increase of 25%; Bamboo Airways from 1.7 - 2.5 million VND/way, an increase of 24%; Vietravel Airlines about 1.7 million VND/way, an increase of 19% compared to the low season.

Cheap foreign tours attract customers

With the rising price of airfares, many domestic tours have become expensive. Therefore, when travel agencies offer many foreign tours at cheap prices, they immediately attract many interested people.

Specifically, the Hanoi - Zhangjiajie - Phoenix Ancient Town (China) tour for 5 days and 4 nights costs 11.9 million VND; the Hanoi - Thailand tour for 5 days and 4 nights costs only 7.9 million VND; the Korea tour for 5 days and 4 nights costs 17.5 million VND; the Hanoi - Osaka (Japan) tour for 6 days and 5 nights costs 25.9 million VND...

“Nearby tourist markets such as China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia are the markets that attract the most Vietnamese tourists because of their cheap prices and convenient transportation. At this time, customers can no longer buy tours for the holidays. These foreign tours were all fully booked 2 months ago.", CEO Orion travel said.

Sharing the same opinion, a representative of Vietluxtour travel agency said that during the September 2nd holiday this year, the number of customers booking foreign tours accounted for 60% compared to domestic tours (40%). Besides traditional foreign tours, on this occasion, Vietnamese customers are also interested in newly developed Southeast Asian tours such as Cambodia and Laos because the tour duration is not too long (4-5 days) and the price is at the average level.

According to this person, the plan to sell tours for the September 2nd holiday has almost been completed, Vietluxtour has not accepted customers to buy foreign tours for many days. Meanwhile, some domestic tours are still being sold by this company.