Public sector employees nationwide will have 9 days off work for the forthcoming Tet Festival, and many travel agencies in Da Nang are taking advantage of the expected increase in demand for travel by launching various new tours.

The Da Nang-based Viet Nam Travel Mart Company is offering day tours to some popular tourist sites in Da Nang, Hue and Quang Nam Province during the holiday period.  They include the Ba Na Hills Resort, the Marble Mountains, Hoi An City, the My Son Sanctuary, the Cu Lao Cham Island, and the Hue Citadel.

Foreign visitors on the Bach Dang pedestrian promenade

Meanwhile, the city’s branch of Viettravel is running a promotional programme until 25 March entitled ‘Beloved Spring 2015’.  The company is offering many attractive day tours such as “Ba Na - A Path to Fairyland”, “Charming Cu Lao Cham Island”, and “Working as Farmers in the Tra Que Vegetable Village”.  Anyone booking their tours will be entered into a lucky draw to win cell phones, hand-held cameras, tablets and televisions. 

Da Nang-based Viet Nam Tourism Company (Vitours) has launched the attractive Family Vacation package and community-based tours, and both have proved popular with customers.

The Deputy General Director of Vitours, Mr Le Tan Thanh Tung, remarked that the volume of bookings for the Tet period is likely to climb by about 10% against last year’s figure.  This is mainly attributed to the relatively stable number of regular visitors from Japan and South Korea, along with the recovery in the tourist arrivals from China.  In addition, the number of bookings by customers from the central region for international tours to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea is expected to go up by about 20%.

According to other local travel agencies, the majority of their Tet tour bookers are from South Korea, China and Malaysia.

A large number of domestic and foreign visitors have been attracted to choosing Da Nang because it is a new destination with a variety of services whose prices at Tet are not much higher than on normal days.  In addition to the organised tours, the Bach Dang flower street, local cultural festivals, special musical performances to welcome in Tet, and the inauguration of new entertainment areas are expected to draw a great deal of attention from visitors.

Mr Huynh Quoc Trung from the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that representatives from his unit will personally welcome the first air and cruise ship passengers to set foot in the city on the first day of the Lunar New Year.