Many Vietnamese football fans are spending up to 100 million VND (4,400 US$) for tours to Russia to watch the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018.

FIFA has authorised several agencies as ticket retailers in Southeast Asia. Buyers can avoid fake tickets by purchasing at these agencies. Photo laodong.vn

As of the end of April, tours for the event were nearly all booked at tourism agencies. The tours sold more quickly than those during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, mostly because flight schedules to Russia are more convenient, Dang Thanh Tung, director of Neworld Travel, was quoted as saying by Lao Dong newspaper.

Nguyen Thanh Trang, an executive at Viet Nam Travel, said the tours had attracted a large number of travellers partly because the Russian Embassy in Việt Nam had eased visa formalities. A tour costs 70 million VND (3,100 US$) on average for an eight-day trip, excluding football tickets.

A sales agent for Vietravel, a local ticket distributor for FIFA, said the tour price varies between 74 million VND and 80 million VND. VYC Travel is selling a Viet Nam-Russia tour for 68 million VND- 80 million VND, while Saigontourist is offering tours of 79.9 million VND. These are still available.

FIFA has authorised several agencies as ticket retailers in Southeast Asia. Buyers can avoid fake tickets by purchasing at these agencies. They will receive a verified code called FanID, which is considered equivalent to a visa for Russia. They can also use public vehicles for free during the event by showing their FanID.

(Source: VNS)