Instead of staying at home and busy with shopping and cleaning their houses as well to ring in Tet, many families in Da Nang have the tend to book tours to other cities and provinces across Viet Nam or to even foreign countries to enjoy the jubilant Tet break with new excitement and experiences in the new land.

Vietnamese people like to visit S.Korea during Tet to experience the snowy season. Photo: P.V

Take trips for new Tet experience

This year, the Tet shopping atmosphere of Ms. Phan Trinh Thuy's family living on Pham Hung Street, Cam Le District is "quieter" than in previous years. Instead of busy cleaning the house, walking around markets and supermarket to choose Tet goods as usual, Thuy only focused on buying warm clothes for the whole family in preparation for a joint trip to S.Korea, starting from the 28^th of the 12^th lunar month of 2022 until the 6^th day of the 1^st lunar month of the New Year of the Cat, 2023.

Sharing about the reason why she chose to travel abroad for the first time during the traditional Tet holiday, Ms. Thuy said, the outbreak of COVID-19 with the days of ‘staying at home’ has changed the thinking and outlook on life of her family members.

“If in the past, everyone had to strictly follow unwritten rules such as visiting the relatives during the Tet break. This year's festival, it was my parents-in-law who gave the green light to encouraging their children and grandchildren to enjoy a real Tet holiday, without being constrained by shopping and house chores”, said Thuy. That's why she chose to go to S.Korea on the occasion of this Tet break.

For many years, the Northwest region has become a destination chosen by many people to experience the Tet atmosphere due to the advantages of the unique customs and habits of the ethnic groups here. Mr. Bui Hoang Hai, a resident in Hai Chau District excitedly said that he had booked a Northwest Tet tour with the destinations of Sapa - Fansipan - Ha Giang - Stone Plateau to experience the Tet products of the Mong ethnic people and check-in at Lung Cu flagpole in the mountainous province of Ha Giang.

“This Tet tour has been enjoyed by my friends and it recorded many good reviews, so this year I choose to celebrate a new traditional Lunar New Year with my family in such a new way by taking this joint trip”, said Hai

According to some tourists who have experienced Tet in the Northwest, each ethnic group will have its own unique cultural features. For instance, the Mong people, in addition to the spring festivals, also boast the strength of famous specialtilies.

Meamwhile, the Thai people make a difference with the specialty of ‘banh chung’ (square glutinous rice cake), a dispensable Tet dish. All these highlights create a unique traditional culture, giving visitors interesting experiences as well as a deeper understanding of the richness and diversity of colours in the nation's traditional culture.

Mr. Duong Quang Binh, the Director of the Da Nang branch of the Vietravel Tourism and Transport Marketing JSC said that this year, people in Da Nang and the central region signed up for a Tet experience tour in the Northwest region. Tour prices range from VND6 million - 9 million.

For overseas tours to celebrate Tet, till date, over 600 guests have booked tours through Vietravel, mainly to Japan and S. Korea. This year, the Tet holiday is long, suitable for overseas tours.

With prices ranging from VND16 million - 18 million for a tour to S.Korea and VND20 million - VND28 million for a trip to Japan, so it is quite affordable by for many individuals and families.

With seasoned experience in organising Tet tours abroad for tourists, Mr. Binh explained, "Besides the reasonable price, this time in Japan and S.Korea is the snow season, so Vietnamese people like it very much. Let’s take tours to experience this. Besides, these are also two countries with a large Vietnamese community and they still celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Cat in 2023 with full rituals such as New Year's Eve worship and taking trips to extend Tet greetings to others on the first days of the Tet festival. It means that visitors can just celebrate Tet with a few overseas Vietnamese families here or shop for traditional Vietnamese dishes such as ‘banh chung’ and ‘banh tet".

Cross-cultural look

In contrary to the thought that the traditional Tet holiday is getting less and less attention when the trend of people choosing to celebrate the Lunar New Year abroad is increasing, according to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, the Director of Omega Travel Services Co., Ltd., Chairman of the City Travel Association, this is a subjective opinion. In fact, through surveys of customers who have experienced Tet tours abroad or in different regions across the country, most of them believe that this is an inevitable shift in the global cultural exchange process.

Through these trips, many people are more aware of the value of the nation's traditional Tet. In addition, in recent years, due to work pressure as well as the COVID-19 incident, many people choose to celebrate Tet in the true sense of a holiday instead of busy shopping and cleaning work in preparation for Tet.

As reported by the Da Nang Travel Association, from November 11 to 12, many travel companies in the city have launched tours to welcome Tet abroad. This year, in addition to such destinations as Southeast Asian countries, Japan, S.Korea, India and others in Europe are much preferred by many people.
In the buildup to Tet, travel expenses may be higher than at other times of the year due to increased airline ticket prices.

Viet Nam is one of the rare countries in the world that still fully preserves all the unique customs and practices of the national culture through the annual traditional Tet.

Not only is there a unique and rich variety of dishes and early spring festivals, but more precious are the traditions and values of the family such as the custom of worshiping the deceased grandparents and the spirit of emotional attachment and solidarity among family members or the custom of exchanging best Tet wishes among Vietnamese people.

While Vietnamese people go abroad to celebrate the national traditional Tet, the Lunar New Year also becomes a ‘golden time’ for Da Nang to welcome domestic and foreign travellers.

Reporting by KHANH HOA - Translating by A.THU