Airfares, hotel room rates fall as peak travel summer season ends

Hoang Anh from Hanoi bought a three-day combo tour package to Da Nang including return air tickets and a three-star hotel room for traveling in mid-August with prices of only VND3.9 million (US$155).

She said such prices were reasonable because the airfares from Hanoi to Da Nang in June, the peak month of summer tourism, cost up to VND5 million per person.

Trang Nguyen, head of sales department at travel company Best Price, said most combo tour packages for domestic travel in August have reduced by 30%.

Since the beginning of August, children have started returning to school after nearly three months of summer break and families wrapped up their vacations, causing the travel demand to decrease, Trang said.

In addition, it is also the seventh lunar month (from Aug. 4 to Sept. 2), known as the Ghost Month, during which many people limit their travel plans for fear of bad luck, according to traditional beliefs.

The company's statistics showed that the number of customers booking tours for this month has decreased by about 40% compared to two months ago.

Vietnam Airlines' highest one-way fare from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, the country's busiest route, on Aug. 2 was VND2.2 million before taxes and fees. During the peak travel month of June, this fare reached up to VND3 million.

For the Hanoi-Phu Quoc route, the longest domestic route, Vietnam Airlines is selling tickets for VND3 million. In June, one-way fares on this route were up to VND3.4 million.

Pham Anh Vu, deputy general director of HCMC-based Viet Media Travel Company, said that in early August, domestic airfares were "still relatively high" but are expected to decrease gradually from mid-August.

Airlines also launched many promotional programs to attract customers until the end of this month, such as a 25-30% discount on ticket prices for groups of four or eight people and cheap tickets for some routes such as HCMC to Da Nang or Phu Quoc.

Hotel room rates in famous tourist destinations have also started falling. In Phu Quoc, many hotels have reduced prices by about 30% compared to the peak season in June and July.

Some hotels and resorts such as Wyndham Grand Phu Quoc, Sailing Club Signature Resort Phu Quoc and Seashells Phu Quoc Hotel & Spa have partnered with an airline to launch a combo promotion for guests staying in August.

Wyndham Grand Phu Quoc offers a promotion that allows customers flying at night from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. to stay for three nights while only paying for two nights.

According to VnExpress surveys, the room rate of a five-star resort in the central province of Nghe An range from VND 2.2 to 2.6 million per night by Aug. 15, but drop to nearly VND1.4 million during the second half of the month.

In Da Nang, prices of many four-star hotels have begun to decrease by about 40% compared to the peak summer season.

Tran Quoc Hung, head of product development at Mustgo, a booking platform with more than 2,000 hotel partners nationwide, said room rates at hotels and resorts nationwide would decrease from 20% to 40% compared to the previous two months.